CHRIS TITLEY hacks his way through tropical undergrowth to talk to a Leeds man cub.

IT'S a jungle out there - and young Yorkshire actor John Cockerill is right in the thick of it.

John plays Mowgli in The Jungle Book, a stage adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's ageless tale which comes to the Grand Opera House next week.

Loved by generations of children, the story begins with Mowgli being raised by wolves in the lore of the Indian jungle. The boy makes many friends among the animals, but danger lurks nearby in the sleekly sinister form of Sheere Khan the tiger.

These days, more of us know the animated movie, which brought us classic tunes like Bear Necessities, than the 110-year-old book.

But John read and re-read the original text, and steered well clear of its Disneyfication, as he prepared for the central role.

"I put the Disney one right out of my mind, just so it wouldn't affect the way I did things," he said, during a break between matinee and evening performance in Newcastle.

The Jungle Book is very physically demanding - "I have lost a lot of weight since I started doing it" - and while the actors wear special costumes and masks, it is the way they move which allows them to mutate into jungle creatures.

"We got a lot of animal movement training from Peter Elliott, who was one of the gorillas in the film Gorillas In The Mist," he revealed.

Having played everything from Mozart in Amadeus and Bazzard in The Mystery of Edwin Drood at the Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts, John was awarded the role of Mowgli with the Birmingham Stage Company only two months after graduating last summer.

He says this is a wonderful show in which to make your professional debut, with enough excitement, music and colour to entertain children and adults alike.

"It's a really interesting story which draws you in.

"Poor Mowgli is struggling to be accepted into a different world, and gets rejected everywhere he goes," says the 23-year-old.

John should feel comfortable on stage - he has been rehearsing all his life. At four years old his love of dancing erupted at home in Leeds, and he took dance lessons till the age of 14.

A pupil at Leeds' Cathy Carroll Stage School, he won a part in an electricity board advert. But his parents were staunch supporters of the Yorkshire miners and wouldn't let him take it. The same agent who found him the ad then landed him a role in the ITV series Children's Ward.

He was eight years old. "It was great. I used to get in a taxi from Leeds to Manchester and stay in hotels with my grandma. I had a brilliant time. For me it was fun, fun, fun."

And he's still having fun 15 years later.

The Jungle Book is at the Grand Opera House, York, at various times from next Tuesday to Saturday, July 23. For information and tickets, call 0870 606 3595

Updated: 09:21 Friday, July 15, 2005