IT HARDLY seems two minutes since I saw Sarah Meadows act in a school play. Surprisingly, it was November 1999 in Our Country's Good.

As I recall, the whole student cast gave a powerful performance of Timberlake Wertenbaker's tale of an Australian penal colony, particularly Sarah, who came across as an energetic and very slick young performer.

Four years on, Sarah returns to Kendal's Queen Katherine School on Thursday (December 11) as a professional actor in the Shooting Fish production Rat Race.

The theatre company sprang to life in 2002 courtesy of writer Darren Bolton and three other Manchester Metropolitan University graduates, including Sarah.

Working out of Darren's hometown of Grimsby, its first project was a summer school aimed at children in north east Lincolnshire, which helped to attract grant aid and promote its work within the community.

Since August, the company has completed another equally successful project Springboard, focusing on introducing youngsters to complex elements of actor training and raising the profile of local theatre.

For now, though, all efforts are concentrated on staging Rat Race, which is touring the UK.

Sarah (pictured) plays The Wife a femme fatale who spins a web of deceit after her husband's suicide.

The four-hander is based on the capitalist ideals Darren and company felt the 1980s Thatcherite Government encouraged: "The themes and ideas are very political. It's is a mix of styles, a sort of film noir for theatre, highbrow yet accessible".

Sarah says feedback from audiences has been "brilliant" and given the Shooting Fish foursome a real boost.

Of course, life as an actor isn't plain sailing financially and Sarah, Darren (who plays The Body) and the two other guys, Ian Stopford (The Businessman) and Andrew Pippen (The Insurance Man), need to find extra work: "For the three weeks before Christmas, the company can't afford to pay our wages".

However, the foursome starts 2004 in the right frame of mind, beginning work on a short film Link. And although she loves treading the boards, her subtle acting style does seem to suit film. Plans are also in the pipeline for a larger scale tour from May.

If Sarah hadn't followed the acting path, criminal psychology would have been a close second: "Getting into peoples' heads infests itself in acting," she adds, "maybe sociology".

Now though, with a first class honours degree in contemporary arts under her belt, she's more than happy to build on her career and who knows what acting opportunities lie ahead?