A FAMILY pantomime is on the cards as St Simon and St Jude's get ready to perform Queen of Hearts.

The Wilfred Millar play will see one of the theatre group’s talented young members, Beth Allcock, aged 20, making her directorial debut.

The show promises to me a mix of nursery rhymes and fairytales in a crazy caper where the Queen of Hearts meets Alice in Wonderland.

The leading lady role – initially a traditional dame part until the actor had to pull out – is now played by Cheryl Rigby, who is a dominant force to her henpecked husband Herbert.

Alice is played by Jade Allmark, the White Rabbit by Aminata Sow and the Mad Hatter by Steven Bowes.

The show will be performed at St Simon and St Jude's School, in Newport Rd, Great Lever, from February 17 to 20 at 7.15pm, with two matinees on 2.30pm on the Wednesday and Saturday dates.

Society committee member Stella Crank said: “This pantomime is based on the nursery rhyme Queen of Hearts but with overtones of Alice in Wonderland this wacky tale about a missing magical tart takes an exciting journey through the Cavern of Jewels and then down the rabbit hole to the Mad Hatter's tea party.

“One of the reasons for choosing this play is because we have quite a healthy amount of 14 to 20-year-olds and we wanted to give them the chance to step up to the mark. Plus the pantomime celebrates the 150th year of Lewis Carroll's classic story.

“It has been a bit crazy because the school has done some work to the stage area at the same time, so lots has been going on at once, but it means that we will have high tech LED lights and a nicely refurbished stage.”

Tickets can be bought for £7 (adults) and £5 (concessions) from the box office by calling 01204 520232 or 01204 385687.