USUALLY when I interview cast members in the weeks running up to a big production I expect them to be up to their ears in rehearsal schedules.

But not the Beck Theatre’s summer youth project. This lot do it very differently. The cast of 120, aged nine to 19, have about a week to rehearse scenes from this year’s production, High School Musical, before they take to the stage for three nights of all-singing and all-dancing entertainment.

The young actors have to learn their lines before the first day of the project, but other than that they just have to be prepared to jump into the thick of it.

“It means we are quite busy,” admits 16-year-old Louis Turner, who will play the role of Ryan in the modern, much-loved musical. “But it’s a lot of fun and we all enjoy it.”

Louis has been performing with the summer project for about three years but has been a member of the Beck Youth Theatre (BYT) – a scheme that runs all year round – since the age of eight.

Last year he played Monsieur d’Arque in the summer project’s production of Beauty and the Beast, and has also played the role of the coroner in The Wizard of Oz, and Cop in Footloose during previous summer projects.

For BYT, he has starred as Mr Pressman in Our House and Lord Evelyn Oakley in Anything Goes.

The Bishopshalt School pupil, who lives in Hillingdon, is also an active member of the school-run Bishopshalt Operatic and Dramatic Society, and attends Hillingdon Theatre Dance Centre.

He also performed in Curtain Up, a production put together by fellow Youth Theatre member Amy Perry, which was featured in the Gazette last month.

And if performing were not enough, Louis is also writing Peach: The Musical with his friend Stephen King, who will play Jack Scott in High School Musical.

“It’s quite fun,” says Louis. “We both play a musical instrument so we’re able to get on quite well with that side of it.

“It’s very different to performing as obviously we won’t be in this, and when it is performed we will just be watching.”

As if he does not have enough on his plate, Louis will pick up his GCSE results on the day of the first performance of High School Musical.

“It will be a big day,” he said. “I don’t think it will affect my performance, unless things go really wrong!”

Louis plans to stay on at Bishopshalt to take his A-levels, marking out theatre studies, music, history and media studies as his subjects of choice. He hopes a university course in musical theatre will follow.

And rather than being stressed about the clash of dates with his exam results, Louis is thrilled to be taking part in this summer’s show.

“I really enjoy the summer youth project,” he said. “It’s so much fun with all the banter we have.

“Anyone can do it. You just have to apply and audition, and it’s a great way to spend the summer.”