THE autumn season at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, has started, with the latest improvements to the theatre in place.

New stage lighting, electrics and flooring will complement the auditorium seating and technical equipment already installed at the Haxby Road community theatre.

Next to benefit from the refurbishment will be York professional company The Dreaming, whose version of Chaucer's bawdy romp The Canterbury Tales will be staged in a one-off public performance on September 21. The show is not suitable for children under 16, and nor is The Dreaming's second autumn production, the thriller Dracula, on October 23.

Rowntree Players have two shows: the musical story of Castleford pools winner Viv Nicholson, Spend Spend Spend!, from October 5 to 9, and the early-starting pantomime run of Jack And The Beanstalk from December 4 to 11, with 2.30pm Saturday matinees and no Sunday performance.

Three more shows are booked in for more than one night: York Opera's production of Die Fledermaus, October 26, 27, 29 and 30; New Earswick Musical Society's The Wizard Of Oz, November 9 to 13; and the York Scouts and Guides' Gang Show concert, November 23 to 27, with a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.

Further musical highlights include West Yorkshire Savoyards, performing Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore, September 24, 7.45pm; Fan Fare In Concert, with vocalist Caroline Parker, October 10; the Normandy Band, Queen's Division, playing a Last Night Of The Proms concert in aid of the Army Benevolent Fund, October 14; St Andrew's Society of York, Scottish Delight, with Peter Morrison, Ian Muir and Eddie Devine, October 17, 7pm, for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association; the Joseph Rowntree Theatre's regular Music Night light entertainment, December 12; and Christmas variation on a theme, An Evening Of Seasonal Entertainment, December 18; and Shepherd Building Group Brass Band, at present appearing in Brassed Off at York Theatre Royal, in concert on December 17.

Oddsocks Productions return with their humorously irreverent version of Shakespeare's Macbeth on December 13; Andrew Grisewood presents All That Glitters, a flower demonstration in aid of York Against Cancer, on December 16; and the Rowntree Theatre ends 2004 with the Lisa Marie School of Dance's festive dance show, A Christmas Concert 2004, on December 19 at 3pm.

All shows start at 7.30pm, unless stated. Tickets for Canterbury Tales, Dracula and HMS Pinafore can be booked on 01904 621756; Spend Spend Spend!, Fan Fare, Last Night Of The Proms, Die Fledermaus and Jack And The Beanstalk, 01904 623568; Scottish Delight, 01904 706393; The Wizard Of Oz, 01904 768182 or 01904 623568 after September 25; Music Night, Seasonal Entertainment, Shepherd Building Group Brass Band, 01904 422545; Macbeth, 01773 540962; All That Glitters, 01904 764466; Lisa Marie School of Dance, 01977 683335/684488.

Updated: 16:21 Thursday, September 16, 2004