PROLIFIC York playwright Mike Kenny returns to The Studio this autumn with his fourth play of the year at York Theatre Royal.

In a Theatre Royal production in association with resident theatre company Pilot Theatre, Amanda J Smith directs Kenny's Walking The Tightrope for an autumn season run.

So far in 2005, York Youth Theatre has presented Kenny's Dictation in February; Mind The Gap's Jez Colborne performed his road trip On The Verge in April, and Lisa Howard and Robin Simpson starred in his new adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid last month.

Like The Little Mermaid, Walking The Tightrope is a children's show, this one suitable for four year olds and upwards. "It's a story about change and loss," he says. "Every summer Esme visits her grandparents at the seaside, and every summer, some things change and some things stay the same. This year Nana Queenie is not there. How come? And why didn't she take her specs?" All will be revealed from November 4 to 26 in morning, afternoon and evening performances.

Another name familiar to the Studio (and the main house too, it should be said) is Elizabeth Mansfield, whose latest show for Ensemble Productions opens the Studio season on October 7 and 8.

Last seen on the Theatre Royal stage in March playing the traditionally male role of Lennox in Damian Cruden's Japanese twist on Macbeth, Elizabeth has devised a new solo show for herself, The Uninvited.

"It's an unaccompanied performance piece telling the extraordinary stories of refugees and exiles from all over the world, past and present," she says.

Poems, writings and testimonies are woven into songs - Spanish, Yiddish, Filipino, Farsi, Bosnian - sung by Elizabeth both in the original language and in English translation. Her sung and spoken narrative will be interlaced with Articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Clean Break, the company formed by women prisoners at Askham Grange, returns to York on October 10 to 12 to present Shelley Silas's Mercy Fine. Based on research with prisoners at HMP East Sutton Park, this is the story of Mercy Fine, who will be going back home in 24 hours, but home was the family she destroyed. As Mercy's future looms, her past haunts her.

Pilot Theatre artistic director Marcus Romer directs Pilot's contribution to the SightSonic Festival, Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out, on October 14 and 15. This pioneering new performance piece will link the Theatre Royal to the Het Muztheater in Amsterdam in a live web event where two performers battle over their game consoles simultaneously in Yorkshire and Holland.

In another first at the Theatre Royal, the West Yorkshire Playhouse On Tour company heads up the A64 from Leeds to make its Studio debut with Joe Williams's Runaway Diamonds, on October 18 and 19. Dancer David Hamilton, founding artistic director of Phoenix Dance Theatre, has devised the movement for this biographical drama about Frederick Douglass, the first black citizen to hold high rank in the United States' government.

Yellow Leaf Theatre Company presents Angela Truby's warm-hearted comedy, Bill Maxted's Most Excellent Adventure, on October 21 and 22. Bill has taken early retirement, whereupon his wife leaves him to his part-time job, his vast vinyl collection and his refusal to accept the calendar has not stopped at 1972. Then he meets Maggie, a force of nature with a taste for adventure and Bill as her pet project.

Top Dogs has been a hit in 22 countries. York catches on to Urs Widmer's caustic satire from October 25 to 29, when Dialogue Productions stage this top dig at fat cats and corporate corruption. Set in an exclusive outplacement agency for ex-executives, the play reveals the reality behind downsizing and lean management.

York Youth Theatre ends the Studio year with Noel Greig's Brand New World, a tale of tribal loyalties, rivalries and muddled love in today's logo land, directed by director of education Jill Adamson and Theatre Royal artistic director Damian Cruden, from December 1 to 3.

Among the main-house highlights are Ayub Khan-Din's East Is East, September 23 to October 8; Shared Experience's Bronte, October 11 to 15; the world premiere of Steptoe & Son In Murder At Oil Drum Lane, October 24 to November 12; and English Touring Theatre's Hamlet, November 15 to 19.

For tickets, ring 01904 623568.

Updated: 16:51 Thursday, July 28, 2005