GEORGE'S Marvellous Medicine is the perfect medicine for David Ahmad. As a child, he loved Roald Dahl's book above all others, and now he is playing the title role.

Next week, part way through a nine-month tour, he appears in Birmingham Stage Company's production at the Grand Opera House on only his second visit to York. "I've been there on a day trip with a friend from Leeds, a couple of years ago, when we went round the Minster," he recalls.

Rather than the power of prayer, David's character in George's Marvellous Medicine comes up with a novel way to improve the mood of his cantankerous grandmother.

"He's an only child, living on a farm with very few people around to play with. There's only his grandmother with the terrifying temper, who he doesn't really like, so he feeds her this medicine. Unfortunately the consequences are not great for him, but they're great for her!" says David. "All his worst fears are realised because she grows to 40ft tall and goes right through the roof of the house. So there she is looking out over the land."

You can hear his love of the story as he relates those details, and so he has no worries about being a 26-year-old adult playing a boy of ten in Stuart Paterson's stage adaptation. "One of the reasons I wanted to do this show was that it was always my favourite children's story when I was growing up; between the ages of seven and ten I loved reading it, so to get the chance to do it now is fantastic," says David.

"In fact the first audition piece I did at school was taken from the book, when I was nine, and finally, 17 years later, I'm doing the whole thing!"

It can be demanding work playing the role of a child, but not so for David. "No, it's been fantastic. It's a hard challenge but because I knew the story and it was something that I loved so much, when it came to getting into character, it came very easily, because I was remembering how much I enjoyed reading George's story as a boy," he says. "I'm a bit of a child anyway, and I can relate to children."

David's theatre work has included a schools' tour of Jago's Box with the New Vic Theatre Company, but his CV is not all child's play. Shakespeare has his day too. "Last summer I did an open-air tour of Romeo And Juliet with the Festival Players, when I played Benvolio and Paris," he says, welcoming the diverse challenges of his profession.

"It's very different playing to children in schools, then to 400-500 people outdoors at Leeds Castle when they're stretched out far and wide and you have to project to them all, and now doing this tour of number one theatres, which is such a contrast."

On tour until August 2, David is very happy to keep taking George's Marvellous Medicine.

George's Marvellous Medicine, Grand Opera House, York, April 29 to May 3. Performances: 1.30pm, Tuesday and Thursday; 10am, 1.30pm, Wednesday; 10am and 7pm, Friday; 2.30pm, 7pm, Saturday. Tickets: £6 to £13, family tickets (four seats) £35; ring 01904 671818.

Updated: 10:29 Friday, April 25, 2003