WHEN Stuart Wade directed Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs at the Grand Opera House last Christmas, York Twenty4Seven could not resist the headline Wade In Snow.

It would have been equally apt for the 2010 show, as Stuart and his cast have had to face the endurance test of York in the grip of a winter chill when every day matters in the ten-day rehearsal period for Cinderella.

The cast – Lisa Riley, Syd Little, Milkshake’s Jen Pringle and co – is all in situ and Stuart has commuted his way through the days, and when the weather defeated him, he still made his presence felt.

“I was snowed in for a day, so I had to stay at home, but I kept in touch with the stage manager, David [Heath], and liaised with him and gave him advice as to what to do with the time,” he says.

“Fortunately, the first act was already ‘blocked’, so they could concentrate on that, but the beauty of it was that when I got back you could tell they’d really worked on it, which for me was a sign of just how much they wanted it to be a good show, and that makes me very proud of them.

“With this group of actors, it’s been very much a case that they wanted to make sure that the show as a whole worked well, and not just their own individual parts, which is very heart-warming.”

After directing several shows elsewhere for New Pantomime Productions, Stuart combined playing Muddles with directing Snow White last year, returning to a theatre where previously he appeared as Buttons in Cinderella and Simple Simon in Jack And The Beanstalk.

This month finds the former Emmerdale soap star – he was Biff Fowler for six years – playing Buttons once more as well as directing Cinderella. “This is panto number 11 for me for producer Simon Barry’s company, and once again, one of the reasons I’ve stayed with this company is that I like the format so much,” says Stuart.

“This panto is very much as true to the fairytale as it can be, and it’s aimed at the kids, which I like because more often than not, a panto is the first time they’ve seen a live theatre show, so we have to let them in on the magic.”

Rather than seeking to make changes to the way he directed his first York panto production last year, Stuart prefers to apply a different philosophy. “I don’t know if I’ve learned anything from last year, but I’m certainly more patient than I used to be,” he says.

“A lot of the strengths of a show come from each individual character in the cast. The way I approach it is that I’m very much the captain of the ship; I steer it but it’s the input of the actors that counts. I genuinely love rehearsals. We have ten days to put on what I call a mini-musical with a whole lot more going on.

“More often than not, the actors come with plenty of experience, and they all have their own format, their own routines, and it’s my job to iron it all out for the show.”

The cast was picked by Simon Barry, who has an instinct for knowing who might gel together.

“He’s done pantos for an awfully long time and he knows a lot of people, so he doesn’t make his choices lightly,” says Stuart. “And I do think that if we’re having a good time that does come across the footlights.”

That is why he so enjoys pantomime. “For two hours you can take people out of their real lives, and they don’t have any problems to think about,” he says.

“I’ve come across people who love it and people who hate it, and I know we’re not brain surgeons or a miracle cure for an illness, but in some way I think we’re just as important because it’s great entertainment.

“We’re really going to get the audience involved this year and the best thing is that you don’t need a pair of 3D specs as this show will be in your face from the word go.”

• Cinderella runs at the Grand Opera House, York, from tonight until Sunday, January 2. Audio-described performances are at 2.30pm and 7pm on December 18; the captioned performance is at 7pm on December 21. Box office: 0844 847 2322 or online at grandoperahouseyork.org.uk