DAVID Rose, one of York’s favourite pantomime dames, will celebrate two significant anniversaries when he treads the boards at Bishopthorpe Village Hall from December 5 to 10.

Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood will not only be David’s tenth show with Bishopthorpe village panto group The Ebor Players, but also his 21st year as a dame.

Formerly with the Tockwith Players, David will don the dame's gowns once more to play Nurse Nora, who is charged with looking after King Richard’s two children, Rosie and Jim, while dealing with her misbehaving dog, Tyson, and yearning for the attentions of local daft lad Hayrick.

When the babes and Lady Marion are put in peril by the evil skulduggery of Prince John, Queen Arachnid, the Sheriff of Nottingham and his henchmen Pokem, Bashem and Thumpem, Nursie and Hayrick need to join forces with dashing hero Robin Hood and his merry men.

David is as enthusiastic as ever about his dame duties. "It’s going to be a wonderful show, with a brilliant cast and crew, together with some spectacular costumes for me,” he says.

York Press:

The Ebor Players cast for Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood with director/producer Philippa Parrish, seated, left, and dame David Rose, wearing a scarf

“We do have great fun, but we all work really hard on putting it together and learning our lines. Then we just make it all up once we get on stage – though this year I've promised to stick to the script." Cue scoffing laughter from the rest of the cast.

Katie Brennan and Alice Thornton, in their first principal roles for the Players, will play Rosie and Jim; Tyson the dog will appear as himself with help from Alastair Dunn, while Tom Davis will be Hayrick and Cathy Hartley, Lady Marion.

Bobbie Parrish's Robin Hood will be accompanied by Mhairi Dunn, Steph Marshall, Mike Dale and Josh Wren as his merry men.

Further roles will go to Vincent Loach as Prince John; Helen Dowson, Queen Arachnid; Paul Brook, the Sheriff of Nottingham; Alex Schofield, Pokem; Matt Taylor, Bashem, and Clare Pitchford, Thumpem.

Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood is being directed and produced by Philippa Parrish. Tickets for the 7.30pm performances are on sale at £8, £6 for children, at the Ebor Inn, Bishopthorpe, or by calling Lisa Beadle on 07842 999847.

“We’ve sold all the tickets for our two Saturday shows, but still have some tickets left for Monday to Friday," says dame David. "People who’ve never seen our show before are always amazed by how good it is, while people who have seen it before know it’s a load of old cobblers, but keep coming back anyway.”