NORTHERN Soul devotees could be flocking to Joseph Rowntree Theatre next week, and all because Rowntree Players are presenting the North Yorkshire amateur premiere of On A Night Like This.

First staged at Hull Truck by writer-director John Godber in December 2000, the play savours the fall-out when two painters and decorators, the Northern Soul-loving gaffer Leo and the eternal apprentice Danny, rudely interrupt artist Rich Jackson's complacent suburban idyll.

Director John Hall says: "There's quite a lot of interest in the show from the local Northern Soul scene; as soon as you mention Northern Soul, all these people come out of the woodwork. So we had the whole cast going to a Northern Soul night in town to get the flow of it - and they've been sprinkling talcum powder on the floor at rehearsals."

John has studied seven or eight Northern Soul DVDs. "Some of the dancing would not look theatrical, so you have to get the look right, without ruining the Northern Soul rhythm," says the director.

Yet the soulful music is but one source of enjoyment in On a Night Light This. "It's just been such fun to rehearse. The dialogue is incredible; difficult to get right, but when you get it right, it's absolutely natural. It's all in the timing," John says.

"I would say it's the most difficult piece of theatre we've ever had to learn. It's been one of the most intensive rehearsal schedules I've ever known because the actors can't just learn and do it; they have to learn it and become it. Now I know why not many amateur societies do John Godber's work, it's difficult but very rewarding."

The director enthuses about his cast of Martyn Hunter (who plays Rich Jackson), Mark Bray (Leo), Leon Thompson (Danny), and the multi-role playing Jeanette Hunter and Gemma Greenwood.

"We've got five very good performers, and I think we could see five bravura performances," says John.

"One of the difficulties that Martyn, for example, faces is that he's almost never off stage, and he has to maintain a level of drunkenness for three quarters of an hour. It rises and rises and then there's a sharp sobering up later on."

John sums up why Godber's work is so popular: "His dialogue doesn't sound like a play; it sounds as if you're eavesdropping on things that are happening in front of you."

Rowntree Players present On A Night Like This, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, October 5 to 7, 7.30pm. Please note: contains strong language and adult themes. Box office: 01904 623568 or 7614000.