'Scrooge' to raise money for MND research

Steve Piper will play the Dickens character in Ludlow

A Shropshire actor, diagnosed earlier this year with motor neurone disease (MND), is returning to the stage to raise funds to combat the condition.

Steve Piper will play Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, at St Laurence's church in Ludlow, on 8 December.

Mr Piper has become well-known in the town for summer performances in "cannibalised" versions of Shakespeare plays.

Director Kim Begley saw him perform this year and came up with the festive idea.

Mr Piper said the summer Shakespeare shows had been running for 39 years, with only a year off during the pandemic.

This year's play, based on The Taming of the Shrew, had to be delayed when he found out he had MND.

Director Kim Begley (left) came up with the idea of performing a Christmas Carol to raise funds for MND research

"I was quite determined it would still go on, so we delayed the actual production until the end of July," he told BBC Radio Shropshire.

Mr Piper added: "I'm not very good on my legs any more, so luckily we had in our props cupboard a zimmer frame."

Mr Begley, director of next month's show, said: "I saw [Steve] in his grey wig and thought what a wonderful Scrooge he'd make, so an embryonic idea formed of doing A Christmas Carol in aid of MND.

"It's an opportunity, too, for all the other actors who Steve and I know to get together with Steve and perform this piece."

The actors will perform the piece as a radio play wearing evening dress, "like a studio in the 1950s", Mr Begley said.

"Although you're watching people perform, you could close your eyes. As long as you don't drop off," he added.