Hairspray on stage at Nailsea School

Nailsea School is inviting people to 'shake and shimmy' their way back to the 1960s with its production of the musical Hairspray.

Before going into production the performers took professional advice from a top touring company to ensure everything will be all right on the night.

A coach full of students accompanied by staff travelled to the New Wimbledon Theatre in Middlesex to see actor and singer Michael Ball and former Monkees singer Micky Dolenz star in the leading roles.

Hairspray is a socially-conscious satire which delivers a fairly potent political message about the evil of ethnic intolerance.

After watching the performance the youngsters got to meet the cast and company manager Eamonn Byrne who told them to 'just go for it' and not to dilute the strong message of 'integration not segregation'.

Set in the US mid western town of Baltimore it is played out against the background of a cult televised dance contest for teenagers.

Overweight teenager Tracy Turnblad is played by diminutive Alexandra Knight wearing a fat suit and classmate Cian Jarvic is the presenter of the Corny Collins Show.

Adam Weaver also bulks up with a fat suit to play Tracy's mum Edna, heart-trob Link Larkin is played by Sam Ford and Elise Cockerton as Velma gets to sing Blonde And Beautiful.

Other foot-tapping numbers include Welcome To The Sixties and Good Morning Baltimore.

Joining the sixth formers on stage are Year 7 pupil Charlie Turner as Little Inez and Year 8 pupil Joel Rothwell as Edna's husband Wilbur.

The two hour show has a cast of 70 students, a band of musicians and an army of people doing everything from props to lightning.

Director Amy Harris, of the Windowbox Theatre Company, who also directed the much acclaimed school production of Oliver! said: "There is a lot of talent in the school and many of the young people had parts in the previous production but we also have some new face.

"Although we are sticking to the story some of the smutty innuendos in the script have been removed to ensure this is a family show.

"We are using costume to contrast racism in the story with black and white shirts and baseball boots and shiny shoe styles."

Head of music Lynda Perkins is in charge of the school orchestra and while the dance students did their own choreography stylists from Broad Street Hair, of High Street, have volunteered to coiffure the outlandish bouffant wigs.

Many of the costumes are coming from the town centre charity shops.

Four large moveable blocks which form the basis of the set and are covered in 1960s posters and wallpaper are being made by the art department.

The show runs for four nights from Tuesday to Friday, February 7-10, at 7pm.

Tickets cost £8 with concessions £5 from the school reception or by calling 01275 852251.

Nailsea School which has technology and media arts college status opened in 1959 at a grammar school with 90 pupils.

In became a comprehensive school in 1966 catering for pupils aged from 11 to 18 years.

And in September 2010 HRH the Duke of Gloucester officially opened the new £32 million new building on the same campus.

The Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project was funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and included a state-of-the-art all weather pitch with floodlighting.

Currently the school has 1,216 pupils and some of the top exam results in the county.