A GROWN up show for a very talented bunch of young performers.

That's what audiences can expect when CO2 make a welcome return to the Mercury Theatre next month for their latest production, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel.

Telling the romantic story of carousel barker Billy Bigelow and millworker Julie Jordan, the musical is perhaps best known for the barnstorming number You'll Never Walk Alone, made famous more by it's adoption by Liverpool Football Club.

For director Nikki Mundell-Poole Carousel has very different associations having directed the show four times before for adult operatic groups and also appearing in it when the Colchester Operatic Society performed the musical in their Golden Jubilee year in 2002.

She says: "Both my parents were in that show as well so I have some very special memories of it.

"This, however, is the first time I've directed Carousel for a younger group and I must say I've found it very interesting, especially as we're doing a classic musical with a modern twist."

Nikki also has a soft spot for CO2.

"I was one of the original founder members in 1984," she adds, "but I've been pretty much involved with the society all my life because of my parents. I remember at the age of 11 helping out backstage but because you weren't allowed to be in a show until you were 16, I had to wait until Half a Sixpence to be in one.

"In the end I was in CO2 until 1992 and I managed to get married in between starting and leaving so there are a lot of memories."

Which makes it a little surprising this is her first time directing the group.

"I've always been signed up to direct other shows for groups in Witham and Clacton," she says. "CO2 shows are often programmed in later in the year so by the time the committee get around to sorting out the cast and crew I've been unavailable. This year has worked out differently and so I was delighted when they asked me and I could actually do it.

"It's been a lot of fun although there are a lot of challenges putting on a musical like Carousel, one of which is it's quite a grown-up show dealing with some pretty grown-up subjects like love and death. Stephen Sondheim once said 'Oklahoma! is about a picnic, Carousel is about life and death' and he's spot on. The original story it's based on was so dark they had soften it up for the musical. There's some pretty serious issues for a young cast."

And it's just not the acting skills required.

"It's also quite ballet driven," Nikki adds, "and because this cast is perhaps more used to doing modern and tap, that's given us even more challenges but it's something we've all faced with excitement rather than trepidation. They really have been working so hard and with so much passion I think it's going to be an amazing show to watch."

In recent years, CO2, the junior section of the town's main operatic group, have been packing them in at the Mercury with critically acclaimed shows such as West Side Story, Grease and last year's Legally Blonde.

Leading the cast once again will be two of the stalwarts of the group Will Mugford as Billy Bigelow and Wade Ablitt who plays the ambitious fisherman Enoch Snow.

Will, 19, who played the part of Warner in last year's Legally Blonde and Danny in Grease, says: "My first show was back in 2009 with The Wiz so rather incredibly this is my eighth production. That said I do feel this is very different to the other shows that I've done mainly because there is a lot more acting involved.

"It's tough but I'm really having fun with it, going into the character of Billy, who has so many different layers, it's absolutely one of the most enjoyable roles to play, precisely because of all that."

For 22 year-old Wade, this will be his fourth production after making his debut in Guys and Dolls back in 2012 and while for Will it may be the challenge of playing a complex character, Wade's attraction to performing in CO2 has also been the chance to perform in a big lavish show.

"I'll be honest," he smiles, "that's it for me. Creatively I've been involved in Mad Hatter and put on my own shows at the Headgate Theatre where I've done everything from design the set, composing the music and directing but with CO2 it's that opportunity to perform on the Mercury main stage with the big sets and an orchestra. There's an egotistical kind of joy being involved in a really big show such as this and actually I cannot wait."

For the female leads, Jenny Collins, who plays Julie Jordan, and Ella D'Arcy-Jones, who plays Enoch Snow's love interest Carrie Pipperidge, Carousel is giving them an opportunity to be back on stage together after they were supposed to be in Mad Hatter's Assassins early in the year.

Jenny, 19, says: "Ella and I had this double act thing going on in rehearsals but she had to pull out of that show at the last minute so it's been great to be in this one together.

"I suppose the real challenges for us is making the characters grow and I don't mean just developing them on stage but literally ageing them 16 years in five minutes which is what Ella and I have to do in this show."

According to the girls being members of the Mercury Youth Theatre has helped - a lot.

"That's where Jenny and I met," Ella, 17, explains. "Actually it was at a summer school the Mercury ran a few years back and then we were in Hard Times together but I think both Jenny and I would credit our time at the Mercury with helping us performing these characters. They're pretty tough to do but a lot of fun as well."

Carousel

Mercury Theatre,

Balkerne Gate, Colchester.

September 8 to 17. 7.30pm and 2.30pm (Saturdays).

£13 to £20. 01206 573948.

www.mercurytheatre.co.uk