Sidmouth's Hannah is Annie lead at Barnfield Theatre

ONE of two girls sharing the title role of Annie in a production opening next week at Barnfield Theatre, Exeter, is Sidmouth College student Hannah Thompson.

ONE of two girls sharing the title role of Annie in a production opening next week at Barnfield Theatre, Exeter, is Sidmouth College student Hannah Thompson.

Hannah, 12, is daughter to Angela Davies, the school's head of drama and Sidmouth Youth Theatre's producer.

She and Martha Bowen, 10, were chosen from 90 hopefuls for the role by director Lyn Bourgoyne for Exeter Little Theatre Company.

It will be the second time Hannah has performed in Annie. The first was in 2007 when she played the part of Molly.

When she was nine she sang Hard Knock Life and Tomorrow as Annie in SYT's Broadway Spectacular compilation.

This latest run of Annie begins on Thursday, October 1 and runs until October 10. Hannah's first performance is on Friday, October 2.

"We have been rehearsing twice a week since the end of June," said Hannah, who has a long list of theatre performances to her name, beginning from when she was a three-year-old toddler and appeared in STC chorus in its production of Titanic.

She has enjoyed working with the specially trained dog in the show, but is not looking forward to wearing the red wig for the part.

Hannah will promote Annie by singing live on Radio Devon at 5pm on Sunday.

As well as acting and singing, she is a pupil at Sidmouth Ballet School and plays oboe, flute and piano.

Hannah is not the only Sidmouth actor to be chosen for Exeter Little Theatre Company's production.

Wally Cotgrave will star as Daddy Warbucks and he will feature in next week's Sidmouth Herald undertaking a major transformation for the role.