MARK Smith's production of Twelfth Night for the York Shakespeare Project will be "fast, fun and folky".

Fast and fun, yes, but why do a folky version of Shakespeare's rustic comedy, Mark?

"When I went back to reading the play, it struck me that the music – already in the play – had to be integral to it," says the director, who teaches at the University of York's Theatre, Film and Television department .

"In the pop world, folk is in vogue with Mumford & Sons and Fleet Foxes, though we try not to mention the 'M' word, but strike the right musical note for our show.

"Then I was trying to find an image for the production and saw a picture of Old Man Luedecke, a Canadian musician I'd never heard of, which led to a chance discovery of his music."

Mark turned to Australian-born composer Fergus McGlynn, his partner in the rhythm section of York band The Rusty Pegs, to write new tunes to accompany the songs in Twelfth Night and incidental pieces to open the show and link and underscore scenes.

"It's my first time directing in the Studio, where we decided we should work with the constraints of space and budget and make them positive things, along with making the most of the actor-musician cast we have," says Mark.

"We also decided to keep the cast as small as possible – originally we had 13 and now it's12 – with all the scenes overlapping and the cast have taken that on board brilliantly. They've absolutely powered through it in rehearsal and we should have a running time of less than 2½ hours."

YSP chairman Maurice Crichton, who will play a ukulele-playing Feste the fool, has referred to Mark's directing methods as "working to Dogme rules", in the manner of Denmark's gloomy Dogme 95 film manifesto.

"We have a set of rules that is a framework for the production: no pre-recorded sounds and no sounds created other than by the cast, although these weren't imposed by me; they emerged in rehearsals," says Mark.

A further innovative element will be the cast's use of whatever comes to hand on the stage for Shakespeare's romantic yet melancholic comedy that is also full of broad humour and revels in the con trick played on the self-deluded, cross-gartered Malvolio (played by Nick Jones). "We're setting it in this imaginary world, like an attic or store room, which the actors explore at the beginning and the props come from that," says Mark.

"I've tried to keep that sense of 'play' , so that over the ten performances, the actors can keep it fresh – and there could be unexpected props, particularly with Paul Osborne playing Sir Toby Belch."

He is delighted with his casting, not least of Maurice Crichton as Feste and Laura Soper as Viola, after she came through the most competitive auditions of the year in York for a young actress's role.

"You could imagine Maurice's Malvolio; you could imagine his Sir Toby Belch, but you couldn't imagine his Feste, so that's why I've picked him as the fool," says Mark, who has been impressed by Crichton's preparations.

"He already had a great singing voice and he's been learning the ukulele with Fergus, and quite sheepishly one day, he said to me he'd like to do something with his hair for the role. He's cropped it, which does give him a harsher look for the kind of Feste he wanted to play.

"It should also be interesting to see Paul Osborne's Sir Toby Belch, which he might not have expected to play, and I think Beryl Nairn was quite surprised to be cast as Fabian. When I asked to read in for it, she did it spectacularly well, and there's no reason why Fabian should have to be male."

Why do so many actresses aspire to play the mistress of disguise, Viola, Mark? "She's witty, she's cunning; she's spirited, magnetic, impulsive, and she's active, and she's absolutely key to Twelfth Night, because when she turns up, nobody who meets leaves her leaves without something having changed because she's such a sparky character," he says.

"Laura Soper's vocal performance as Viola has been beautiful, right from the start in the auditions; she has a twinkle in her eyes, and I'm thrilled to be working with a young woman who's so talented - and she plays the concertina and ukulele beautifully too!"

York Shakespeare Project presents Twelfth Night at The Studio, York Theatre Royal, from tonight until April 12. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk