THIS time round David Nixon is making a bike that turns into a horse. But neigh problem, this is the man adept at rustling up everything from a giant moving snail to a gypsy caravan.

His latest creation will gallop across the set of On the Razzle – the hilarious Tom Stoppard play that was transposed into Hello Dolly for Broadway.

It is entirely fitting the Queen’s Hall Theatre Club should have chosen it to mark their 30th anniversary. “The poster has a Champagne bottle on it, because the play’s pure fizz,” said director Moya Holmes. “It’s great fun!”

The troupe is at that all-consuming point, putting the finishing touches to the fast-paced farce before curtain up at the Queen’s Hall next week. Moya said: “It’s the bit at this stage when you’re thinking ‘oh my god!’”

But as always, they have thoroughly enjoyed themselves along the way. Moya, who has been a member since the beginning, and David, are never happier than when their ingenuity is being tested. “He builds things and I’m good at making costumes, so we manage to save a lot of money,” she said.

David’s list of credits includes building the gypsy caravan and Ratty’s house for Wind in the Willows , assembling a full kitchen for Comfor t and Joy (the festive play written by Mike Harding), rigging up a flying carpet for a pantomime and, very memorably, getting a Mini-Metro on stage for Alan Ayckbourn’s Just Between Ourselves .

Getting it into the theatre wasn’t half as hairy as returning it to the scrapyard it had come from, said Moya.

“David brought it along on a flat-bed pickup and raised it up at the stage door to the same level as the stage, but because you can’t have a petrol tank on set, we had to push the car in ourselves.

“That was OK, but when we returned it on the Sunday the scrapyard was closed. The owner had said ‘just push it off the pickup’ and we did, but then we just watched it keep rolling – I didn’t think it was going to stop!”

The troupe has travelled widely through the annals of theatrical history during the past 30 years, from Shakespeare (albeit it the abridged version that romps through all 37 plays in 97 minutes) to the drawing room classics of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward, to the modern day adaptations with mass appeal.

Their 1993 production of Catherine Cookson’s The Fifteen Streets earned them a good luck message from the author herself, something which took pride of place in the programme that season.

Blackadder Goes Forth , which they did last autumn, is perhaps the one Moya is most proud of. “I was in two minds about doing Blackadder because it was written for television, but it is a fantastic mix of comedy and tragedy. It moves from one to the other.”

Chosen as the club‘s way of commemorating the centenary of the start of the First World War, the play is set in the trenches and ends with the men going over the top. ”The audience began to clap at the end of the play, but as the Last Post began to sound they went silent. It was so moving; it was magic.“

And then there was last summer’s very stylish, very slick production of The 39 Steps . It has come as no surprise this week to learn it has been nominated for a NODA (National Operatic and Drama Association) award. The results will be announced at the North Regional Performance Awards ceremony in September.

The Queen’s Hall Theatre Club is always happy to welcome new members, whether they want to act or work behind the scenes. The club‘s website can be found at queenshalltheatreclub.co.uk and they can be contacted via email: qhtheatreclub@gmail.com