A SPOOF melodrama telling a "spirited tale of curses, crimes and desperation seasoned with a dose of love and redemption" is to be performed by Great Witley Operatic Society next week.

The curtain rises on the Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, Ruddigore, at The Swan Theatre in Worcester on Tuesday and will fall the following Saturday, May 7.

The show's producer, Andrew Potter, described the operetta - which will be the first Gilbert and Sullivan piece he directs - as "lunatic and lovely by turns".

He said: "I have been discovering Ruddigore as we go along and it's tremendous stuff ... at this stage I feel like a kid who has been given the keys to a sweet shop and the range of flavours is fabulous."

He added: "One moment Ruddigore is as daft as a Morecambe and Wise play and the next it takes your breath away with the force of the genuine feelings on display.

"In other words, it very successfully portrays its central theme, the contradictory workings of the human - particularly the English - heart.

"It's seriously funny, surprisingly sexy and as relevant to our crazy, mixed-up age as that of our Victorian ancestors."

More information and tickets for the show, which will be performed at 7.30pm daily and at 2.30pm and 7.30pm next Saturday, can be obtained by calling the Huntingdon Hall box office on 01905 611427.