SUE Townsend's Bazaar And Rummage will be the first production of a typically busy autumn season for Stagecoach Youth Theatre York.

The production will run from October 24 to 26 at 8pm at Stagecoach's headquarters in Trinity Hall, Monkgate, and the cast will include the youth theatre's patron, Ruth Ford, who is best known for playing God in the 1996 York Mystery Plays at the Theatre Royal. Tickets cost £7, concessions £5.

Stagecoach will go on the road on behalf of the Selby and York Primary Care Trust and North Clifton Health Action Group to present the men's health show Men Only at the Burton Lane Club on October 26, Clarence Club, October 29, and Groves Club, October 31, each lunchtime performance starting at 1.30pm.

A preview at Trinity Hall on October 25 at 10pm will follow that night's performance of Bazaar And Rummage. Admission is free.

"Inside 20 minutes in Men Only, we touch on obesity, smoking, testicular cancer and stress, and the material ranges from cabaret numbers with pzazz to serious information," says Stagecoach director John Cooper.

Imaginary Invalid, Stagecoach's third production of the season, was planned for an earlier run but when two cast members had to leave the rehearsals after three weeks, the company switched to presenting The Shakespeare Revue. Now, Cooper's adaptation of Imaginary Invalid will be staged at Trinity Hall from November 6 to 9 at 8pm nightly, with tickets at £5, concessions £4.

"This will be the first time we have presented a show in the round, where the cast will be surrounded by their peers. In terms of concentration it will be their biggest challenge so far, and they're handling the challenge well," says John, who is co-directing the show with Celia Thatcher.

"The technique and delivery is so different from anything they've done before, and that's probably why we lost two cast members last time, as they were only used to musicals, but I never want this company's product to stand still."

Louis de Bernieres's Sunday Morning At The Centre Of The World - written before his better-known Captain Corelli's Mandolin - will be presented at Trinity Hall from December 19 to 21 at 8pm; all seats £6.

"I believe this will be its first ever amateur production," says John.

Stagecoach will begin 2003 with A Little Princess at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre on January 9 to 11, at 7.30pm with a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.

For tickets, ring 01904 674675.

Updated: 08:45 Friday, October 11, 2002