PRODUCER and writer Jethro Compton is taking the Hunchback Of Notre Dame to Selby Abbey.

He has secured Arts Council England funding for York company Belt Up Theatre’s site-specific production.

Jethro’s adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel Notre Dame De Paris will be staged by a professional team and community performers – choir, bell ringers and organists – with the support of local businesses and enterprises.

Produced by Jethro Compton Ltd, the production will run from November 13 to 17 at 7.30pm nightly; ticket details will be announced soon online at hunchbackofnotredame.co.uk

“I’m absolutely delighted that we’re able to go ahead with the production,” says Jethro. “We’ve been working with Selby Abbey, Creative Selby and Selby Chamber of Commerce for the best part of a year now and it’s just fantastic that all that hard work has paid off.

“The Abbey is such an incredible, historic landmark; we’re all thrilled that we’ll be able to make the show there.”

The production will recreate Hugo’s timeless tale of longing, passion and unrequited love, inspired by a previous version performed by Belt Up, company in residence at York Theatre Royal, under the title of Quasimodo.

That original show had sold-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Southwark Playhouse, London, in 2010 and The Lowry in Salford Quays last year.

This time, Belt Up’s cast will rehearse for two weeks in Selby and will run workshops for schools and the public in the lead-up to the November performances.

Before the Selby shows, Jethro Compton Ltd and Belt Up Theatre will be returning to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August with their 2011 shows The Boy James and Outland, complemented by a new adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel, A Little Princess.