An historic theatre is bringing festive cheer with its first in-house Christmas production since the pandemic.

This year's performance at the Royal & Derngate in Northampton is an adaptation of The Jolly Postman and marks the first time since 2019 that the venue has created a Christmas show exclusively for its own stage.

The performance will not tour and will feature a largely local cast.

Artistic director Jesse Jones said: "I've always wanted to do show, but wasn't quite sure how to do it."

Last year, the Derngate hosted a touring production of Stick Man for Christmas.

The theatre has assembled its own creative team, cast, set construction and costumes this time around.

The story follows a mail postman delivering letters by bicycle to beloved characters from traditional British children's tales.

Mr Jones added: "It is a fun job a lot of the time. You have theories of what is going to work. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.

"It's a very special moment breathing life into these things, and when you invite the audience in, that's when you really think, it's birthed and then, we start thinking about what are we doing next year."