Michael Skyers taps into his animal instincts for his role as Aslan in The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. He talks to Steve Pratt.

IN person, Michael Skyers is more pussycat than lion but he'll be roaring as the king of the jungle in a revival of the stage version of the classic children's story, The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. As mighty lion Aslan, he'll be helping four youngsters try to rescue the magical world of Narnia from its icy plight imposed by the evil White Witch.

Animals worked their magic in last year's Christmas show at West Yorkshire Playhouse, with Toad and his friends in The Wind In The Willows attracting over 50,000 people into the Leeds venue. Humans get a look in this year as well but the talking animals, fauns, giants, driads, niads, centaurs and unicorns of Narnia promise to give them a run for their money.

Skyers didn't know CS Lewis's book before auditioning for the part at the Playhouse, where he's appeared previously in such diverse offerings as King Lear and The Snow Queen. But his first appearance in the city was at the old Playhouse in 1983 in a show called Alice, directed by Nicholas Hytner, who now runs the National Theatre.

"My agent said that the part of Aslan sounded like I would be good for it," he recalls. "I had to read at the audition and prepare something descriptive or a poem. I did the opening scene from The Little Mermaid, which I'd done on stage the year before, because it was very evocative.

"I didn't know the book, which is strange because many people know the story and it's dear to so many people's hearts. But when I was at school we read Stig Of The Dump and Of Mice And Men."

Aslan, he says, can be very fierce but also very gentle. He's a force for good in the world of Narnia. As he'd never seen the show on stage, he had no idea what to expect for the look of Aslan.

"When you think of lions, you always think of the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard Of Oz," he says. "The costume I'm wearing is very powerful - it covers my whole body apart from my face and hands. They didn't want to lose all the facial expression under a lot of latex. It's going to be interesting and it's certainly going to be spectacular."

As soon as he got the part of Aslan, he read the book. He says the play, which has songs, sticks pretty close to the novel. Aslan's big song is The Lion Leaps which is "quite up tempo, quite gospelly".

Skyers has appeared in musicals before, notably Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express, in which he performed on and off over a number of years, including seasons in London's West End and on tour to Japan.

Learning to rollerskate for the show came in handy later on. "When there was a bus and tube strike in London, I skated in to work," he says.

Born and raised in the capital, he'd never even been to the theatre when he decided to be an actor as a teenager. His great love was - and still is - film, so he went to the cinema rather than the theatre.

"I'd always been interested in acting and, when I was about 17, an ex-patient of my mother, who's a nurse, was running classes in a church hall to get kids in off the streets and interested in the arts," he says.

"I walked in and had a brilliant time. But I realised that getting an Equity card at that time - it was 1978 - would be difficult so I concentrated on dancing. I got a job in Spain as a dancer and began taking acting classes.

"I've learnt a lot working with some really good actors. There's no substitute for working with really talented people who are prepared to give time to help you on the job, like an apprenticeship."

He's now given up dancing ("I'm 43, so it hurts") but is training to be a stuntman to give him another string to his bow. He needs to keep working as he has a family now - his partner gave birth to their son, MacCallum, just two weeks before Skyers began rehearsals for the Leeds production.

* The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe is at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, until February 5. Tickets (0113) 213 7700.