PUPILS from West Cumbria have helped to shape a family production’s magical storyline.

Mrs Lutwige and the Magic of the North Pier Lighthouse, this year’s Harbour Tales Christmas show, will be presented by Fools Company at Rosehill Theatre, Moresby, following many months of preparation by storyteller Ian Douglas and team.

And there will undoubtedly be some excited young people in the audience, eager to see the results of several very special workshops.

The workshops involved children from Harrington’s Beckstone Primary School, Egremont’s Bookwell Primary School, Maryport Infant School, Netherton Infant School in Maryport, Seascale Primary School, St Bees Primary School, Victoria Junior School in Workington, and Whitehaven’s Woodhouse Girls’ Gang, which is part of the Connected Communities project developed by the University of Central Lancashire’s Centre for Citizenship and Community.

The production – which features storytelling by Ian, puppetry by Ian’s wife Jo and music by Mark Newport – has an important social message as well as traditional pantomime-style audience participation. It is produced in collaboration with Rosehill Theatre and supported by funding from Arts Council England. It will be shown to the public at 2pm on Saturday and Sunday, December 22 and 23, with school and youth group performances earlier in the week.

Tickets, at £10, U16 £8, free to under-fives or £32 for a family of two adults and two children over five, are available at rosehilltheatre.co.uk or from the box office on 01946 692422.