TO celebrate this year’s 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s classic story, the 1812 Youth Theatre will be performing Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at Helmsley Arts Centre.

A cast of 40 performers, aged between nine and 17, are in rehearsals led by Natasha Jones, the youth theatre’s director, and assisted by Naomi Roxby-Wardle, with costumes designed and made by Tabitha Grove, who herself starred as Alice in the 1812 Youth Theatre’s first production of the same play in 1999.

This fun-filled adaptation of Alice’s curious encounters in Wonderland includes the White Rabbit played by Sara Jenkins and Florrie Stockbridge, the Mad Hatter played by Henry Petch, the Mad March Hare by Tom Scott, the Queen of Hearts by Becca Silk and the Duchess by Amy Hughes. Alice is played by 13-year-old Amber Mason.

Natasha said: “Once a year we do a major production in March, where both the senior and intermediate groups join forces, and it’s a bit of a challenge rehearsing the same piece over two evenings a week, with different groups coming in on different nights, but Amber is doing really well as Alice, and the whole cast are rising to the challenge.”

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is at Helmsley Arts Centre from tomorrow (Thursday) to Saturday, at 7.30pm, with a 2.30pm matinee on Sunday.

For tickets and further information, phone the box office on 01439 771700 or book online at helmsleyarts.co.uk