IMAGINE Kenneth Grahame's Wind In The Willows with ballads, beats and backflips.

Here comes the "explosive new British hip-hop musical" In The Willows, presented by Metta Theatre and Exeter Northcott Theatre on tour at York Theatre Royal from Tuesday to Saturday.

Written and directed by Metta artistic director Poppy Burton-Morgan, with music by Pippa Cleary and hip-hop composer and lyricist Keiran Merrick, the show stars Olivier Award winner Clive Rowe MBE, deaf street dancer Chris Fonseca, from The Greatest Dancer, and Seann Miley Moore, off The X Factor.

In Burton-Morgan's stage adaptation, Mole is on his first day in The Willows, where the schoolkids look a bit rough, but surely Mr Badger will look out for her, while hip-hop cool girl Rattie, rich kid rapper Toad and street-dancing Otter will teach her the ways of the Riverbank.

However, when Toad is locked up for joyriding, the Weasel Clan break in and squat in his pad, the Pool Hall. Now it will be only a matter of time before Chief Weasel reveals Mole’s dark secret.

"Representation is at the heart of our storytelling, so we’re thrilled to develop that further in In The Willows," says Pippa, whose company made its Theatre Royal debut with the circus musical Metta's Little Mermaid last April.

"So we're integrating BSL [British Sign Language] into the choreography and providing a platform for the extraordinary Chris Fonseca, a deaf street dancer who plays Otter.

"Our show is full of trans-positive and body positive role models and we hope that in seeing themselves reflected on stage we’re empowering our audiences as we entertain them."

Clive Rowe jumped at the chance to play Badger. "From the moment I was first introduced to In the Willows I knew it was something I had to be a part of: a classic piece of British theatre given the voice and unquenchable energy of the modern generation," he says.

"It differs from the book in that it's brought up to the present day and set in a school, with each of the characters being 15.16, 17...except Badger, who is the teacher.

"The character that Pippa has written is so wonderful: Badger is the kind of teacher we all wish we'd had at school."

Recalling his own schooldays, Clive says: "I had a couple of teachers when I was 14.15, 16, who were so influential on me. I was at Crompton House, at Shaw, in Manchester, and at 14 they said, 'these will be the exams that will craft you for life'.

"Until then I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I knew I didn't want to do all the things my mum wanted me to do!"

From 14, Clive had an inkling that he would be an actor, "but I thought I would be doing it as an amateur, not realising you could make money from it".

"Eventually I went to drama school, from 1984 to 1987 at the Guildhall School of 'Music and Mayhem' [Drama], and in the second year, I got my first paid contract," he recalls.

"My mum passed away in my second year, but she did say, when I wanted to be an actor, 'do what will make you happy'."

Clive, who won an Olivier Award in 1997 for his Best Supporting Actor role as Nicely-Nicely Johnson in the National Theatre's Guys And Dolls, could not be happier with the reaction to In The Willows. "It's been extraordinary so far," he says. "I knew the show was good – that's why I'm doing it! – but some people are saying it's life-changing and children are saying it's fantastic not to be talked down to.

"We've even had people of 90 coming up and saying 'it's changed my mind on hip-hop!"

In The Willows runs at York Theatre Royal from April 16 to 20 except Good Friday; performances at 7pm plus 2pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guide: six upwards.