Freddie Mercury is to appear on stage as an "optical illusion."

The late Queen front man - who passed away in 1991 - will seem to perform for an audience at musical We Will Rock You, which is based on the band's music, to mark the tenth anniversary of the show in London.

Queen guitarist Brian May told BBC news the new "effect" was "an optical illusion of sorts." He added, "People will come out saying, 'did we actually see Freddie?'" However, Brian said the effect used will be different to the hologram technology which made late rapper Tupac Shakur appear on stage and perform at Coachella festival in California last month.

"It's a little unfortunate they did that thing with Tupac as we've been trying to make Freddie appear on the stage for quite a while The hologram technique is something we've looked at ourselves but I think probably for a show that runs eight shows a week it's not really practical."

The special edition show of We Will Rock You will take place on May 14 at London's Dominion Theatre. Queen have previously made live appearances where Freddie appears to sing the band's hit "Bohemian Rhapsody" using a backing track and video footage of him singing the song.