Versatility is the name of the game for Antony Stuart-Hicks – known to his friends as Ash.

Leanne Jones and Antony Stuart-Hicks as Tracy and Edna Turnblad in Hairspray in Dubai

He’s recently returned from flouncing about in a frock playing Edna Turnblad in a hit production of the musical Hairspray in Dubai. Now Ash is aging-up to play quintessential Athenian workman Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Shakespeare 4 Kidz.

Ash, just turned 26, specialises in character roles and loves playing dame in panto. As the youngest professional pantomime dame in the UK, his Christmastime credits include Widow Twankey in Aladdin, Sarah the Cook in Dick Whittingon, Dame Dolly Mixture in Snow White and Lily O’Grady in Cinderella.

His versatility has also extended to playing Colonel Mustard in Cluedo, Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers and Kaa the snake in Jungle Book.

Ash started young in showbiz, becoming a pro at just 11 and has spent the last 15 years as an actor/producer working alongside such eminent professionals as Dame Maggie Smith, Ken Dodd and Susan Penhaligon. He was born in Liverpool, brought up in Crosby and attended Chesterfield High School but now lives in Streatham Hill.

Ash’s previous roles for S4K have largely involved pencilling on the stage-wrinkles to play such parts as Ophelia’s father Polonius in Hamlet and Gonzalo in The Tempest.

This is a return to the part of Quince for S4K. Peter Quince is the workman who has the brainwave of organising his motley bunch of friends into putting on a play to entertain Duke Theseus and his new wife Hippolyta during their wedding celebrations.

He describes Quince as: “Fastidious, acutely organised and a worrier who has an aspiration to be a great director.”

But as anyone familiar with the play will know, the Tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe – as enacted by Athenian workmen Bottom and friends -  turns into an hilarious fun-fest.

Ash will also be doubling as another oldie, Hermia’s grumpy dad Egeus.

S4K’s musical adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream tours the UK from September 14