Rowntree Players will stage Jim Cartwright’s The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice as their first show of 2012, and the search is under way to find the actress to play the diffident lead role.

The Olivier Award-winning comedy drama will run from March 8 to 10 at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, directed by Nik Briggs, who has just finished playing schoolboy Lord under his alternative stage name of Nik Fenwick in Alan Bennett’s Forty Years On at the Theatre Royal.

“The play centres on the shy and reclusive Little Voice, who escapes the pain of grief, felt after her father’s death through listening to his old record collection and perfecting astounding impersonations of the great divas he used to love,” says Nik.

“The casting of this central role, made famous by Jane Horrocks and later played by Diana Vickers, is key to the success of the whole show. The lucky girl who secures the role doesn’t just have to be able to sing; she has to be able to sing like artists such as Shirley Bassey, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Lulu.”

The nature of the role demands that Nik must look beyond the regular Players’ roster to the wider community to find an undiscovered star.

Nik held an informal gathering as a first step in the search for his Little Voice last night at the Door 84 Club in Lowther Street.

“If you know of or live with your very own Little Voice, or indeed if you are Little Voice, I want to meet you,” says Nik. “I want a new Little Voice, someone who will make us laugh and cry with her. I don’t think the type of girl I’m looking for would ever expect to win a role such as this; this is one for the underdogs.”

Formal auditions for Little Voice only will be held on November 1; further dates will be announced for the five other roles, two female, three male. If you need more information, or feel you or someone you know could be suitable for the role, contact Nik at littlevoiceyork@hotmail.co.uk