UNIVERSITY of York St John musical theatre student Ben Papworth is making his Pick Me Up Theatre debut as musical director with Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.

"When being asked 'what attracts you to doing this show?', it's the huge challenge of Sweeney Todd. You can do Into The Woods, lots of Sondheim, but Sweeney is the biggest challenge," says 20-year-old Ben, from Brayton, south of Selby.

"I'm enjoying it, even in the restricted space where there's ten of us in the band, up at the back in the 41 Monkgate theatre. I'm in the middle, playing bassoon, oboe, cor anglais, violin and percussion as well as conducting!"

Ben is making his mark across the York musical theatre scene beyond his university studies. "I've worked with York Light Youth, York Light Opera Company, The York Orchard Theatre Company and York Stage Musicals; now I'm doing this show for Pick Me Up and I'll be doing Acorn Antiques with York Musical Theatre Company in October at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre," he says.

Anything else, Ben? "I'll be helping with the Rowntree Players panto [The Hunchback Of Notre Dame] at Christmas," he says, as he continues to spread his wings.

"The way I first got into doing shows in York was meeting musical director Mike Thompson in 2013 and being invited by him to work as assistant musical director on Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for York Light Youth, and I've continued from there," he says.

Ben believes he can only benefit from stepping beyond the "university bubble". "Every single career path I've taken, every choice I've made, has been nothing to do with the university. Everything I've done is based on choices I've made outside the university," he says. "I now have these friendships opening up for me, because I've gone outside just being at the university."

Watching Ben in action with the Pick Me Up band and cast, he looks at home perched on high in the Monkgate studio theatre. "Specifically with Sweeney, I love the chorus work," he says. "The show is challenging everybody; the singers; the band; Nick Lewis's Sweeney Todd and Susannah Baines's Mrs Lovett, who have so much singing to do.

"It's a great piece of theatre to sinkt your teeth into; there's always something happening, and then of course there are the orchestrations with some luscious parts to them and wonderful work for the band and chorus.

"It keeps pushing you, and I know I'm going to come out of Sweeney Todd, thinking, 'flip, I can do even more now as a musical director', but it's also been fun to do, bursting into laugher at rehearsals."

Summing up what makes Sweeney Todd such a special show, Ben says: "It's comical, it's dark, it's got something for everyone, and in the intimate environment of 41 Monkgate, the audience are so close, it's a chance to make them feel really uncomfortable!"

Pick Me Up Theatre's Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, John Cooper Studio Theatre, 41 Monkgate, York; continues Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: thelittleboxoffice.com/pickmeuptheatre