THE gangs of Wharf Green waged war with custard and foam on Saturday as the cast of Bugsy Malone clashed with splurge guns and cream pies.

The Summer Youth Project will be perfoming the musical gangster production when it opens at the Wyvern Theatre next week to celebrate their 20th anniversary.

As a taster to the main event, almost 100 members of the cast and crew, armed with foam and a vat of custard pies, charged each other during a five minute spree of carnage in the town centre.

Kate Bentley, marketing and promotions assistant, said the team were commemorating the last 20 years by re-performing their inaugural production.

“We are making the most of what is quite a big role in Bugsy Malone,” she said.

“The leading cast have got their splurge guns with them which they use on stage, and the rest will be armed with the pies. This is the 20th anniversary of Swindon Youth Project so we have gone back to the very first production they ever staged, which was Bugsy Malone two decades ago.

“The splurge guns are props from the production, and we have brought some other substances along with us, like the custard pies.

“The splurge attack today involves 97 children over the age of 13, while the project production has almost 200 children involved. A great many of them come every year and they did not take a lot of convincing to get involved. It will all be over very quickly I imagine.

“They are being broken down into four teams so they each take a corner and work as two groups against each other.”

Fraser Green, who will be playing Bugsy Malone in the production, could not escape being plastered by his fellow performers.

“I am covered in the stuff and I am getting stuck to everything,” he said after the event. “I am going to have to get the rest of them back at some point, probably during the show.

“It was all great fun though and it is a great bonding session.

“It seemed like we had the advantage with the guns, but once they ran out we were just left with nothing getting pelted. It was absolute carnage.

“The rehearsals are going well and we have been preparing since Sunday.”

Roxanne Appleby-Dymond, playing Dandy Dan, said the show would be offering something for everyone and was inclusive enough for all of the performers to shine.

“It’s really good fun, and the show will have lots of different bits for everyone,” she said.

“In this show in particular there is lots for everyone to do. All of us have a line or a song here and there so we can all get involved and everything is really coming together nicely.

“We’ve all got covered in this stuff, and it is really sticky and tastes revolting.”

Bugsy Malone will open on Thursday and runs until Sunday.

Ticket prices range from £12 for a matinee to £14 for the Friday evening show. For more information and to book visit www.

swindontheatres.org.uk or call Swindon Theatres box office on 01793 524481.