THERE are 232 puppets and costumes in the huge West End production of The Lion King - and Sari Rutherford helps to look after them all. Newcastle-born Sari has a big job on her hands as a wardrobe assistant in Disney's award-winning musical written by Elton John and Tim Rice.

There are around 50 performers who either operate the puppets or bring life to the characters by climbing into the intricate costumes, some with special animatronic equipment. That's a lot of quick changes to squeeze in backstage at London's Lyceum Theatre.

Each puppet or costume requires a network of custom-fitted straps - and there are at least two understudies for each character. Now you can see the scale of the task of ensuring each character in this particular carnival of animals fits the part.

Sari, whose name is the Finnish version of Sarah, has been part of the 114 West End backstage crew for the last two years.

The wardrobe assistant has to move at the pace of a leopard with its tail on fire to keep up with the costume changes.

She can also host a breakneck backstage tour through the maze-like areas of the Lyceum Theatre (which fairly recently acquired air conditioning - to the relief of the costume-clad performers).

Dozens of outfits, from 13ft elephants to five-inch mice, adorn every piece of storage space. It took 37,000 hours to create the puppets and masks alone.

Sari studied at Northumbria University and gained a BA in fashion. But she had few thoughts of getting under the skin of a theatre career.

She says: "Originally I studied with the idea of getting into the fashion industry. When I came to London I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I went around all the theatres because it involved costumes and I knew that each had a wardrobe department.

"In Newcastle there were no textile jobs because they've all gone abroad and the theatre idea came along after I worked at the Playhouse (the Tyneside home of Northern Stage).

"Going to London was a gamble I took with my boyfriend Marco (a theatre carpenter who studied furniture-making in the North-East). I couldn't have made a better start than The Lion King because the show has so many costumes and animatronics as well. In fact I was just taking my examination to become an office temp when the call came that I'd got The Lion King job."

Sari is already working on "bits and pieces" with designers outside the theatre and sees her future as part of a creative team.

"To be honest, I'm much happier making things happen in a studio environment from a design rather than creating something from scratch."

Her parents, John, and Finnish mother Anneli, have been down to see the show from their Matfen home near Hadrian's Wall at Hexham.

"I'm the first person in my family to become involved in the theatre and, to be honest, I've never wanted to be someone on the stage. I'm quite happy being creative in the background.

"I'm on a salary I can survive on even though the living costs are so much higher in London. The pace of life was a nightmare down here at first, particularly on the tube.

"We only get one day off a week so I do try and stay out of the West End when I'm not working. The Lion King is a big commitment but it really is worth the time when you see the show."

Then comes the shock. Sari admits that in 24 months of life in The Lion King's realm she still hasn't seen a production herself. In fact the only West End show she has seen is We Will Rock You, the Queen tribute scripted by Ben Elton.

"We keep asking to see the show but it is a matter of us having cover so we can get out in the audience and watch...