HENRY Rhodes and Josh Benson were destined to play the leading roles in York Stage Musicals’ production of Billy Elliot The Musical.

“Seeing the film made me want to dance, especially Billy’s angry dance,” says Henry, a 13-year-old pupil at Manor School, who will play the title role at the Grand Opera House from Monday.

“I first started tap dancing when I was eight and that opened up loads of dancing for me, first at Andrea Ferribee’s dance school, where I studied jazz and ballet as well. After doing dance shows with her for a while, I moved on to Red Shoes and then auditioned for the Yorkshire Royal Ballet Scholars, and I now attend their classes every Saturday at the Railway Institute.”

Josh, meanwhile, remembers being inspired by seeing the musical in London. “Afterwards I asked my mum for the hat and the tutu worn by Michael in the show. I was eight at the time,” he says.

Nevertheless, he could have missed out on the role of Billy’s best friend, Michael, the effervescent lad who likes to dress up.

“I was a bit nervous because I’d missed the boys’ audition, so I had to go in with the girls,” says Josh, who sailed through that experience. Indeed such is his enjoyment of the role that he is still in his tutu when he talks to York Twenty4Seven after a photographic session.

At the age of 12, he exudes confidence, aided no doubt by being the son of Barry Benson, the exuberant dame in Rowntree Players’ Dick Whittington last Christmas.

Take Josh’s positive attitude to adopting a Geordie accent for his latest role.

“I’ve always been comfortable around accents as a component of acting,” says the Archbishop Holgate’s pupil. “I’ve done Cockney for the Artful Dodger in Oliver! and I did an American accent for The Full Monty, The Musical, and I’m really enjoying being in a Geordie show as it’s my favourite accent. It’s so soft and gentle.”

Henry lived in Surrey before moving to York and his parents have Lancashire roots, and like Josh he has an ear for regional accents.

“The difference with the north eastern voice is that it goes up at the end,” he says. “I’d already learned the accent slightly from the film, and it’s got better for the show from working with Martin Lettin, who’s from the region and has been our dialect coach.”

Director Robert Readman knew he had found his Billy for this Billy Youth Theatre production as soon as Henry walked through the door at the auditions, and in turn Henry was determined to be picked for a role that chimed with his own feelings. Against the backdrop of the 1984/85 miners’ strike in the north east, miner’s son Billy has to nurture his new-found passion for dance in secret to avoid the disapproval of his struggling family, and while Henry has not had to do likewise, nevertheless he can empathise with Billy’s predicament.

“People say things about me dancing but I ignore them because I love doing it,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what they say as it’s what I want to do and my friends are very supportive.”

There, in a nutshell, is the spirit of Billy Elliot.

• York Stage Musicals present Billy Elliot The Musical at Grand Opera House, York, Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Tickets: £15 to £19 on 0844 847 2322 or grandoperahouseyork.org.uk