Consider yourself lucky if you have managed to grab tickets to Sidmouth Youth Theatre’s upcoming production of Oliver!, as the show has virtually sold out.

It follows on from the group’s successful production of Happy Days and director Angela Davies says only single seats and returns remain ahead of opening night on Wednesday, January 31.

More than 70 students from Sidmouth College have been hard at work preparing to bring Lionel Bart’s musical to life and have moved into the Manor Pavilion for their last run of rehearsals.

Based on Charles Dickens’s classic novel, audiences will join orphan Oliver as he tries to navigate Victorian London and the pick-pocketing world run by the conniving Fagin.

Audiences can expect to see the show’s toe-tapping numbers of Oom-Pah-Pah, You Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two and the emotional As Long As He Needs Me.

This year’s cast features many younger faces joining in as Fagin’s gang of child pick-pockets and various other chorus roles.

Angela Davies, Sidmouth College’s head of drama, said: “They have got to work and they have worked hard.

“I am so amazed about how much support we get from the town, we have had huge community support. It is great they are supporting young people and how they step up and share that work with the kids.

“There is that sense of people appreciating them [the pupils] and what they are doing and being proud.”

The youth theatre last performed Oliver! in 2002. In the title role was 12-year-old Alex Sharp, who went on to win best actor at the Tony awards in 2015 for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.

Oliver! will run at the Manor Pavilion Theatre from January 31 to February 3. Shows begin at 7.30pm, with a 2.30pm Saturday matinee.

Remaining tickets cost £12 for adults and £6 for under-16s and are available from the theatre box office 10am to 2pm daily.