FAMILIES looking for an alternative theatre outing to the traditional Christmas pantomime might be tempted by a musical comedy coming to the stage in Abingdon.

Comically described as like “Shrek with a Hump!”, Quasimodo AGoGo, is a comical twist on the Hunchback of Notre Dame and tells the story of what happens when the citizens of Paris are held under an evil spell.

No one can do anything unless they first hear Quasimodo, played by Sam Mansfield, ringing the bell.

But suddenly it fails to echo across the city’s rooftops. Foul magic is suspected.

The popular old Mayor Modomoi has also disappeared, leaving Paris to be governed by the nasty new Mayor Frollo, played by one of the show’s two creators Joe Graham, and his dim brother Freelo (Aaron Oke).

So, with a score of original songs written by Joe and his brother Jim, the story of what happened to the bell unfolds, interspersed with rocky tunes and melodic, powerful ballads.

The tale is being brought to life by members of the Oxfordshire-based Balancing Act theatre group at the Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon, from Wednesday to Saturday, January 21 to 24, at 7.30pm.

Playwright Joe directs the action as well as taking a role in this ensemble piece. Brother Jim takes charge of the musical score.

Joe said of staging Quasimodo AGoGo at The Unicorn Theatre: “This is the perfect venue to present this comedy musical aimed at the whole family. The Unicorn perfectly evokes the atmosphere of Notre Dame.”

Musical director Jim said: “Sometimes panto can exclude dad or those not up for the whole ‘He’s behind you’ thing . . . We wanted to create something everyone will want to see and not just because they had to bring the kids.”

The other members of the cast are: Pierre Pot Pourri (Harry Quinn); Madelleine Trinquet (Danielle Higgs); Gypsy Queen (Pat Giles); Esmeralda (Sarah Duke); Michelle Mabelle (Angie Stevens); Gargoyle Grouty (Sara Graham); and Gargoyle Sandy (Katie Mansfield). Tickets for the show are £10 adults and £8 concessions and are available from the box office on 07583 118086, or online via www.wegottickets.com/balancingact Joe’s love of theatre came about through working as a stagehand at the King’s Theatre, Glasgow, while studying at the city’s world-renowned School of Art.

It was only after heading south to Oxford and performing in and directing many amateur musical shows that he tried his hand at “this writing lark”.

With an enthusiastic group of young people at his local drama group, Kennington Amateur Dramatic Society, keen to perform at a local festival, Joe wrote the “longest play I thought I might ever write” — a 15-minute epic entitled In Limbo.

But his choice of title for that first play did not prove to be prophetic as the cast and audience’s reaction to it spurred him on take up the pen again and again. Several other and increasingly longer plays were to follow at various festivals until Joe achieved his professional breakthrough with Sherbet Lemon at The Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham.

Joe’s professional productions at The Everyman also include Best Man Faller, Spare Prick and Actually Moving; Joined at the Hip at the Bristol Old Vic; and Cinderella and Aladdin at Watford Palace Theatre.

In 2011, Joe’s country musical comedy Rhinestone Mondays, starring Shaun Williamson (Eastenders, Extras and Life’s Too Short), Lyn Paul (New Seekers and Blood Brothers), and Faye Tozer and Ian H Watkins (Steps), toured the UK, and the following year saw Delirium Theatre produce Joe’s dramatic play Oranges on the Brain at the Pegasus Theatre, Oxford, and The Courtyard Theatre, London. Together with brother Jim, Joe has also written and produced their own brand of pantomime/family musicals such as Sinbad and the Voyage of the Seven Souls and Quasimodo AGoGo.