THE show must go on, as they say in showbiz - and a generous donor has ensured that will be the case for kids in Bromsgrove this autumn.

The Advertiser reported back in April how touring children's production Dear Zoo! was forced to cancel its show at the Artrix Theatre due to the theft of its tour truck in Cambridgeshire just days before it was set to head to Bromsgrove.

The play is based on the books by children's author Rod Campbell and its Mercedes tour truck contained around £50,000 worth of props, costumes and set pieces.

A Peterborough man was jailed in June for the theft, which forced the production organisers to cancel the final dates of the show's spring tour, including the one in Bromsgrove.

Despite that arrest, the tour bus and its contents have still not been recovered which has meant a total rebuild of the production at great cost.

But now an anonymous donor has stepped in, allowing the production to restart later this year, with the Artrix shows being rescheduled for Sunday, September 22 and Monday, September 23.

Chris Davis of show producers Norwell Lapley Productions said: "We are really delighted that we are now able to go ahead and put Dear Zoo! out on the road again thanks to a very generous anonymous donation.

"Support for the show has been amazing and the sympathetic response from the public has been quite overwhelming.

"We had confirmed some tour dates for the autumn, but they were in doubt as we were not sure if we would be able to cover costs following the disastrous theft of the Dear Zoo tour bus.”

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at www.artrix.co.uk

Celebrating 35 years in 2017, Dear Zoo is the story of a child who writes to the zoo asking them to send a pet.