LUKE Neal knows just how lucky he is to have had people around him to say 'go and follow your dream'.

Thanks to that encouragement, from teachers, parents and friends, he's now on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, in three of this year's Bardathon productions.

It's a long way from Sutton St Nicholas and the Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat School. But that's where 24-year-old Luke's journey began.

"You can be pretty low in confidence being in Hereford as you grow up. It's a small city and, if you're not in the in-crowd, it can affect you.

"I was floating really, nothing grabbed me but I had a great teacher of drama at Bishop's, Mr Hale, and I went on to the art college to do a BTec in performing arts.

"This was when the Courtyard was setting up and I think there must be something in the air because, when I was studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, there were 11 people from Hereford at different drama schools."

The 'something in the air' could trace back to Nell Gwynn's influence or - more likely - to the energy and vision being generated by Jonathan Stone and Estelle van Warmelo in the early days of The Courtyard.

Luke, his brother Matthew - also acting professionally now - and two others, Anthony Murphy and John Read, set up their own Four Play theatre group. Luke explains: "We wanted to get to play bigger parts but we were unknowns, so we started our own company and put on Bouncers."

Stone saw the show at the art college, liked it and offered them free use of the Courtyard as a venue.

Working with Estelle has, thinks Luke, been key to his development. "She's a great director, really keen on how to bring you into a professional atmosphere, setting very high standards."

Now he's on stage as Dolabella in the sell-out Antony and Cleopatra with Patrick Stewart and Harriet Walter, being directed by 'one of the greatest Shakespearean directors' Greg Doran, with Julius Caesar running in conjunction and The Tempest later this year.

Not big parts yet but, as the Soothsayer, he has to utter the immortal lines: "Beware the Ides of March"... but he's not too fazed at the prospect: "I used to be terrified of Shakespeare but now I've learnt how he really is the actor's friend. If you just follow his guidelines it'll work."