Oliver!, York Theatre Royal, March 5 to March 16

This month’s production for York Light Opera Company at York Theatre Royal will be his second in the past six months. “The first was at Harrow Light Opera last October and it’s totally different this time!” says Martyn, a former Black and White Minstrel from Watford.

“I have to say that York Light is a very talented company and that makes a difference, but it’s also the theatre, the production team, the costumes, where the attention to detail is phenomenal.

“It’s run like a business, which it has to be when it’s a production costing six figures. York Light just seems to get the formula right: the right way to run a company.”

Martyn has directed nine York Light shows since 2005 when he made his debut with Anything Goes.

That could not be a more apt description for his hectic activities this year when Oliver!, is one of five productions across Britain that he is working on, the others being Jekyll & Hyde for Newcastle West End; The Sound Of Music for Darlington Operatic Society; Billy for Swansea Amateur Operatic Society; and Hairspray for the Ripon Operatic Summer School in Scarborough.

“Sometimes when I get in the car, I can’t remember where I’m going next!” says the nomadic director. “It’s all the planning that it requires.”

This month’s show marks two firsts for York Light: the first time the society has presented Oliver! and the first time that regular leading man Rory Mulvihill has played Fagin.

It has been a long wait! “My very, very first part was the Artful Dodger in a school production, when I was 12, at St Michael’s College in Leeds, in 1968 – the same year that the film of Oliver! came out,” says Rory.

What does he remember of that debut performance? “We did a week, Monday to Friday, and it was a sell out every night – and a fun part to play of course,” he says.

Fagin is “one of those roles that you do want on your CV,” he acknowledges. “I’ve been very lucky that I’ve done virtually everything I’ve wanted to do; Fagin was high up on the list, but Tevye [in Fiddler On The Roof] is the one I’m still aiming for,” says Rory.

“I got to the opportunity to audition for the part for Bradford Catholic Players, where I’m a member, but I didn’t get it – maybe there are some parts you’re destined not to do.”

He will not resign himself to that fate and in the meantime he is savouring playing Fagin, a role that requires one hour of prosthetics preparation each show – forehead, cheeks, nose and chin, plus wig and beard – with the aid of special effects make-up artists Aimée Long and Hannah Ingelby, who transform him into the straggly haired, long-faced Dickens character.

“Apart from the fact that Aimée and Hannah do the make-up for me, the best about thing about this role by a mile is working with the kids – we have more than 20 in each show and there’s some real talent there,” says Rory.

“With Fagin, it’s all about responding to what’s happening around you, particularly with children, where they can go ‘off message’ but you can make something of that.”

He is aware of the shadow that Ron Moody will always cast over Fagin. “But you would be trying to reinvent the wheel if you strayed too much from the Moody template in the film,” he says.

Rory missed out to John Hall for the principal role of Captain Von Trapp in Martyn’s last show for York Light, The Sound Of Music, but Oliver! finds him back in prime position once more.

“I always go into the auditions with a very open mind and I like to see people’s interpretations at those auditions,” says Martyn. “To me it will always be the best person on the day that I cast – which wasn’t great when I had to tell my mother a couple of times she wasn’t right for the lead in two Cassio Operatic shows in Watford, though I did still cast her in the shows!

“Even though Rory is a friend, I wouldn’t cast him if he wasn’t right. What I like is that he gives an input into the character but I won’t let him always have his own way. He has to explain why he wants to do something. He has to validate it.”

As his latest Oliver! nears its opening night on Tuesday, Martyn reflects on why he is happy to keep coming back to Bart’s musical. “I think it’s iconic really. The storyline is so well known; the songs are so good, and then there’s the fact that each time young talent keeps coming through the ranks that hopefully will stay and regenerate a society’s membership.”

York Light Opera Company presents Oliver!, York Theatre Royal, March 5 to March 16, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

Did you know?

DIRECTOR Martyn Knight has performed in one York Theatre Royal pantomime, but you will not find his name in that show’s programme.

“I was a dancer in Aladdin, sometime in the 1980s,” he reveals. “I filled in for two weeks at the end of the run when someone had to drop out. I learnt the part in a day and went on that night.”

He is so busy with directing now that he restricts himself to one stage role a year: playing the dame for ten years at the Winter Garden in Eastbourne, most recently as Nellie Night Nurse in Sleeping Beauty.