Lee Gemmell gets used to his dual personalities as Jekyll & Hyde for the latest Yorkstage Musicals production.

LEE Gemmell is drawn to the dark side.

The York St John University College theatre student from Haxby is undertaking his first lead for Yorkstage Musicals next week, performing the title roles in the York premiere of Jekyll & Hyde, The Musical at Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

Once before, he has played a man who crosses the divide between good and bad. "For two years I lived in Qatar, doing my GCSEs at Doha College when my dad got a new job and I followed him over there.

"While I was out there I played Dracula in Dracula Spectacula, and as Qatar is a religious state we had to replace all the Christ references with Teletubbies and holy water with Old Spice. Getting sprayed with that every night was terrible," says Lee, who was born in York and returned to the city for his A-level studies in theatre, media, history and art at Joseph Rowntree School.

You may have seen Lee in York Light Opera Company's production of Anything Goes last year, but you will not have seen him in Little Shop Of Horrors, his first and last show for Rowntree Musical Theatre (whose membership has now amalgamated with Shipton Theatre Company to form Yorkstage Musicals).

"I did the voice of Audrey 2, the big plant, so I was off stage with Jeff Barley choreographing the plant's movements," Lee recalls. "It was like The Muppets; I had to be as close as I could be to him without being seen by the audience. So you only saw me at the end taking a bow; I was the one with The Voice on my T-shirt!"

Not that 20-year-old Lee is complaining. "I love that show so much that I just had to audition, and from July 22 I'm in rehearsals for Live Nation Stage Experience's production of Little Shop at the Grand Opera House. I'll be doing Audrey 2 again as I love vocal work and that role has a great range," he says.

"I'm interested in becoming a voice actor and I also like to draw cartoons and comic strips and would love to do voiceovers for them: I'm caught between acting and art"

He has been fascinated by the split personality of Jekyll & Hyde since reading Robert Louis Stevenson's gothic melodrama when he was nine. "I couldn't understand most of it but I thought, what a lovely story about a schizophrenic murderer'! I know I'm not suited to most leading roles but this is very much my kind of role," says Lee, whose long hair will be tied back for Dr Jekyll and let down for Mr Hyde. "Jekyll is restrained; Hyde is like his hair, wild."

Lee will make play of his physical features and his strong voice in Robert Readman's macabre production. "I've got quite a rubbery face so I can contort it for Hyde, and then there's a bit of Audrey 2's voice in Dr Jekyll. He's British, post 1880 London, plenty of bass in his voice; Hyde is I've never thought about the accent to give him. The words that jumped out at me from the script were pure evil', and I knew I didn't want to give him a Cockney accent, just something that said pure evil'!"

Which is easier to play, Lee, Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde? "Hyde has not been difficult but Jekyll is," he decides. But why, Lee? "Because I'm a freak" he jokes. "Hyde is physically demanding, so you start from that and then work back to Jekyll. I think it's better to have your conclusion first and go back to the start from there.

"The Hyde stuff comes naturally because he has no inhibitions, though I guess Jekyll would usually be seen as the normal person to play and Hyde as the actor! But I would say I'm naturally shy, and if you're naturally shy it's easier to become uninhibited."

Yorkstage Musicals presents Leslie Bricusse's Jekyll & Hyde, The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, May 30 to June 3, 7.30pm. Box office: 0870 770 5741 or 01904 623568.