AFTER all that snow, Callington is warming up for a pantomime with a difference this weekend as professional actors and local performers join forces for a theatrical spectacular in the town hall.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings will be bursting with fun and laughter as Miracle Theatre transports showgoers back to the birth of pantomime with 'The Revenge of Rumplestiltskin' where performances by local actors, singers and dancers will be interwoven into the production.

Only one of three locations in the South West which has been chosen to work with Miracle on its community play project, Callington is relishing the professional input and using it as a platform to launch Callington Town Hall as a premier arts venue.

The show has been on tour around the South West but the community play will have added attractions, making it more of an event. The venue will be transformed into a Georgian theatre and refreshments reflecting the period will be served.

Assistant director of the show Kyla Goodey from Miracle spent Tuesday working with 13 drama students from Callington Community College who will be performing a comedy ballet dance routine in the pantomime.

She has also been working with members of the town's Prim Raf Theatre and the Lions' Club and local singing group 'Brio'.

Kyla, a former pupil of the college, said: 'It's been fantastic working with local actors and performers and going back to school to work with the pupils.

'It's great for them too to be collaborating with a professional touring company that has been going for 30 years now.

'I live in Falmouth where there is a lot more going on in the arts but there is not so much in this part of Cornwall. I really hope that this show can boost the town hall as an arts venue because all the potential is there.'

Kyla said the show was an 'alternative pantomime' that the whole family would enjoy: 'It's set in the 1830s and is as much about what happens backstage as on stage with actors dropping things, tripping over and there will be live sound effects. We also have a dragon which goes up in flames. It's very original.'

Tickets are available from the town hall or Kivells estate agents in the town priced at £9 for adults, £6 for children or £25 for a family ticket.

Portreeve Rick Lumley who instigated the CAVe project (Callington Arts Venue) to bring a wide variety of arts and entertainment to the town, said: 'We are really looking to the show. It has been really great working with a professional company and the local actors are getting loads and loads out of it in terms of experience which is going to rub off on local amateur dramatics.

'We have had enquiries about the show from as far afield as St Austell and Plymouth. All we need now is for people to come in their droves.'