SOMETHING fishy is going on in Mikron Theatre Company’s new play on a plate, One Of Each.

Written for the West Yorkshire travelling troupe by Deborah McAndrew, the production is touring by canal, river and road to fish and chip restaurants, pubs, inns and allotments throughout Britain until October.

Tonight is national press night at where else but a chippie, the Wetherby Whaler in Ings Lane York Business Park, with a fish supper (or, cod forbid, a vegetarian option) in the interval.

This 7.30pm show has sold out, but before your chips are too down, another chance to experience McAndrew’s salty tale of storms at sea, saucy secrets and sibling rivalry comes at Mikron’s regular York pitching post, the Scarcroft Allotments Free Open Air Theatre, on May 19.

No tickets are required for this savoury tale of fish and chips and unsavoury behaviour, but a cash collection for the company will be taken after the 7pm show. Bring a picnic, maybe wrapped in newspaper, plus blankets, chairs, waterproofs and wellies.

Deborah is now lecturing in documentary theatre at Staffordshire University as well as writing plays for Northern Broadsides and Mikron, and One Of Each will be her fourth and “last for a while” for the Marsden company. “I thought three was enough but Marian [artistic director Marianne McNamara] asked me to do this one too,” she says.

“It’s always fun but a very difficult thing writing for Mikron, so a break is good anyway, as you’re given a topic; you have to tackle that topic in a documentary way; the show always has songs and four actors playing all the parts, often more than four characters each, usually playing a musical instrument too; so it’s a very particular challenge.

In many ways it’s more difficult than writing a 15-hander for the National Theatre, where you write a more conventional play with all the bells and smells.”

Marian had asked Deborah to write a play about fish and chips, whereupon she hit on the idea of a competition with a sibling rivalry and more pointedly, twin rivalry, one male, one female, in keeping with “One of Each”, the Yorkshire order for fish and chips.

Sir Caspian Delamere’s mission to find the finest fish and chips in Britain for the Golden Fish Fork award has narrowed to two finalists: seaside vendors The Pickled Egg and The Silver Darling, by coincidence the rival establishments run by twins Roderick and Annette Whale. Unable to agree on the best way to cook the dish, they split, Roderick favouring the old-fashioned, homely beef-dripping style, Annette preferring a hi-tech modern twist. Who will win? Wait and see.

As ever with Mikron’s shows, One Of Each has both educational and ecological values, uncovering the history of fish and chips and looking at geographical differences in the way the dish is prepared and served.

“This time it’s more about the story and a celebration, rather than the social history, though there is the educational element about the way the dish is prepared and cooked. That’s where the competition rests,” says Deborah. “I’m a beef dripping girl as I’m not a vegetarian, so I’d say beef dripping every time.”

Working on One Of Each has been a labour of love, she adds. “Like most British people, fish and chips are full of nostalgia for me. Right up until the present time, it’s still a Friday family treat, but more evocative are the memories of childhood holidays: walking down the promenade at dusk, the sound and smell of the sea and the wind cooling my supper. If heaven exists, that’s what it is: hot, salty, seaside fish and chips.”

Two more points must be settled, however. Firstly, cod or haddock, Deborah? “I’m easy on that one, though If I have to say, I’d say haddock because it has a stronger taste, but cod has a nicer texture; it’s meatier.”

Vinegar or no vinegar? “Er, with... though not a huge amount and only on the chips,” says Deborah. “I don’t want it on the fish. Maybe lemon on the fish; oh, that’s a bit posh, isn’t it? Definitely a huge, steaming mug of tea; outside at dusk, with the waves rolling in; always a bit parky, even on a nice day. All this talk....I want some now!”