TALENTED dancers, singers and actors from Callington will be starring with a professional theatre company in the town in January after it was chosen as one of three locations in the South West to host a community play.

Cornwall's own Miracle Theatre will be bringing its highly acclaimed show 'The Revenge of Rumplestiltskin' to Callington for a three-night run but it will include extra scenes to incorporate local performers.

Designers are building a frontage to go over the entrance of the town hall and Miracle aims to transport the audience back to the heyday of Georgian theatre and the birth of pantomime, with costume, food and drink from the era.

Portreeve Rick Lumley who instigated CAVe (Callington Arts Venue in the town hall) earlier this year said this was 'an amazing opportunity' for all the local people involved to work with a professional theatre company,

'The community college is supplying some dancers, Miracle is working with members of the Prim Raf theatre and others with acting experience in Callington and a local choir,' he said.

'I think it will be especially great for the young people because it will really boost their confidence. If all goes well the town hall will be dressed to give the atmosphere of Georgian theatre and all the front of house people will be in costume. There will be singing as people enter and leave the theatre.'

Assistant director of the production Kyla Goodey, who went to school in Callington and will be running drama and dance workshops there in forthcoming weeks, said it would be more of an event than a theatre show.

She said Callington, Helston and Frome in Somerset had been chosen for funding for this project because there had been a lack of artistic things going on.

She praised the work of Portreeve Rick Lumley and his volunteers who were working hard to get the town hall up and running as an arts venue: 'It's a great venue but it could be a fantastic venue, it just needs everyone to get involved.'

Kyla has her own theatre company, Trifle Gathering, who performed 'Charity Shop Cabaret' to an audience of more than 100 people in the town hall recently.

'I had not been back to Callington since school and I had no idea there was an artistic world happening there. There was a fantastic buzz that night and it confirmed to me that there was real potential there.

'There is lots of enthusiasm and Calllington really deserves to have a great arts venue.'

The inaugural meeting of CAVe will take place on December 7 at 7.30pm in the town hall and Mr Lumley is hoping lots of volunteers with a strong sense of commitment and bucketloads of enthusiasm will turn up on the night.

'We are looking for people of all ages to plan future programmes, work on front-of-house, prepare and serve refreshments, distribute posters and so on. No experience is needed we just need people who are willing to roll their sleeves up and get on with it.'

A diverse range of theatre, music and film is being scheduled in the town to suit all tastes over the next months. The Revenge of Rumplestiltskin will be showing on January 15, 16 and 17 at 7.30pm.

l CAVe (Callington Arts Venue) will be hosting local band Yorkie in the town hall tomorrow (Friday) evening at 8pm, with music ranging from rock n' roll to today's chart hits. Tickets are available on the door, priced at £5.50.