Viv Hardwick talks to Stockton actor/dancer Ben Redfern about returning to the North-East in the popular family show The Jungle Book which plays Billingham and Sunderland.

FANS of the Disney version of The Jungle Book might struggle to place the role of Stockton-born Ben Redfern, who appears as the mad jackal Tabaqui in the stage version.

Once an usher at Billingham Forum, the 28-year-old has made an impressive journey from programme seller to star as the Birmingham Stage Company tour reaches his home town area this week and Wearside in June.

"My character was written out by Disney, but the stage version is based more on the book. It's brilliant for me because no one has any preconceived ideas of what the character is about so I've got a completely free rein. Tabaqui is completely mad and has loads of twitches and energy, so this is really good fun because I go to town with him," he explains about tiger Shere Khan's hanger-on.

The jackal is a threat to jungle child Mowgli because Tabaqui sniffs him out for his tiger boss and runs back to give information.

"He's always hiding in the shadows and crouches behind Shere Khan. He won't put his own neck on the line, he's a conniving little scoundrel," Redfern adds.

The actor/dancer/choreographer became interested in performing arts long before Stockton's college offered training and went off to Derby University before landing a place at the Guildford School of Acting.

He says of his early days in amateur shows and working at the Forum:

"I suppose I did get the theatre bug when I was an usher at Billingham Forum between the ages of 16 and 18. I always remember the pantomimes because they were such fun, selecting kids to go up on stage and selling sweets and ice creams.

"I don't think many people have gone into theatre through the usher route but it worked for me, thanks to university and drama school. When I went to Stockton Sixth Form there wasn't a drama A level at that time and people didn't know a lot about helping to find a theatre studies course.

Now it's a lot better than ten years ago," explains Redfern who managed to get through his Guildford course thanks to a career development loan and financial help from his parents.

He's lived in Clapham, London, for the past six years and finds it easier to audition and make contacts there.

"I've always wanted to go to London because it's still the best place for performing arts although Manchester and Leeds are growing. I do miss my family terribly but I try to see them as much as I can," adds Redfern who says his family came down to watch a performance at London West End's Bloomsbury Theatre.

"I'm looking forward to some cheap digs at home for Billingham this week and Sunderland's Empire Theatre in June," he says.

His dance training has meant that playing animals has become a strong part of his career and roles in The Ugly Duckling at Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre, The Butterfly Lion and BSC's popular production of Charlotte's Web have followed. Redfern's ability to assume child roles has seen him tour in Jacqueline Wilson's Double Act and Stig Of The Dump.

He's also been a backing dancer for Geri Halliwell and become choreographer for Jacqueline Wilson adaptations of Midnight and Bad Girls and the current production of The Jungle Book.

"I've got a very definite physicality to use and I enjoy performing by using my whole body and voice. I looked at some video footage of hyenas to become the jackal and we had a movement workshop with an animal study expert called Peter Elliot, who did Gorillas In The Mist with Segourney Weaver. I also play a monkey as well during the play so it's tiring but great fun. We work on a ten show week so that takes quite a toll with all the singing and dancing, but we've got ourselves conditioned to that now."

Redfern wasn't in the previous tours of The Jungle Book to Darlington and Newcastle but switched to performing this time when another choreographer was recruited.

It's his current ambition to work with Barry Rutter's Northern Broadsides company and, hopefully, land a West End musical role.

"These are quite modest ambitions by today's standards, but I'd like to think they're achievable," he says.

* The Jungle Book runs at Billingham Forum until Saturday. Box Office: (01642) 551389

* The show moves to Sunderland's Empire Theatre in the summer for a June 13-17 run. Box Offfice: 0870 602 1130.

Published: 06/04/2006