AS a teenager, Eithne Browne dreamed of being a backing singer for Crosby, Stills & Nash and more than 30 years on her wish has almost come true.

In the Octagon's production of Bolton playwright Jim Cartwright's Eight Miles High, she also gets to play singers Joni Mitchell and Grace Slick.

Taking time out from rehearsals for the show ex-Brookside actress Eithne said: "I am getting to sing songs with great people and act as well."

The play takes place in the late 1960s where, in a muddy field in the North-West, Lancashire's answer to Woodstock is about to take place. It features a spaced-out traveller, a Hell's Angel and a plethora of peace-loving hippies.

Eithne says she always enjoys performing at the Octagon.

"The last time I was here I was strung up in a harness, then I was slapped in Alfie and this time I get to go off on a motorbike with a Hell's Angel, so there is always an element of danger here," she said.

"The cast are great, the audience are loyal and we have such a laugh, then we get to the end of the week and they give me money, so I'm made up."

Eight Miles High will be directed by the Octagon's artistic director, Mark Babych, and the set and costumes are by award-winning designer Richard Foxton, who will celebrate 50 designs at the theatre with this production.

Musical direction is by Howard Gay, who also performs in this production among the 11-strong cast, which also comprises Simeon Truby (currently on stage at the Octagon in Two), Phil Corbitt, Zita Frith, Bob Golding, Rosie Jenkins, Adam Keast, Jake Norton, Andrew Schofield and Francis Tucker.

Liverpool-based Eithne, starred in Channel 4's Brookside as Chrissy Rogers between 1987 and 1991.

She has also had roles in TV's The Royal, Emmerdale and The Warriors and well as theatre roles in Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine and Abigail's Party.

She said: "Brookside was a huge learning curve for me. I really enjoyed it, but I never regret leaving because I wouldn't have been able to do the other things I have done since. A lot of people still remember me from it, even now."

l Eight Miles High is at the Octagon Theatre until Saturday, July 2. Tickets are on sale now, priced £6.50 to £15.95, and can be bought from the box office on 01204 520661 or www.octagonbolton.co. uk