Members of a local musical theatre group say they are heartbroken by the disappearance of several of their advertising posters.

Wessex Musical Theatre, the new name for Weymouth Operatic Society (WOS), is putting on a series of live performances of The Producers at the end of this month at Weymouth Pavilion.

To publicise this performance the group put up posters to advertise the show and attract more visitors. However, according to the group, many of these posters have gone missing.

Angela Elliott, a member of Wessex Music Theatre, said: "We are staging The Producers at the Pavilion at the end of this month and as part of our publicity campaign we put up posters in and around Weymouth.

"We do this during the month of the show, as stipulated by the council, but these posters are fast disappearing.

"To stage a production at the Pavilion, it costs us £30,000 and we need as much publicity as possible to promote these shows and cover our costs.

"We contacted Planning and Highways (at Dorset Council), the only council department with the authority to remove our posters but they know nothing about it.

"Maybe people do not realise that we are a Weymouth-based musical society because of our new name but we are a bunch of enthusiastic, dedicated people trying to keep local musical theatre alive.

"We have put a lot of effort and money into making these posters and displaying them and it is heart breaking that individuals are treating us in this way."

The group said the identity of the person or persons involved in removing their posters is a complete mystery.

"I don't know who would want to do this to us," said Ms Elliott, "If anyone had a problem with us they could have just called us with the contact information on the poster."

The performance runs from Wednesday, May 29 to Saturday, June 1. The shows start at 7.30pm each day and there is a 2.30pm matinee on the Saturday.

Tickets cost £17 and can be purchased from the Weymouth Pavilion box office by calling 01305 783225 or visiting www.weymouthpavilion.com