A CHANCE meeting at a train station helped to put Anastasia Morton centre stage in a major musical in Huddersfield next week.

For a girl that she shared her journey with turned out to be passionate about musicals and the stage, just like Anastasia.

And she later took the young drama student along to an audition where Anastasia won a principal role in a big music theatre production.

You can see how she fares next week in Woodhouse Operatic Society’s production of Return To The Forbidden Planet at the Lawrence Batley Theatre from Tuesday.

The storyline might sound vaguely familiar if you know Shakespeare’s The Tempest, but the music is pure 50s and 60s rock and roll classics.

It’s a gift of a show for singer and dancer Anastasia, who is from Leeds but currently lives in Huddersfield where she is in her second year of a degree course at the university.

“I am doing a BA in drama and would love to be a performer,” says this bubbly 21-year-old.

“I’ve been doing things like this since I was two. I went to dancing school and did everything from ballet and tap to modern dance.

“But I also went to Saturday stage school and trained in musical theatre, drama and singing.”

When Anastasia looked around for a degree course, it was the University of Huddersfield that offered the training that she wanted.

And though she’s a born performer, Anastasia says that teaching drama may be where her career is heading.

She already teaches dance and musical theatre in Leeds at weekends.

Looming large now, though, is her role next week with Woodhouse, a society that she knew nothing about until that chance encounter at Leeds railway station.

“I was waiting for a train in Leeds when this girl, April Matthews, came up to me in a bit of a flurry.

“She asked if I knew which platform was for Huddersfield and I said ‘yes, I did’ because that’s where I was going.”

The two travelled to Huddersfield together and Anastasia discovered that they shared a passion for musicals.

“I asked her if she knew any amateur theatre groups in the area who did musicals and she said she did.”

When audition time for the Woodhouse show came around, a phone call sent Anastasia off to auditions and she was offered a part.

“I’m playing Ariel and I have to whizz around on these little wheels attached to my shoes. I don’t think I’d fancy full roller skates or I might not stay on the stage!

“Woodhouse are a really friendly society. They are all really nice people and I’ve always felt very comfortable there. I didn’t know anyone there, but they’ve all been really helpful.”

Performances of this non-stop, high energy musical, produced by David Lockwood, run from Tuesday until Saturday with evening performances at 7.30pm plus a Saturday matinee at 2.15pm.

Tickets are priced from £5 to £14 and are available from the LBT box office.

Box office can be contacted on 01484 430528.