THE magical world of Narnia continues to exert a fascination for children of all ages.

The massive success of the film of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe has ignited a huge amount of interest in C S Lewis and his ground-breaking fantasy novels.

But it was long before the Hollywood-induced mania that Colwall Players decided to stage an adaptation of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third of the Narnia books.

"We've been working on it for a long time," said Marie-Louise Docherty, the director.

"It's a major production which involves a lot of people from the village, a real community project."

Because the play has a lot of parts for children, Young Colwall Players are heavily involved.

Taking the leading parts are Hattie Lloyd as Lucy and Ollie Mealing as Edmund, with Jacob Paisley as the loathsome cousin Eustace. Holly Daniels takes the role of Reepicheep, the valiant mouse.

"Lucy and Edmund were the youngest children in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe," said Marie-Louise. "They are the main characters in this one because the others have grown too old to get to Narnia.

"Their story is a quest, and all sorts of exciting things happen to them, including a storm, a shipwreck and being sold into slavery."

One of the main adult parts, that of Prince Caspian, was originally given to Jeremy (J J) Smith, the teacher and keen amateur actor who died suddenly, aged 26, in November.

"We've dedicated the production to J J," said Marie-Louise. The part of Prince Caspian has been taken by Liam Pettit, who is studying performing arts at college in Hereford.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader runs from Thursday to Saturday, February 23-25, daily at 7.30pm, with a 2.30pm matinee on the Saturday.

Tickets are £6, £3 concessions, and are available from John Goodwin Estate Agents, Colwall, on 01684 540300.