T he Queen’s Knickers is a winning title all on its own, but thanks to the stage production, you can finally see the evidence for yourself.

It also means you can meet Luanna Priestman, The Queen herself, and of course her strange array of knickers.

“I have so many knickers; horse riding ones, union jack ones, parachute ones,” Luanna says. “So you can imagine how everything goes haywire when the Queen’s knickers all go missing.

“But I also wear a fabulous wig and have a very specific voice,” Luanna tells me proudly.

Spotted in a Tall Stories show, Luanna was auditioned for the world’s most famous monarch immediately, and got the part — not a surprise, having worked extensively in children’s theatre.

So what should fans of the book expect?

“Well it’s really clever because the book is very pictorially led and there’s no real narrative to follow, so this is more like ‘a day in the life’ of these two characters — The Queen and her maid Dilys -— and all a bit bonkers. But they are the best of mates and Dilys is very proud of her job looking after the Queen and the Queen’s knickers, so she is like a headless chicken when they go missing.”

Aimed at a 3+ audience, Luanna feels very strongly about the quality of children’s theatre, feeling that it’s incredibly important and should be as professional as any other theatrical genre.

“It needs to be innovative, sensory, immersive theatre,” she tells me.

Utterly dedicated to her craft, Luanna grew up in Hull and always “did stuff like dancing and school plays.”

She then went to university in London and specialised in physical theatre.

“That’s where it really started because physical theatre is what children like. They read body language; they are very visual and have an immediate response to it. And children are the most honest audience. If it’s not funny they won’t laugh, there’s no cue to titter, children will not do that, so it’s up to us to make them laugh and I love that.”

Luanna is in rehearsals when we speak, before opening The Queen’s Knickers in the Southbank Centre.

Currently trying to cement all the different bits together and really think about what lies behind each picture in the book, she says the pressure is really on.

“Every time you start a new project it’s equally as exciting,” she says in delight, ”but I do so love playing the Queen, so I can’t wait.”

Friday and Saturday

Box office: 01865 305305, oxfordplayhouse.com