A STAND-up comedian from Keighley and an award-winning music and theatre company are amongst performers heading to Silsden next month.

Mel Judson is supporting TV comedian Daliso Chaponda as part of his UK tour show when it stops off at Silsden Town Hall on Saturday, December 7.

Since her first gig – at Bradford – in 2017, Mel has performed across the UK, alongside comedians including Harry Hill.

The 34-year-old, an ex-pupil of Keighley's former Greenhead High School, recently starred in her first split-hour show at Nottingham Comedy Festival.

And next year she will be debuting her own hour-long show in Bradford, during its UK City of Culture celebrations.

Mel has supported Daliso Chaponda at a number of gigs, and says she's delighted to be appearing with him at Silsden.

"I've been travelling around the country with Daliso performing to cities up and down the land," she says.

"Now, for my last stop with him, I get to end on a high in my home patch. For me, to be doing all this is amazing and I'm proud to represent my area."

That same weekend – on Sunday, December 8 – the town hall is hosting a production spotlighting the private life of Charles Dickens.

Award-winning music and theatre company The Telling is performing its new show What the Dickens? as part of a UK tour.

The play has been penned by acclaimed playwright/singer Clare Norburn, and is directed by BAFTA-nominated Nicholas Renton, whose credits include BBC drama The Musketeers.

Charles Dickens is played by Clive Hayward, whilst Karen Ascoe – whose TV appearances include Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Doctors and Holby City – plays his wife Catherine.

In the production, a reading by Dickens of A Christmas Carol doesn't go to plan.

He finds himself recast as Scrooge, with his past, present and future being played out as presented by women he mistreated – Catherine and his teenage mistress Ellen Ternan, played by Rosalind Ford.

Clare says: "In What the Dickens? I’ve reimagined the classic A Christmas Carol, taking inspiration from the secrets of Dickens’ life.

"I have also drawn on how unwell and febrile he was in his final years.

"I've used those elements to overlay the familiar story we all know of A Christmas Carol, with Dickens himself being forced to re-evaluate his life and the impact of his actions."

To book tickets for the shows, visit silsden.live/whats-on