Just as the rest of us have begun thinking about winding down for the summer and taking things a little bit easier, the youngsters of the Pump House Children and Youth Theatre group are doing exactly the opposite and stepping things up a notch.

They have been working hard on their latest production, Disney’s classic musical Beauty and the Beast, and, never ones to do things by halves, they have double the number of rehearsals and costumes as a regular production would require due to the play’s split casts, which means that all the children in the group get the chance to perform.

At the weekend, the talented young actors and singers had the chance to promote their show at intu Watford, regaling shoppers and passersby with a few numbers from the musical.

Sharon Gaffney, one of the volunteers who is behind the award-winning children’s and young people’s theatre group, says: “It gave them fantastic experience of performing to a different audience.

“Some of the children were understandably nervous and some very excited, but they performed three songs per cast with energy and enthusiasm.”

Beauty and the Beast is a classic tale in which the clever and beautiful Belle yearns to escape her provincial life – and her brute of a suitor, Gaston. However, she gets more adventure than she bargained for when she becomes a captive in Beast’s enchanted castle.

Dancing tableware, menacing wolves and singing furniture fill the stage with thrills in this beloved fairytale about very different people finding strength in one another and learning how to love.

  • Pump House Theatre and Arts Centre, Local Board Road, Watford, July 7 to 11. Details: pumphouse.info/cyt