The new stars of a touring theatre production got into character by nibbling some sugary sweets.

David Levine and Emma-Jean Jeffries will soon be treading the boards around Oxfordshire in a new take on the fairytale Hansel and Gretel.

They were invited to Sweet Heaven, at the Bead Games shop, in Cowley Road, Oxford for a photocall to publicise the Oxfordshire Touring Theatre Company production.

Mr Levine said: "It was great. We were given a bag of free goodies at the end, because the lady that runs the shop said she would feel like the Wicked Witch if she didn’t give us some sweets."

The play will see the two main characters abandoned in the woods by their starving parents. When the children stumble upon a gingerbread house, they cannot resist a quick bite — which leads them into the clutches of a sinister old woman.

Hansel and Gretel opens on Thursday, November 13, at Begbroke Village Hall, before touring around the county until Valentine's Day next year. For more details of venues, see www.ottc.org.uk