CHIPO Kureya’s hair is hidden under a head scarf as she sits in the De Grey Rooms café.

She takes it off to reveal “not a lot of hair going on,” as the London actress, dancer and choreographer with the Zimbabwean family roots puts it. What a contrast to her latest role as Rapunzel, she of the fairytale long locks trailing from the tower, in Leeds company Tutti Frutti’s new revival of Mike Kenny’s play for children.

“I went to the audition and it was like, this will be fun,” says Chipo. “When you go to auditions, casting directors can be so narrow in what they want, so it was great to be put up for a long-haired princess.

“Even though details about Rapunzel can become vague by the time you’re an adult, everyone has an idea of the story, but we wanted to make it work for children today and work in any place, and that’s what’s nice about being cast in this role, to put it bluntly, as a black girl. I’m London through and through, but my heritage is the African Savannah.”

Tutti Frutti’s Rapunzel has music by Chris Mellor, movement by TC Howard and a magical design by Catherine Chapman, but above all a typically refreshing script by York playwright Mike Kenny. “He’s given it a lot more heart and made it more relatable and human,” says Chipo.

“In its basic form, it’s a story of a girl who’s rescued from a tower, but here Mike takes Rapunzel from a baby to 12, and I become Rapunzel when she turns six. In this version it’s Rapunzel who sets herself free and cuts her own hair off.”

• Tutti Frutti’s Rapunzel, De Grey Rooms Ballroom, York, Wednesday, 1.30pm and 6.30pm; Thursday, 11am, 1.30pm; Friday, 11am. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk