CAN you write a script and then perform a play inside one week? At the Art Centre in Dunmow you can, and they proved it to an audience of nearly 100 on Friday afternoon. Oliver!, put on by the art centre summer school pupils, literally took just one week

CAN you write a script and then perform a play inside one week? At the Art Centre in Dunmow you can, and they proved it to an audience of nearly 100 on Friday afternoon.

Oliver!, put on by the art centre summer school pupils, literally took just one week to produce, as children and teens made costumes, rehearsed dances, and got to grips with some classic songs.

Dunmow's former mayor Frank Silver was in the crowd at the Haslers Lane theatre, and was mightily impressed with the achievements of the cast.

"It was wonderful," he said. "I really enjoyed the show and I am a big fan of what they are trying to achieve over at the art centre. It is great to see such drive and ambition in a Dunmow organisation. I wish them all the success in the world."

The show was based on the film of Oliver! and the pupils at the centre received help from one of the cast in the original 1968 film. Actor Nigel Kingsley, who played one of Fagin's boys, was on hand at the beginning of the week-long workshop, and was in the audience to see the fruits of the pupils' labour.