The geeks are about to inherit The Earth in the pop-rock fantasy, Loserville, written by a member of the band Busted.

James Bourne came together with writer and composer Elliot Davis in 2009 for the National Youth Theatre, four years after the British pop-rco band had split up, it went on to play at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in the summer of 2012, then transferred to the Garrick Theatre in London until January 2013.

Musical director Emma Barry describes the music as “upbeat and pacy” ahead of its three-night run at The Abbey Theatre in Holywell Hill.

“The kids have done amazingly well learning it, considering it is pretty much a new musical for all of them” she explains, “Hopefully the songs will have audience members tapping their feet, and they’ll definitely come out humming the tunes by the end of the show. If they don’t know Loserville when they come into the auditorium, they’ll certainly know it on the way out.”

Set in 1971, Loserville is the story of 17 year old misfit geek, Michael Dork. Michael and his friends are planning to change the world and get out of Loserville. Michael dreams of creating a system to enable computers to talk to each other. His friends are Lucas, a sci-fi fan working on a novel, and Marvin and Francis, who are obsessed with winning the annual sci-fi convention. The prize is a chance to meet the cast of Star Trek, and their entry is a model of their Star Ship to the Future.

Constantly picked on by Eddie, the coolest boy in school, Michael has also discovered girls, specifically one girl, called Holly, something almost as exciting as his love of binary. If only he had the courage to talk to her.

As a teenager, director Katy Jane Meehan was a great fan of Busted. She says: “When they split in 2005 I was devastated. However, it wasn’t long before their solo ventures started to appear.

“The one album that really stuck with me was the result of Bourne’s venture with his new band, Son of Dork. It was called Welcome to Loserville, and I spent many an hour bopping around my bedroom, while listening to its upbeat pop-rock tracks.”

Abbey Theatre, Westminster Lodge, Holywell Hill, St Albans, AL1 2DL, Thursday, April 6 until Saturday, April 8. Details: 01727 847472