NORTH Yorkshire actor Roger Ringrose is delighted to be playing the sorcerer Prospero, Shakespeare’s last great lead role, in his home county, even if the opportunity came earlier than he ever envisaged.

“I’ve absolutely loved doing this job,” says Roger, who is leading Sprite Productions’ cast in a four-day run in the Library Garden in York after three weeks of performances on an island on the Ripley Castle lake.

“Playing Prospero has been an absolute joy – probably coming earlier in my career than expected – and it’s lovely to be able to do it for a little longer with our transfer to York this week.”

Roger has performed for the National Theatre and The Globe and in outdoor shows aplenty too, but his Sprite debut has given him particular pleasure. “I had heard of Sprite in the past from people I know who’d seen their Ripley shows and I thought, ‘surely I could get involved at some point?’.

“Just as I was doing Burnt By The Sun in the Lyttelton for the National, the casting director was contacted by Lucy Kerbel, who had worked at the National the year before, and was now directing The Tempest for Sprite, and he put two of us up for it. Well, the chance to play Prospero and at Ripley was a double delight… without me having to say ‘I’m local’.”

How local, Roger? “Funnily enough, my niece works in the village store in Ripley, my brother lives within a mile and my sister used to live on the Ripley estate. So in a very roundabout way, I’m back where it all started.”

• The Tempest, Library Garden, York, 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow; tel 01904 623568.

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