PLAYING in front of a full house every night is the dream of every professional actor who treads the stage.

But the secret of sell-out success has been cracked by a group of amateur thespians who will stage the hit musical Evita in front of bumper crowds later this month.

The Runway Theatre Company will perform six shows in the Eastwood Park Theatre with no spaces in the 330-seat auditorium during the show's six-performance run after tickets, priced between £12 and £15 each, were snapped up almost as soon as they went on sale.

Robert Fyfe, the show's director and producer, said that everyone had been amazed by the interest in the musical and the cast were hugely excited to play in front of a full house.

He said: "We started off as a group that put on a regular panto, and it always sold well. But we decided to stage Evita and within two to three weeks of the announcement the show had sold out.

"It's amazing and we don't know quite why that has happened. It's been a very challenging show to do. There are 40 performers and they are all amateurs, but rehearsals have been going well."

The musical has cost around £35,000 to stage, with bills due for costumes, hiring the theatre and rehearsal studio and acquiring the rights to the show.

Mr Fyfe said: "It is a bit of a risk and we hoped to sell out to cover the cost, so to do it so fast has been terrific."

Interest has come not just from the company's usual fans, but also from other theatre groups.

Such was the demand for parts in the show that auditions had to be held, with the role of Evita going to two women who will play on alternate nights because of the strenuous demands of the part.

Caroline Telfer, a teacher, and Jennifer Hardie, who runs a theatre school, have been picked for the title role, considered one of the most demanding in theatre and famously played by Madonna in the film version.

Choreography for the all-singing, all-dancing show has been created by Greg Robertson, a fitness instructor, while the music has been supervised by David Dunlop, Principal Teacher of Music at Castlehead High School in Paisley.

Evita, featuring the hit songs 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' and 'Another Suitcase In Another Hall', charts the dramatic life of Argentina's Eva Peron, following her meteoric rise to virtual sainthood.

The Broadway production won seven Tony Awards including Best Book, Best Score and Best Musical of the Year.

Mr Fyfe said: "A lot of amateur groups are struggling these days to attract an audience, even with smaller projects. It's hard to sell something out.

"But we're trying to do new things and offer shows that people have never seen, rather than things that have been staged a number of time before.

"It's been quite daunting. You listen to CDs of the show and thing 'oh my God, how are we going to do this?'. But you just break it down into smaller sections and perfect them then move on.

"We've been rehearsing since the end of our panto in January and we're at the stage now of doing full run-throughs, so it's all come together."

The show will be on nightly at Eastwood Park Theatre from May 19 to 23 with an additional matinee performance on Saturday May 23.