NICK Asbury really didn't have much of a chance of avoiding an actor's life.

As a wide-eyed seven-year-old he sat in the wings as panto played twice daily on the Nell Gwynn stage in Hereford, and drank in the technique, the timing and the sheer excitement of it all.

Mum and dad, Bill and Jackie, were both stalwarts of the Wye Players and am-dram was a way of life in the Asbury household. Then there were family outings to Stratford and an inspirational' teacher in Colin Gray at Hereford Cathedral School so Nick's progress to study acting at Dartington College became certain.

Then it was a range of jobs from being Basil Brush's pianist ("fantastic job and a great character to work with") to tv's The Bill, Dunkirk and Doctors.

But, now 35, he's shedding pounds and loving every arduous minute of being part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Bardathon at Stratford-upon-Avon.

In particular, he is Somerset in Henry VI which sees parts one, two and three played throughout one day each week and in succession for the rest of the time.

Nick is also fight captain for the production which means ensuring the 23 sword-fights go as choreographed, maintaining pace and tension - with no injuries. "We start with a 9.15am call for a run-through then performances at 10.30am, 3pm and 7.30pm. Twelve hours later, it ends with the battle of Barnet involving 15 guys - I've lost a stone in a month!" he laughs.

And, of course, there's the part to play too.

"You can be tempted to pace yourself but you know there's an audience that's going to be with you for 12 hours too and they've got to be taken along - so you have to start out like a bull at a gate. You get to a different place at the end of a full day like that, through sheer tiredness."

Not that Nick didn't know what was coming - he was part of the cast that brought the work to the RSC in 2001, again under Michael Boyd, now artistic director.

"I'm just a glutton for punishment I guess but I'd jump in the lake to work for that man - he is another who is truly inspirational; not just heading this ensemble but also how he is leading the RSC during its re-development."

This time the show is in the newly created Courtyard Theatre - "a wonderful intimate cathedral where no-one is more than 15 ft from the stage but an epic work like this can fill the space for 1,000 people".

And it's just a sword's length away from the Dirty Duck where a schoolboy sat and gazed at its hall of fame......