The Orchard Players are back at Capel St Mary Community Centre from tonight, taking on one of their biggest shows so far - Oliver.

Ipswich Star: The cast of the Orchard Players' production of Oliver Picture: PETER MONTGOMERYThe cast of the Orchard Players' production of Oliver Picture: PETER MONTGOMERY (Image: PETER MONTGOMERY)

Director Glyn Hill felt they had the talent and the youngsters to stage the classic musical, based on Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist, about the eponymous orphan who falls in with a bad lot after running away from the undertaker’s he’s been sold too.

“As soon as I mentioned it everyone got excited. We got to the first read through and we had so many people, new faces as well; most of the children are new.

“We’ve done nothing on the scale of this, we’ve really pushed the boat out with just about everything. We’re trying to get it as good as we can and it’s a great family show.”

Producer Lynn Perera, says there are 40 in the cast, including 15 youngsters. One of the biggest challenges is turning a village hall into a theatre. They’ll be utilising every inch of space and have come up with some clever tricks to take audiences back to old London town.

“We dress the stage, we even cover the whole of the front wall. We’re going to have a tower which Bill Sikes is going to climb at the end.

“The murder scene is going to be done in silhouette and has already been filmed,” adds Glyn, who’s mostly struck to the original script.

Two extra performances have been added this year, with the show running July 4-7, 7.30pm nightly with a 2.30pm matinee on the last day. Tickets are £10 adults, £6 concs and available by calling 07793 820215.

“Everybody knows it, everybody can sing along. Everybody has worked so hard and the kids deserve an audience. Those kids will go away from this show on a cloud for the next week and I think the audience will see and love that.”