'We play witches, bitches and britches'

Family and friends of opera singer Catherine Griffiths may not recognise her when she makes her debut on the stage of the Theatre Royal in her home city of York.

She'll be playing a man, with her female form hidden beneath a military uniform, hussar's helmet and a moustache.

The mezzo-soprano is playing Prince Orlofsky in English Touring Opera's production of Die Fledermaus, which can be seen in York and Darlington next month. "It often happens that mezzos play men," she explains. "We play witches, bitches and britches."

Changing her sex on stage is nothing new. As a pupil at the all-girls Queen Anne Grammar School in York, she often played a male in productions. "I started off as men because there weren't any boys at school," she says.

She has sung in York Minister several times, but never at the Theatre Royal, where she was introduced to the stage as a child when taken to see pantomimes. Last Christmas she took daughter Rosina - named after her favourite opera character, who features in The Barber Of Seville - to see the panto there. "I thought, 'next time I come to this theatre I'm going to be backstage'. I'm really looking forward to it," she says.

After some time away, she moved back to Yorkshire with husband Neil three years ago, to a village near Malton, before Rosina was born.

"We live in an idyllic cottage in the wilds and have chickens," she says proudly. "Moving back wasn't planned at all. We were visiting friends at Scampston and were out for a walk when we saw this cottage. No one was living in it. Both my husband and I thought, 'we want to live there'."

She met Neil when both were singers at Royal Opera House. They had their wedding reception in the Crush Bar. "It's a place that has very special memories," she adds.

Since moving North, Neil has given up singing to work as a commissioning manager in the health service. "He's enjoying the different challenges of that. It's nice to have someone settled and at home, knowing on a Friday that he doesn't have to work at the weekend," says Griffiths.

"I had a few months off after Rosina was born, then worked at Welsh National Opera. I took her with me because there was no moving around. She's at nursery now. My husband does breakfast and picks her up in the afternoon. It's quite hard work for him."

Griffiths is undertaking her first major role in the ETO tour since her daughter's birth. Singing Prince Orlofsky in Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus has always been an ambition. She's also understudying a role in the other touring production, Ariadne On Naxos, by Richard Strauss, and had gone on in the part days before we met as the person playing the role was ill.

Griffiths always wanted to be a singer. "None of my family are professionals, but my mother had a beautiful voice and my grandparents sang a lot. They were heavily involved in the Salvation Army, singing in the choir until recently," she says. "There was always music playing, someone singing or playing the piano at home."

She trained at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Royal Northern College of Music, before spending three seasons in the chorus at the Royal Opera House. There, she got to share the stage with such opera greats as Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa. "That was fantastic training," she says. "Then I was offered things by other companies and thought it was time to spread my wings."

There are already signs that Rosina might follow in her footsteps. "She's growing interested when I sing at home," says her mum.

l English Touring Opera perform Die Fledermaus at York Theatre Royal on May 1 and 2, and Ariadne On Naxos on May 3. Tickets 01904 623568.

Ariadne On Naxos can be seen at Darlington Civic Theatre on May 27 and Die Fledermaus on May 28. Tickets 01325 486555.