On the face of it at Maltings, St Albans

AN AWARD-winning play by the writer of Billy Elliot is being performed at the Maltings Arts Theatre in St Albans next Wednesday, April 15 Spoonface Steinberg is told from the perspective of an autistic child who takes the audience on a spellbinding journe

AN AWARD-winning play by the writer of Billy Elliot is being performed at the Maltings Arts Theatre in St Albans next Wednesday, April 15

Spoonface Steinberg is told from the perspective of an autistic child who takes the audience on a spellbinding journey of discovery across the world in which we live.

Written by Lee Hall, the original Radio Four production of Spoonface Steinberg was an instant phenomenon, breaking all records for repeat requests.

The professional production from Beggars and Kings Theatre Company, is directed by Michael Fentiman and takes Lee Hall's poetic writing and couples it with a central performance from Zoe Thorne whom audiences might know as the chilling voices of both the Toclafane and the Gelth in the hit BBC One series Dr Who.

Despite being in her twenties, Zoe transforms herself into a young child tackling themes of illness, death, joy, hope, relationships and the meaning of life.

It starts at 8pm and tickets are �12 with concessions �10, available from the box office on 01727 844222.

�� Jactito Puppet Theatre returns to the Maltings next Saturday afternoon, April 18, with The Very Ugly Duckling.

The ugly duckling is putting a blot on the beautiful landscape so can Charles Crane the Eggologist make the countryside beautiful again?

Jactito specialises in visual theatre which evokes a response from the audience through their senses using colour, movement, music and sound rather than merely inviting them to listen to an entertaining story. They use a variety of masks and rod and glove puppets to achieve a continual flow of movement.

The company also experiments with scale so a worm may be the same size as a lion and in addition, one of their trademarks is that their scenes involve classical music and music from many cultures.

The Very Ugly Duckling uses African music, Handel's Fireworks and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. It is aimed at the over fours and starts at 3pm. Tickets are �5.

�� Easter Musical Theatre Workshops organised by Shooting Stars Academy are being held at the arts theatre next Thursday and Friday, April 16 and 17.

They are geared at six to 16-year-olds and both groups will work on different songs and dances from popular West End shows like Hairspray, Oliver and Wicked.

The workshops run from 10am to 4pm and can be booked by calling 0790 4817229 or email shootingstarsacademy@gmail.com