Pantomime dame, Harold Thropp is the wrong side of 60. He is assigned to a basement dressing-room, upstaged by a talentless soap star and overlooked and underestimated by a shallow theatre management that bulldozes the panto tradition and can't even spell. His revenge is sweet, in the darkest and most triumphant of climaxes.

Philip Meeks is a core member of the Emmerdale writing team and has also written for Heartbeat. He is a past winner of the Screen England Pitching Competition at the Cannes Film Festival (2004). His first production, Twinkle, Little Star, was first staged at Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh last year and was nominated for Best Solo Show by The Stage. He said about the play,
'I set out to write a monologue in real time and I hope the result is an engaging and unusual character study. It's a play about a man who's ceased being valid – which is a fear we all have deep down. If I had to give it a label it would be a 'revenger's comedy'. There are clues in the old man's meanderings – he's up to something.'

In the role of Harold will be legendary pantomime actor and director, Kenneth Alan Taylor. Best known for appearing in 24 pantomimes at Nottingham Playhouse, his other theatre and television work has included productions of Krapp's Last Tape (Tour), Albert Nobbs (Coliseum, Oldham and Middlesbrough), A Different Way Home, A Visit from Miss Prothero and Ten Rillington Place. Kenneth has worked extensively in theatre and favourite roles include Archie Rice in The Entertainer, Bud Flannagan in Underneath the Arches, Danforth in The Crucible and Fagin in Oliver! as well as the numerous pantomime dames he has portrayed at the Playhouse. Kenneth directed And Then There Were None at the Duke of York's and the Strand, as well as national tours of House of Stairs, Misery, It's a Madhouse, Feed the Hobbit, Last Tango in Whitby and many more. His television appearances have included Last of the Summer Wine, Coronation Street, Cracker and Cold Feet. Kenneth was Chief Executive of Nottingham Playhouse for seven years and of the Oldham Coliseum for five. Whilst at Oldham he received the Horniman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre, and the Manchester Evening News Best Production Award for A Different Way Home.

Twinkle, Little Star is co-directed by Matt Ashton and York Theatre Royal's Artistic Director, Damian Cruden. Matt is Programmer and Producer at the Djanogly Theatre, Lakeside Arts Centre. His previous work has included productions of Robin Hood – A Musical Celebration, Cold Comfort Farm and Samuel Beckett's First Love. Matt was also Assistant Director on Nottingham Playhouse's Community production of Macbeth. In spring 2003, Matt directed Kenneth Alan Taylor in Lakeside's first in-house production – Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett. Damian Cruden has been Artistic Director of York Theatre Royal for the past eight years. In that time he has directed many productions including successful productions of Enjoy, The Dumb Waiter and Brassed Off. The production is designed by Mark Walters, with lighting by Richard G Jones (Sweeney Todd, Broadway). -- www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk