THEALE Green School, Exiled Theatre and Reading Libraries are joining forces to deliver a spooky evening of magic, mystery, music, murder and mirth to kick off the Christmas period.

Battle Library will host an interactive play in which audiences meet face-to-face with the ghosts and spirits that haunt Reading.

The unwitting crowds will wander the library meeting characters from Readings rich, exciting and dark past as well as the worlds of fiction and nightmare.

Students, staff and alumni from Theale Green will bring to un-life Mrs Dyer, the notorious Reading Baby Farmer, Mrs Jarman, whose story concerns the grisly fate of Thomas of Reading, Trooper Potts, the humble hero of World War One and the pigeon poo spattered statue of Queen Victoria.

Strange librarians, an expert in the occult, a child who has escaped the Krampus, a verger with a strange Christmas Tale, a Victorian party host and a snowman in mourning will also drift through.

This work by the Exiled Theatre Company and Theale Green School is now an annual event.

Celebrating the history of the building in the heart of the Oxford Road community and revelling in the stories and tales hidden within its shelves, the evening promises to chill the bone while the mince pies and mulled wine warm the flesh.

From 7.30pm on December 8 and 9. Tickets £5, £4 for library members.