A LOCAL theatre legend in Ludlow is determined the show must go on as he is to play Scrooge in a production of A Christmas Carol after being diagnosed with an incurable disease.

Steve Piper, a 69-year-old teacher from Ludlow, was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in the summer.

Piper has performed at the town's fringe festival every year since 1980, and this year he will be taking the lead role of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol on December 8. It will be performed in the style of a radio play, with Piper performing from a wheelchair.

Piper said: "I look forward to it and keep my fingers crossed. I've had the script for a few weeks. Reading Dickens' description of the character it's clear I have been type-cast. Bah humbug!

Proceeds from the show, which will take place at St Laurence's Church, will go to the MND Association. The show is being put on by Two Score Theatre Company having been adapted as a radio play by Giles Emerson. Last year's Two Score production of Becket by Jean Anouilh raised £1,000 for the local branch of Hope House children's,  hospice.

Director Kim Begley said: "We're hoping to raise as much money as possible for a cause that deserves huge support and is very close to our hearts.

"As with all Two Score productions, we are bringing together some of the local talent to produce a show to raise spirits and we are so grateful to all those who are donating their time."

The production of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens will be at the church in Ludlow on December 8 at 7.30pm, and tickets cost £10 from the Ludlow Assembly Rooms box office.

Dickens' spooky masterpiece has thrilled audiences all over the globe for nearly 200 years and tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas past, present and yet to come.