At last the Palace Theatre is almost ready to open its doors to the public again.

The paint has dried, the ticket office has been transformed from a bus shelter to a swish departure-lounge style centre and the staff and actors have been behind the grimy windows preparing the both the stage and the body of the theatre to welcome back theatre-goers.

As well as the professional actors who have been brought in to perform the opening play A Christmas Carol a host of fresh-faced talent has been found locally to take the children's roles.

The excited youngsters who have been asked to appear range in age from eight to 14. Some have appeared in other professional productions others have never having set foot on a stage before.

The youngsters were all chosen after an audition that attracted more than 100 children, and are all finding the rehearsals exciting.

"The rehearsals have been great fun," they agreed. "The adults in the cast are really nice, not as serious as we expected."

Rehearsals have been held after school, but time off will be needed when the play is running.

Luckily for the children, who are all from the Southend area,their schools have all been most cooperative.

The Palace Theatre launches its new programme on Tuesday and opens its doors to the public on Wednesday when the box office will be open from 10am.

A Christmas Carol starts on Wednesday at 7.30pm.

Christmas children - these are the youngsters who have been chosen to appear in A Christmas Carol at the re-opening Palace Theatre

Picture: ROBIN WOOSEY

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.