Just A Quickie with...Howard Spencer-Mosley, stand-up comedian turned Romeo in York Shakespeare Project's Romeo And Juliet.

Why art thou in Romeo And Juliet?

"I saw the poster at City Screen and I thought 'that looks interesting', so I took it down for myself, though the next day I did see that another one had been put up, so my evil plan had been thwarted.

"I was pretty excited at the prospect, having had my appetite whetted for theatre from doing Steven Berkoff's In The Penal Colony in April, and, on a selfish level, it was a good chance to make professional contacts.

"I've never previously done a Shakespeare play the whole way through.

"For A-level, I'd done speeches from Hamlet, The Tempest and Romeo And Juliet, and at St John's College, I'd studied from the point of view of analysis of text and not necessarily for performance."

Why art thou Romeo?

"If you're going to audition for Romeo And Juliet, you want to do Romeo or Juliet, and I don't really have the breasts for Juliet.

"I also auditioned for Mercutio, which is a fantastic role, and I was quite surprised when Sarah director Sarah Punshon rang to say I'd got Romeo, especially when I'd said I was a stand-up comedian. You get that usual reaction: 'Really, are you funny?' and you say 'No, well, er, I try to be."

How art thou playing Romeo?

"I always need the fear of the final week of rehearsals to think how this person works. It's been hard in rehearsal because at the start Romeo's a poetic ponce, then he's in love, then he's on the slippery slope all the way down. You have to get that 'thing', like the smile my character always had in In The Penal Colony. Romeo's such a complex character, maybe his 'thing' is just to look unhappy."

Romeo And Juliet, York Shakespeare Project, Rowntree Park Bandstand, York, until July 24. Performances: 7.30pm nightly, except 6pm on Sunday and July 24; 2.30pm Saturday matinees; no show on July 18. Tickets: £7 on 01904 621756.

Updated: 09:30 Friday, July 15, 2005