YORK Stage Musicals are marking the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens by presenting the Yorkshire premiere of Deborah McAndrew’s stage adaptation of David Copperfield.

The show was first performed at the Bolton Octagon at Christmas 2010 and now will be performed in York by a cast of 44, including 20 children, plus actress Robyn Grant’s dog, Harley, who will play Jip.

An actor-music band of ten will play music specially composed for McAndrew’s adaptation by Conrad Nelson, Northern Broadsides’ regular composer, who has created a musical landscape from sea shanties and Victorian music hall songs to illustrate Dickens’s tale of life and love based firmly on the author’s own experiences.

Director Robert Readman’s cast will be led by Jack Armstrong and Alex Gordon in the roles of Young David and David Copperfield.

Jack, 11, attends Woldgate College in Pocklington and joined York Stage Musicals three years ago, since when he has appeared in Billy Elliot and Oliver!, as well as playing Teacup Chip in Beauty And The Beast.

Alex, 20, from Surrey, is in the second year of his writing, directing and performance course at the University of York. “That’s a very fancy way of saying English and drama,” he says.

He has performed with the National Youth Theatre and Youth Music Theatre UK and will be making his York Stage Musicals debut this week.

“I came to the auditions with Peter Fisher, who I share a student house with, and he’ll be playing Steerforth,” he says.

Alex made an immediate impression on director Readman.

“He came through the door at the second audition, and it was the vocal sound he had that stood out – and if you put a portrait of Charles Dickens by him, you’ll notice he has the same bone structure,” he says.

Dickens enthusiast Readman is delighted to have the chance to direct David Copperfield. “It’s very rarely done on stage as it’s hard to transfer from the book because it has so many characters and is so long – if you look at a musical like Oliver!, it pares down about 25 per cent of the story of Oliver Twist,” he says.

“But Deborah has done a superb adaptation which has a Victorian theatricality to it, and so I’ve decided to use no microphones and no special effects – although there will be mist!”

The lack of microphone holds no fears for Jack.

“In all my plays so far I’ve had to use a microphone, but in this production I’m putting on a slightly higher voice so that I project more,” he says.

The roles require Jack and Alex to be narrators as well as acting out scenes.

“It’s the most work I’ve ever had to do for a part,” says Alex. “I’ve never had difficulty learning lines but the challenge is to not only make each line interesting but also to bear in mind momentum and pacing.”

• York Stage Musicals present David Copperfield at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, from tomorrow until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk