A talented young couple literally take their first steps into the limelight next week when they take on starring roles in this year's annual pantomime.

Fifteen-year old Bermuda High School student, Happy Lindsay, plays Maid Marion, with 17-year old Saltus Grammar School student Daniel Frith in the title role of Robin Hood in the BMDS production of `Robin Hood and Babes in the Wood'.

With professional director Jonathan Owen imported from England and now firmly in charge, the BMDS has gone back to the popular, strictly traditional approach to the annual Christmas show at City Hall.

Theatre fans will be glad to know that one of Bermuda's best loved actors, Gavin Wilson, will be playing the part of the Dame. They will also be joined by veteran actor, John Instone, as the Sheriff of Nottingham, with the two robbers played by Connie Dey and Ed Christopher, and the role of Nurse Fanny Fettlebuttock taken by John Thomson.

Although they are still in their teens, both Happy Lindsay and Daniel Frith are both determined to make the theatre their careers.

"Oh yes, I've always wanted to do it professionally,'' exclaims Happy. "I love everything, from comedy to Shakespeare. I've done a lot at school, but this is my first time on the local stage.'' So how did she get involved in the pantomime? "I saw the audition notice in the paper, and Daniel and I both went along. Actually, we were hoping to get parts as the robbers -- we'd never even thought about the leading roles.'' Yes, she admits she was surprised to be named as Maid Marion. "Well, I had already gone through the doubting phase about all this, when I first read the ad. But I'd decided that if I was rejected it would do me good, because you get rejected constantly in the professional theatre, so it would be good practice! "Anyway, I went along and sang `Happy Birthday' and then went home. It was so incredibly odd, Dan and I both getting those roles. I couldn't sleep the night before I heard, and I burst into tears when they phoned me -- I was like one of those girls in the Miss America pageants, crying all over the place!'' Asked how she became interested in the theatre, Happy says she "sort of stumbled'' into it: "I've always been mimicking people, and I seem to recollect that people have always said I'm over-dramatic!'' Having studied the violin and double bass with the Menuhin Foundation, she plays with the Bermuda Philharmonic Orchestra, and is taking Drama in her upcoming GCSE examinations. "After that, I hope I can go to RADA or the Central School in London -- or if I go to the US, it will be UCLA, but first, I want to do my `A' levels in England. But I think about my career all day and every day -- and I don't think anything is going to stop me going onstage -- except, maybe, a director! I don't care if I make it big or not, though that would be a bonus. I just want to be there, where there's all that energy!'' Is Happy her real name? "Of course! My dad said the day I was born was the happiest of his life, so he called me Happy.'' Of her role as Maid Marion, she says it is the hardest she has ever played.

"I've never sung before, so I'm being very brave. It's a straight role, not funny, not serious. I was acting it a bit `Bette Davis', and I have to sing these songs.'' She launches into a comical take-off of herself singing `Somewhere Out There'.

"That's my solo, so I do little Whitney Houston things in that. I must tell you that my interpretation is very simple, though! Then we have a jumpy little number in the second act called `Nottingham Fair'. The most fun is my duet with Daniel, from `Grease'. I get real nasal, very `50s', in that one! It's all singing and dancing at once, so I get an asthma attack by the second verse, but Coral (Waddell) is rehearsing us very well, so I expect we'll survive.'' Stage fright? "Oh yes! It's only the adrenalin that pushes me onstage, but once I'm on, I feel fine.'' Daniel Frith agrees that showbiz is probably in his blood. His father, Doug, is a well-known musician and teacher (he will, as usual, be playing in the pantomime orchestra) and his mother is acclaimed dancer and choreographer Barbara Frith.

Now in his post-graduate year at Saltus, Daniel is taking Advanced Placements for an undergraduate programme in theatre arts in the US, followed, he hopes, by a graduate course in London.

With his parents so closely involved in the local arts scene, it comes as no surprise to learn that he has already made "a few'' onstage appearances in pantomimes. His biggest role to date was last year, when he played one of the ill-fated Princes (Edward) in the Tower, in the BMDS Bermuda Festival production of `King Richard III'.

He had the leading role of Doody in the recent Saltus production of `Grease', and he is still starry-eyed about the Shakespeare course he took at the London Academy of Performing Arts in London this summer. "It was wonderful! One of the very best experiences of my life. The first real professional experience I've had.'' He has also been chosen to play Dracula in next March's `Dracula Spectacular' for the Saltus annual drama production.

Of his role as Robin, he says: "It's yourtypical panto hero --a Pantomime stars straight role, not funny. I have to dance, but that's all right! My dancing career was very limited -- I did a Jackson School recital when I was about three, burst into tears, covered my face with my hands and ran off -- that was the end of my dancing career.'' He has had better success in learning the clarinet although his father made a point of arranging for another teacher to give him lessons.

Daniel reveals how he met his Maid Marion in real life: "I was teaching some drama to younger kids at the Jackson School and Happy was in the class. That made it much easier for us to act together.'' And are they getting on well together? Despite a guffaw of laughter from Happy, both insist that they are having a wonderful time.

`Robin Hood and Babes in the Wood' opens at City Hall on Thursday, December 7-16, with matinee performances on December 9 and 16. Curtain time is 8 p.m.

and 3 p.m. for matinees. Tickets (evening performances) are $16 and $13 for matinees, obtainable from the Daylesford Box Office on November 30, December 1, 4-6 from 5.30 to 7.30 p.m. and at the City Hall Box Office which will be open for one hour prior to each performance. No telephone reservations will be accepted.