WITH Colchester's Mad Hatter Productions it's just one great show after another.

And they're hoping to continue that streak with their version of Alan Bennett's The History Boys.

It's a bit of a departure for the group, who in recent years have been well known for such musical shows as Urinetown, The Drowsy Chaperone and Assassins.

But it's totally in keeping with Mad Hatter itself which, when it was set up back in 2009/2010, put on such diverse plays as Art, Teechers, Metamorphosis and Of Mice and Men.

Director Will Mugford says: "Our last play was back in 2013 with An Inspector Calls so it's been long overdue.

"The main reason we've done musicals is the rights have become available for the ones we've wanted to do.

"Assassins was a good example because that's a show a few of us have been wanting to do a while but the rights just weren't being offered up to amateur groups so when it did, we jumped at the chance.

"That's the closest we've done to a play in recent years. I co-directed with Barney Fritz and everyone had such a brilliant time, especially with the chance to flex their acting muscles."

And there will be plenty of opportunity to do that in Alan Bennett's hit West End play, which is perhaps best remembered for the film version starring Richard Griffiths, Dominic Cooper, Russell Tovey and James Corden.

Set in grammar school in the north of England in the mid-Eighties, The History Boys sets a group of students on the cusp of getting into Oxbridge against the very different teachers tasked to get them there.

For the boys, the pursuit of academic excellence is frequently disturbed by adolescent yearnings and questions of religion, class and sexuality while for some of the masters, the years of staff room rivalry and bureaucratic meddling have chipped away at their youthful idealism.

Will says: "We have 11 in the cast, mainly boys, aged from 16 to 23, and all of them have relished the chance of being in a play like this."

Even Will.

"Unfortunately the guy playing Scripps had to drop out," Will tells me, "but it was early enough not to make too much of a difference. I've stepped in, which has provided me with another challenge, but I am loving both directing and being in the show.

"The only problem has been trying to moderate the banter. I mean I want some banter in the classroom and the cast have been very good at that, it just has to be staged banter. I think they've got it now though."

The History Boys runs at the Headgate Theatre, Chapel Street North, Colchester, from March 7 to 11 at 7.45pm each night. For tickets, priced £12 and £10 for concessions, call the box office on 01206 366000 or go on-line at www.headgatetheatre.co.uk