Maggie Rawlinson has danced the Argentine Tango with A-lister Hollywood star Jude Law, but this week she has her feet firmly back on the ground, directing 150 Swindon youngsters in a full scale musical.

Maggie is both director and choreographer of this year’s Summer Youth Project at the Wyvern Theatre, juggling her dual role to create a professional production of Oliver! with just 10 days of rehearsals.

“I have been the choreographer on the last three projects so I knew what I was letting myself in for, but it is still a challenge. There is so much to choreograph and then there are the extras added on top, such as people coming in with lists of props, arranging scene changes, and consulting with the back stage crew about the set, but I have a good professional team behind me,’’ said Maggie.

Supporting the director are Greg Last, an actor/musician and composer taking on the musical director’s chair, Emily Gara, as assistant choreographer and Emma Barr, as assistant director.

Maggie said: “Greg recently played Jerry in the Bolton Theatre production of Summer Holiday, he was my MD on Grease so I asked him back, Emily has worked with me on all three I have done in Swindon and she has recently graduated from The Bird College of Dance, and Emma is the associate director with Prime Theatre so she is new to me, but a real addition to the team.’’

The director says her most difficult challenge is to persuade her young actors not to copy the actors in the famous film that everyone knows so well. She wants them to find their own voice, and way of expressing the Charles Dickens’ characters.

“I decided not to do a modern interpretation but to give people what they want, the full Victorian England, with the big numbers, exciting sets stretching out in to the auditorium some using scaffolding, and a balcony on stage, so that all the mums and dads can see their young ones and everyone gets a turn,’’ said Maggie.

Her main actors are 10-year-old Cory White who plays Oliver, Richard Kerr as the Artful Dodger, Archie Fisher as Fagin, Rhea Thorpe as Nancy and Marcellus Hill who plays Bill Sykes.

“Marcellus has grown enormously. He started with me on Hairspray, my first Swindon project, and I was told he was gobsmacked and delighted to get Bill Sykes. He deserved it, he’s a good little actor and also a great dancer so I have made him a pauper in the first half so he can dance, and then he transforms in the interval,’’ said Maggie.

But Bill Sykes does not have a dog in this production, Maggie says 160 children are enough, and she won’t have them upstaged by a cute pup.

Oliver is Maggie’s directorial debut but she is a seasoned choreographer, having worked in panto in the West End and on TV shows such as Henry VIII with Ray Winstone and Helena Bonham Carter.

“That was fantastic, actors of that calibre make your job easy. It was funny because at the time I was also working on MGM/Winkler Film’s De-Lovely starring Kevin Kline, so I was with Kevin upstairs and Helen and Ray downstairs,’’ said Maggie.

As for her tango round the floor with Jude Law, that came about through working on Steven Spielberg’s AI Artificial Intelligence.

“Many of the shots were left out, but they wanted the AI that Jude Law played to learn all these different dances, including the Argentine Tango, so I hopped, skipped and jumped to work on those days. Jude is actually an accomplished mover!’’

The choreographer frequently works with Theatr na NOg, choreographing their production of Eye Of The Storm, a musical play set to music by Grammy-award winning Amy Wadge, who plays in Faringdon regularly. This autumn Maggie will be back leading the dance moves in a two-hander called Nye and Jennie with the theatre company.

Maggie said she was going from one extreme of 160 youngsters in a popular musical to another with a dramatic two hander about Aneurin Bevan and Jennie Lee.

She says that working with young people is really rewarding and the Summer Youth Project is a fantastic opportunity for them to experience the disciplines of professional theatre which will stand them in good stead for life, even if they do not choose a stage career.

Oliver runs from Thursday August 23 to Saturday August 25 from 7.30pm and tickets are £14.50 - £16 from 01793 524481 or visit www.swindontheatre.co.uk - Flicky Harrison