It was the little ones in the Junior Youth Theatre group who bravely first took to the stage, starring in The Ugly Duckling.

Most will be familiar with the tale of the tall, clumsy duckling who is rejected by the other animals for looking different to his brothers and sisters.

The youngsters wore colourful, elaborate costumes and sang their hearts out to familiar songs like 'There Once was an Ugly Duckling'.

They looked to be thoroughly enjoying taking part in the production, which will also have taught them valuable lessons about tolerance and bullying.

The Intermediate Group then took to the stage for The Little Match Girl, the first of a number of short but colourful versions of Andersen's stories.

The Little Match Girl is the sad tale of a poor young girl selling matchsticks on a bitterly cold New Year's Eve.

She is forced into lighting the matches just to stay warm and, while doing so, she sees lovely visions of a fully decorated Christmas tree and a roast dinner.

The last thing she imagines is a visit from her deceased grandmother –– the only person to ever show her love –– before she is found dead the next morning.

As with many Andersen tales, The Little Match Girl is emotionally complex and perhaps deserves more time than the group was able to give it on stage because of time restraints.

Impressive

But the acting and singing was of a good standard and the production boosted by impressive and creative use of lighting and props.

Also featured was an excellent version of The Snow Queen and the stand-out 'The Brave Tin Soldier' –– which lends itself extremely well to the stage with its variety of costumes, interesting characters and familiar musical score.

Highlights included Humpty Dumpty's solo as he waddles around the stage. The group dealt with the changes of scenery very well as the soldier's tale sees him cast out of the bedroom and into the sewer –– returning the bedroom only to be cast into the fire by his owner.

Overall, the production was of a good standard and it's likely that Anderson would have been very satisfied that youngsters are continuing to work hard to ensure his fantastic stories live on.