SHIPTON Theatre Company's autumn production of Return To The Forbidden Planet brings together youth and experience in Craig Barley's cast.

York College drama students Nicki Fox, 16, and Nick Holbek, 17, represent youth in the roles of Miranda and Ariel, the robot; Robert Readman's mad scientist Doctor Prospero, is joined in the experienced ranks by the likes of Dan Hield's Captain Tempest, Juliet Waters' Science Officer and Peri Barley's Navigation Officer.

All are enjoying the rock'n'rollercoaster ride of Bob Carlton's musical spoof of Shakespeare's The Tempest and 1950s' sci-fi B movies.

"I love the style of the music and the chance for audience participation," says Nicki. "The audience will be on the ship with us, all joining in for the Reverse Polarity Procedure."

"The rock'n'roll music is one of the best things about the show. They're such good songs that the show just has to lift you," says Nick, who will sing Who's Sorry Now, Good Vibrations and Shake Rattle And Roll, spinning around on his rollerskates.

Is your roller-skating up to scratch, Nick? "I'm wearing skates five hours a week at rehearsals - Craig is lending me a pair - and I suppose I would last have been on skates when I was ten, but I have been rollerblading and ice skating since then."

There is a first time for everything for an actor, even for the chameleon Robert Readman. "This will be the first occasion I've ever said Shakespeare lines on stage, and this show is the first time that Shipton has done this type of music in a show. I love doing Monster Mash!" he says.

"People who like Shakespeare will love the Shakespeare gags from The Tempest and Macbeth, and will enjoy the combination of Shakespearean idioms and modern idioms. It's a good show because it doesn't feel forced: you're playing a full-blooded character within this show and not just a character from The Tempest."

Nick relishes the exuberance of Carlton's musical. "It's a rock'n'roll show and so you get to go over the top completely," he says.

No one has a bigger chance to go OTT than Nicki's Miranda. "She starts as an innocent Fifties airhead bimbo in her bright pink skirt, but when she falls in love with Captain Tempest, she turns into a sexy, sassy chick in the second half," says Nicki.

Such are the joys of theatre, and soon she will be discovering more on the B-Tec drama and dance course she is starting at York College.

Return To The Forbidden Planet, Shipton Theatre Company, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Monday until Saturday, 7.30pm. Tickets: £8, children and all first-night seats £6; ring 01904 760682 or 01904 623568.

Updated: 15:41 Thursday, September 09, 2004