Aldborough Players to mark 21 years with Alice in Wonderland pantomime

A village drama group is staging an encore to mark its coming of age.

Aldborough Players are celebrating their 21st birthday by revisiting the past and putting on an updated version of its first ever pantomime.

The group has involved more than 300 people since it was formed in 1992 and is putting on Alice in Wonderland next month.

Its first pantomime was called Sally in Pantoland and was based on the classic Alice plot.

This traditional family production will be the players' 20th panto and will be performed in the village community centre at 7.30pm from February 6-9.

Alison Haynes, co-writer and co-director, said the players began as 'a small group of people who wanted to do something in the winter' thinking it would be a one-off production, but it had grown.

Mrs Haynes, who has been involved with the group since the second pantomime, added: 'This production is completely different to the first pantomime.'

The group involves many families, from acting to set design and costume design. Its youngest member is 13 and the oldest is in their 70s.

Some 65 people, 35 of them on stage, are taking part in the panto.

Two people are playing Alice - Antonia Lloyd-Gray and Georgia Haynes - and the show starts with the Muppets Show theme tune and ends with Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen.

Mrs Haynes said: 'There is an awful lot of people with talent in the village and the group gives them the opportunity to show it.'

The Aldborough Players also puts on more serious plays in the summer. Last year it did The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde, and the year before it put on Hay Fever by Noel Coward.

Tickets for Alice in Wonderland cost £5 for Wednesday, £6 for Thursday and Friday and £7 for Saturday show (children and teenagers under 16 half price) from the Aldborough Post Office or the Spar shop, both on the Green, or by ringing Mrs Haynes on 01263 768033.