AN intriguing Emmerdale pairing heads Bolton Octagon's new line-up for the spring and summer 2002 season.

The newly-announced programme has been released and among the in-house productions is a new version of Miss Julie starring Emmerdale's Anna Brecon and Geoff Hordley, alias Lady Tara and Cain Dingle.

A mixture of touring and in-house productions features in the programme which runs from January through to July.

The five productions being presented by Bolton Octagon are: John Steinbeck's classic play Of Mice and Men; Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit; August Strindberg's Miss Julie in a new version by Frank McGuinness; Dead Funny by Terry Johnson; and Second From Last In The Sack Race by David Nobbs.

Patrick Malahide stars in the first touring play to visit the Octagon. Hinterland by Sebastian Barry will be presented by Out of Joint, the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and the Royal National Theatre from January 17 to 26.

Other touring productions that follow are Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, presented by Compass Theatre Company from April 2 to 6, and Shakespeare's Macbeth, featuring Walkington Productions, from April 9 to 13.

Of Mice and Men runs from January 31 to February 23 and is Steinbeck's own stage adaptation of his classic fiction of the late 1930s.

It evokes the dustbowl life of migrant workers in the Californian agricultural belt during the Depression. The play is described as passionate and provocative, unsentimental and humorous, maintaining its relevance to the present day.

Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit runs from March 7 to 30. The famous bite and wit of Coward creates a fun comedy full of mischief and panache.

It follows the plight of author Charles Condomine whose deceased first wife makes an unannounced appearance following a seance. The first Mrs Condomine, Elvira, proceeds to haunt the hapless Charles and his current wife, Ruth.

The Emmerdale pairing star in Miss Julie from April 18 to May 11. Strindberg's mighty play on power, sex and class is a classic of gender warfare.

The haughty, aristocratic Miss Julie is drawn to the kitchen of her father's country house, where the servants are celebrating midsummer's eve.

Among the revellers is Jean, her father's valet, who is engaged to be married to the cook. The pair are drawn to each other bringing sexual and class tensions to an explosive pitch.

Terry Johnson's Dead Funny runs from May 16 to June 8. The play is described as a "custard-pie tragi-comedy of people for whom a one liner is more important than a one to one". The humour is full of the innuendo of a traditional English seaside postcard.

David Nobbs is the man behind comedy classics, The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin, A Bit Of A Do, The Two Ronnies and That Was The Week That Was.

His play Second From Last In The Sack Race is based on his novel following a young boy's passage to manhood, set in the back-to-back terraced houses of Northern England running through the 1930s to 1950s.

Adapted by Michael Birch, the play traces the ups and downs of Henry Pratt from birth to his 18th year.

Tickets for the Octagon's new season are now on sale from the box office on 520661.