REBECCA Sleeman took her early steps in theatre at the Kirkham Henry Performing Arts Centre in Malton, training there from the age of three to 16.

During that period, she performed in her first professional production, appearing in Evita at the Grand Opera House, York, when she was 12.

Now, 12 years later, she is returning to the York theatre for the first time since then in Carole Todd's touring production of Girls' Night Out.

"It will be special to go back there, after doing my first professional show there," says Rebecca, who is living in Yorkshire once more after training at the Queen Margaret University College in Edinburgh, graduating with a BA in drama in 2000 and then gaining a year's contract with the Dundee Rep.

Born in Liverpool, and brought up in Driffield and Malton, Rebecca will always be grateful for her tuition at Kirkham Henry while attending Norton County Primary School and Pocklington School.

"I remember doing Mother Goose and Sinbad The Sailor with the Malton and Norton Amateur Operatic Society when I was nine or ten and I always did the society's Kaleidoscope shows in the Milton Rooms," she says.

"While at Kirkham Henry I was studying ballet, jazz and tap dance till I was 14 and then I thought more seriously about drama, so I did theatre studies at A-level and went to Edinburgh for three years."

It is never easy securing work fresh out of drama studies but Rebecca succeeded.

"I was very lucky to get the contract at Dundee Rep - it's the only permanent acting company in Scotland," she says.

"They were running a project with a group of actors under contract for three years, and they were taking actors straight out of drama school to be part of that company.

"It was a fantastic opportunity for me to do seven or eight shows in a year and they kindly gave me a month off to play Katherine in Arthur Miller's A View From A Bridge at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh as well."

Last summer, at the suggestion of her Scottish agent, Rebecca auditioned for Girls' Night Out and duly landed the role of Nicola in the national tour of Dave Simpson's comic tale of a wild hen night in the company of male strippers.

Following a six-week break after the first three months on the road, Rebecca is in London this week, rehearsing for the resumption of the tour schedule in York next Tuesday.

"Nicola is 21 and apparently nave and innocent, and although there's been no talk of marriage she is engaged to Aunt Ivy's son, Tony, and the more they ply her with Babycham, the more she does things you wouldn't expect!"

Can Rebecca relate to Nicola's behaviour?

"Oh yes, definitely!" she says.

Girls' Night Out runs riot at the Grand Opera House, York, from January 28 to February 1. Performances: 8pm, Tuesday to Thursday, Saturday; 6pm and 9pm, Friday. Tickets: £12 to £14; except opening night and Friday early show, £10. Box office: 01904 671818.

Updated: 09:59 Friday, January 24, 2003