A trumpeting princess sounds like one of the panto dame’s one-liners, but in fact musician/actress Sarah Scowen is taking the lead as Sleeping Beauty in this year’s pantomime at the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchuch.

“She is a fantastic trumpet player, and when she is not on stage, she will be playing in the pit or in the wings,” says director Matt Devitt, who has been artistic director of the theatre for 12 years. ”It’s one of the conditions of joining the company, you have to be able to play at least one instrument.”

As one of the only theatres to have its own professional, full-time company of actors, Sarah first came to Matt’s attention when she starred in the Queen’s Theatre’s successful production of Ladies’ Day.

“Sarah is originally from Grays, Essex, but she did a brilliant Hull accent for that show and has mastered the posh voice for Sleeping Beauty.”

Of course, aside from the princess herself, the audience can also expect the usual “glorious nonsense”, a “really strong story,”, and a fabulous original soundtrack written by Carol Sloaman, featuring a “silly samba song, a beautiful love song and up-tempo comedy numbers”.

Sleeping Beauty runs at the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch, until Saturday, January 16. Tickets: 01708 443333, www.queens-theatre.co.uk (£12.50-£20)