YORK Theatre Royal Youth Theatre's 16 to 19-year-old groups will return to the main stage next month with Roald Dahl’s children’s fantasy The Witches.

Running from September 1 to 3, this will be the youth theatre’s first outing in the Main House since the Theatre Royal underwent its £6million redevelopment project.

Rehearsals are progressing well under Theatre Royal youth director Kate Veysey (formerly Plumb) with Mud Pie Arts' Jenna Drury as her assistant director, while the show's music has been composed by Dominic Sales, who worked previously on In Fog And Falling Snow and His Dark Materials.

Costumes and prosthetics are being designed by Chloe Bower, who specialises in prosthetic make-up effects. She is leading a team of volunteers who will be busy applying wart-covered bald caps, fake toes and a terrifying face for the Grand High Witch that will have audiences "shrieking with horror and delight".

Beckie May, who created the spectacular creatures for this summer's York Minster Mystery Plays, is making puppet mice for The Witches, and without spoiling the plot, these will form a vital part of the story.

Designer Gem Greaves and lighting designer Alex Stafford-Marshall are charged with ensuring there will be theatrical trickery and special effects aplenty to bring Dahl’s fantastical story alive.

The Witches tells the story of an unnamed boy who is taken in by his grandmother when his parents are killed in a car accident. The doting grandmother takes her young charge on holiday to a traditional English seaside resort where they book into a shabbily grand hotel.

York Press:

The Witches' cast members, left to right, Adam Kane, Stan Gaskell, Simon Ellwood, Tom Bruce, Emma Harwood and Eleanor Thornton. Picture: Dave Lee

Unbeknown to them, the hotel is also the location for the annual meeting of the world’s witches. Witches notoriously hate all children and under the guidance of the Grand High Witch are planning an evil scheme to rid the world of all children, once and for all.

Veysey's cast includes Maddie Drury as Boy, Rebekah Burland as Grandmother, Dominic Sorrell as Bruno and Molly Levitt as the evil Grand High Witch. The international group of witches will be played by both girls and boys from the theatre groups with "stunning effects" to portray them in all their bald headed, be-gloved grotesqueness, as described by Dahl in his novel.

"To me, The Witches has always been one of the most frightening children’s stories as you feel it could happen to anyone," says Kate Veysey. "Is the lady sitting next to you as you read this wearing gloves to disguise her lack of fingernails or scratching her head because her wig is itching? Is she twitching her nose because you smell of fresh dog’s droppings?

"We relish the challenge of telling this story with our group of young people aged 16 to 19, many of whom have been developing their performance skills at our youth theatre since the age of five. For many, this will be their swansong before they go on to further training or drama school. I'm thrilled to be working with this group of creatives, who are a theatrical dream team. It's set to be a cracker of a show."

Tickets for the 7pm evening shows and 2.30pm Friday and Saturday matinees are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk