STAGE Experience regular Reece McMahon is to perform with the Grand Opera House summer theatre school company for the last time in Our House before leaving York to study at the London Contemporary Dance School.

"This is my 11th show; I started at six with Simon Barry directing The Wind in The Willows," says Reece, now 18.

"I played Monty Mouse, a little walk-on role, and l've done practically every year since then. It's been part of my summer for so many years and the professional advice is great. This is how I've learnt my craft with amazing directors and musical directors and great people to work with."

Reece, a familiar face at the Opera House on ushering duty as well as on stage, once again will be working under director and choreographer Louise Denison when rehearsals start on July 19.

In past years she has cast him as Fat Sam in Bugsy Malone, Benny Southstreet in Guys And Dolls, Willard in Footloose and Snowbow in West Side Story, the Bernstein and Sondheim musical in which he also will play Riff at the Leeds Carriageworks from July 16 to 19 in the last show of his studies at CAPA Performing Arts College in Wakefield.

"Louise is such a giving director and choreographer, teaching the things you need to have all the tools to be successful," says Reece, when taking a break from distributing leaflets on the Our House open-top bus publicity drive around York.

"She is so to the point and knows exactly what she wants from each of us. She works so amazingly hard with us and has inspired so many young people."

So much so that Reece's talent for dance, acting and musical theatre, further honed over two years at CAPA, led to him having the pick of a place at Guildford School of Acting, Bird College of Performing Arts or the London Contemporary Dance School.

London is calling from September but first he will play the lead role of Joe Casey in Our House, the London musical with the music-hall songs of Camden ska crew Madness and a storyline by northern playwright Tim Firth.

"Joe breaks into a building site near his home to impress the girl of his dreams on his 16th birthday – it must be a London thing – but when he climbs to the top of a building, the police try to arrest him, and that's when he splits into two characters, Good Joe and Bad Joe," says Reece.

"Good Joe stays but Bad Joe runs away, and from then on I'm playing two characters, one who tries to be honest and the other who has a cheeky side but drifts into crime.

"The show lends itself to loads of energy and the songs are really energetic too, so having a young cast in York, where there's so much talent, will make it vibrant and edgy, especially with Louise's direction, which is so lively and full of comedy."

Stage Experience present the York premiere of Our House at the Grand Opera House, York, from July 31 to August 2 at 7.30pm nightly plus a 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york