SHE IS more used to rubbing shoulders with Lord Grantham and other members of the Crawley family in the award-winning drama Downton Abbey.

But actress Phoebe Sparrow will be alone on stage when she stars in a new one-woman play being performed in a Hampshire village tomorrow.

Phoebe will play a dragon-slaying knight in two performances of It’s in the Trees at the Verderers’ Hall in Lyndhurst.

The 45-minute production is part of the Forest Forge Theatre Company’s playwrights in residence project and the New Forest Arts Festival.

Set in Yorkshire but filmed at Highclere Castle in Hampshire, Downton Abbey depicted the lives of the Crawleys and their domestic servants between 1912 and 1926.

Events described in the series included the sinking of the Titanic, the outbreak of the First World War and the Spanish flu pandemic.

Phoebe played Larry Merton’s fiancee, Amelia Cruikshank in four episodes of the hit series, including the 2015 Christmas special.

She also starred as Letta, a young visitor to 18th century Venice in The Masquerade.

The interactive film, which encourages people to mimic the actions of the main characters, can be seen at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Written by Southampton-based Paul Hewitt, 24, It’s in the Trees is based on a New Forest legend about a knight who killed a dragon that was causing havoc in the area.

Following an epic struggle the terrifying creature was slain near Lyndhurst, its copse turning into a hill now known as Bolton’s Bench.

Mentally broken by the battle the knight later returned to the spot to die alone, his body becoming a yew tree that can still seen today.

Paul said: “The Verderers’ Hall is a lovely medieval room and Phoebe is an amazing storyteller.”

The London-based actress added: “It’s in the Trees is vast and epic in its timeline and world, but Paul has created this wonderful story whose heart and soul is in the local area and its landscape. It’s a challenge and a total workout for me as an actor, but I can’t wait to perform it.”

Last year Forest Forge presented Nude, Paul’s play about love and fate.

The critically-acclaimed production was staged in Ringwood following a successful run at the Hope Theatre in London, with one reviewer describing it as “a theatrical experience like little else on the London stage right now”.

Tickets for It’s in the Trees cost £5, with proceeds going to the Forest Forge Youth Theatre bursary. Go online and visit forestforgetheatre.co.uk.