ALTHOUGH he's only ten-months-old, baby Wilf is already a bit of a stage star. He made his first appearance, in a manner of speaking, when actress mum Lexi Strauss was five months pregnant and on stage in Salisbury.

"I was playing a dominatrix with big PVC boobs and a corset. It became quite difficult to get the corset on," recalls the actress, who grew up in York. "But the bump didn't really start to show until two days after we'd finished the run of the play."

Wilf's father, actor Morgan George, played one of her clients in that production of an Alan Ayckbourn comedy three years ago. They're now together again, on and off stage, in the new adaptation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey at York Theatre Royal, which opens today.

The production marks Lexi's professional debut on that stage, although she's appeared previously at the theatre at a school speech day and a staging of Under Milk Wood.

The couple have worked before with Tim Luscombe, who has adapted and directs the Austen premiere. "He wanted Morgan for one of the roles and found me a little part," explains Lexi. "It's brilliant. This particular show is ideal for me because it's nice to spend more time with Wilf. I'm only in the play for a second, so I'm hardly needed at all for rehearsals."

They've not had to find a babysitter as one or the other has been available to look after Wilf during the day. He even sat in on the interview, even if he didn't have much to say for himself apart from being a little bit sick halfway through.

The couple have recently appeared under Luscombe's direction in another play, and took Wilf with them. "We rented a place, a converted barn," recalls Morgan. "We'd put Wilf to bed at night, get someone to look after him and he didn't know we'd gone as he was asleep," he says.

Lexi found that motherhood and acting worked well together. "I used to go home every lunchtime to breast feed him, and I breast fed him before I went on stage at night," she says. "It made me so relaxed. It really helped my performance. I got the best reviews I've ever had. I think it's no coincidence that women who breast feed say it really calms you down when your baby has been screaming all day."

Home, when they're not appearing in the theatre, is Malvern, although working in York has the advantage of showing off Wilf to his grandparents.

Lexi didn't work for six months after Wilf's birth, but was keen to continue with her career. "We said we'd share looking after him and working. In some respects, acting is good if you want equality. It can work out really well," she says.

"We knew parts would be difficult but we didn't really know anything else. As a new mother, you do fear you may not get the work, especially as I'd moved out of London."

Now they seem to be in the swing of bringing up baby and working in regional theatre. They take steps to ensure that Wilf isn't too aware of all the travelling and living in new places, but there's no doubt he's growing up as a theatrical baby.

"I know quite a few people from old acting families that were brought up like that. We take things with us to make it feel like home. We have a washing line and hang colourful things, like socks, on it," she says.

Morgan adds: "We've borrowed a big car because you need to take everything with you, a phenomenal amount of gear."

What they've noticed is how much Wilf grows as they move on to a new job. "When we went to Salisbury, he was a little blob. Now he's completely changed again. This time, I think he'll be walking by the time he goes back home, from a baby to a toddler," she says.

Wilf's already seen his first stage production, a children's show called Baking Time, and responded along with the rest of the young audience.

Lexi also went along to a book event in Cheltenham attended by actress Judi Dench to seek her advice about motherhood and acting. "She and her husband were working quite a lot when they had their daughter. She said to go for it. It was quite encouraging," she reports.

In Northanger Abbey, Morgan plays one of the suitors of heroine Catherine, whose father owns the vast and mysterious house of the title. Lexi takes several small roles.

Once the production is over, they plan to spend some time at home. "It would be nice to spend the summer there," says Lexi. "But perhaps the only place that feels like home at the moment is when we are all together."

* Northanger Abbey is at York Theatre Royal from today until June 12. Tickets 01904 623568.