AUDIENCES will be taken on a globe-trotting adventure at Salisbury Playhouse.

A touring production of Around the World in 80 Days comes to Salisbury Playhouse direct from the West End from today (Monday, October 2) until Saturday (October 7).

Theresa Heskins’ celebrated production features a cast of eight actors playing more than 125 characters in the escapade that includes six trains, five boats, four fights, three dances, two circus acts and even an elephant.

The mysterious and wealthy Phileas Fogg, played by Andrew Pollard, wagers his life’s fortune that he can circumnavigate the globe in just 80 days.

Fogg and his loyal valet, Passepartout, voyage from the misty alleys of Victorian London to the exotic subcontinent and the Wild West in a race against the clock.

"It is a really fast-paced show and such a feel good family show. It is very filmic in a way," says Andrew. "It's got lots of visual comedy."

Andrew, who has appeared in Coronation Street and Emmerdale and wrote Salisbury Playhouse pantomimes Aladdin and Cinderella, reprises his role as Phileas Fogg which he played in a 2014 production of the play while Michael Hugo (Cyrano at Northern Broadsides) reprises his turn as Passepartout.

Andrew says: "Phileas Fogg has got 80 days to win his bet to get around the world in that time. People always say they feel like they have been around the world with us when they have seen it.

"There is audience participation at certain points so it is very interactive and kids seem to respond to that. It is family show and we certainly get lots of kids in and they respond to that adventure theme in it."

Andrew says Fogg is an "interesting" character to play as he explains: "His life is very clockwork but this bet changes all that and through this journey he becomes a slightly different person and finds romance. For someone that has never left England he sees the world and it changes him - there is a journey for him as well as a journey for the show."

The cast also includes Suzanne Ahmet, Pushpinder Chani, Okorie Chukwu, Matt Connor, Denis Herdman, and Kirsten Foster.

This will be the first time Andrew has taken to the stage at the Salisbury Playhouse. He says: "It is great to be able to bring it [the show] here.

"I write the panto for Salisbury so it is a theatre I know quite well but I've never been there as an actor. It is going to be lovely to be there and be on stage."

Summing up the show, Andrew said: "It is a fast-paced, highly entertaining, family romp."

For more information or tickets contact the box office on 01722 320333 or visit salisburyplayhouse.com.