When someone is enjoying themselves you can see it in their face and watching The Pump House Children and Youth Theatre in an excerpt from Return to the Forbidden Planet before Christmas, it was clear the cast were having the time of their lives.

This Olivier Award-winning musical based on the 1956 film The Forbidden Planet, itself a retelling of Shakespeare’s Tempest, features a host of meteoric rock and roll hits including Great Balls of Fire, Good Vibrations, Teenager in Love and The Monster Mash.

Director Lee Farman tells me The Pump House’s team of talented volunteers have risen to the challenge of staging a space-age production. “Our concept was to take the classic ‘50s film influence and mix it with a more modern “out of this world” in space feel,” says Lee. “This flowed into the costume design with Ursula Hodgkinson and her team who created a futuristic and sci-fi fusion space crew uniforms, as well as a full body suit for Ariel, the roller-skating robot.”

Ursula’s team even went so far as to sew solidly from 10am to 8pm last Sunday despite the snowy conditions. Other members of the team have also shown dedication.

“Jason Brameld has designed complex lighting effects and sequences and Paul Henley and Ben Rhodes have filmed special sequences for this multimedia show.

“The cast have drawn on their studies of Shakespeare from school but there is nothing like having to perform a Shakespeare line, even if it is comical, out of context to drive a deeper understanding of the original text.”

Return to the Forbidden Planet is at The Pump House, from Friday, January 22 to Saturday, January 30. Tickets: 07903 411150 (£5-£8)