THEY say that art imitates life and that has certainly been the case as Warrington’s Centenary Theatre Company polish up their dance shoes in preparation for Stepping Out.

Richard Harris’s play is about a weekly tap dancing class which uses dance routines as a backdrop for an exploration of the interactions between different kinds of people.

It has brought back lots of memories for director Barbara Worrall as she taught tap dancing at Sankey Forum (now Great Sankey Leisure Centre) throughout the 80s.

Barbara also currently teaches exercise classes three days a week at Sir Thomas Boteler CE High School, Grappenhall Community Centre and Quays Community Centre in Thelwall.

“I dusted my tap shoes off for this show,” said the Stockton Heath resident.

“All the people come to the class to get away from their day-to-day drudgery. They have problems at home, they come for an hour to get away from it and just enjoy the class and hopefully feel better than when they arrived.

“That is a philosophy I have. When I take classes I say forget outside. Just enjoy the hour and that’s what seems to happen. Somebody also said the storyline is a reflection of what has happened during the rehearsal process that we’ve had.”

Barbara had her work cut out for her as half of the cast of 10 had not tap danced before.

She added: “It’s a bit like Strictly Come Dancing. You can’t come away from it and call yourself a dancer but they’ve learnt the dances they needed. They’ve been really good and that’s what they’ve done. The biggest challenge has been trying to incorporate the choreography around the dialogue and the story.”

Barbara, who directed Educating Rita for Centenary last year, first saw Stepping Out, which explores issues like prejudice, family matters and domestic abuse in the West End in 1985.

She said: “All these characters are different. Different ages, different slices of life. One is a girl who doesn’t give two hoots about how she looks, another is prim and proper, one is timid and shy, one is having problems with her husband.

“And all these problems come out at the end. They all help each other. When I went to the West End we sat in the front stalls and there was this American tourist next to me and at the interval he said: ‘Do you take a tap class?’

“He said he could tell because of the way I was relating to everything they were saying. I’ve never forgotten that.

“So for me to be directing the play now feels like coming full circle.”

n Stepping Out is at The Brindley in Runcorn from Tuesday to Saturday. Visit thebrindley.org.uk