It's not surprising that Nigel Francis describes his latest role as the most challenging of his career.
Not only is he the lead, a transgender singer looking for love, but he also plays all the other parts in the cult rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
No wonder he says: “It’s a bit like playing Hamlet, but he hasn’t got 11 songs to sing too.”
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And as if Nigel isn’t busy enough, he’s also producing the musical, which he first staged in Frankfurt where he’s based but is now bringing to his native Midlands.
Nigel, who was born and brought up in Coventry, is putting it on at the Old Joint Stock Theatre in Birmingham from September 12-14.
The hilarious, emotional and outrageous Hedwig and the Angry Inch first premiered in 1998. It’s about a fictional band fronted by a transgender singer, born Hansel Schmidt in East Berlin who becomes female Hedwig Robinson after a botched sex change.
Her journey to find true love takes her over the Berlin Wall and across the world.
Nigel, 42, says: “If you like The Rocky Horror Show, you will love Hedwig, although it has more serious themes.
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“I’ve played Frank ‘n’ Furter so I know both musicals well, but I think Hedwig is even better.
“Hedwig was born a boy in East Berlin in the Cold War and at 26 he meets an American GI called Luther. He persuades him to escape by becoming a woman and marrying him.
“It sounds drastic, but there were a lot of people desperate to escape East Berlin who risked their lives for the chance of freedom.
“Hedwig certainly isn’t a musical like Oklahoma or Hello Dolly. There are times you really feel for the character. You may not think you have much in common, but we’ve all felt what it’s like to be the odd one out or to have fallen out of love.
“I vividly remember seeing the show for the first time while visiting my family in Coventry in 2007.
“It was an amateur production I found by chance in the little Criterion Theatre in Earlsdon.
“I was absolutely gobsmacked and felt emotionally drained afterwards.”
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Nigel, a former pupil of Coundon Court in Coventry, met his girlfriend Angela when working at the English Theatre in Frankfurt. He moved to Germany in 2008 to be with her and set up his own production company.
“There was really only one show I wanted to start off with, although premiering Hedwig in conservative Frankfurt was a brave choice.
“But we had fantastic reviews and people took it to their hearts. It was only supposed to run for four weeks but it’s still going, on and off.
“When I thought of bringing it to Britain, I wanted to stage it in the Midlands, and my first thought was the Old Joint Stock Theatre.
“It’s the perfect space for it. It plays best for about 250 people, where the audience are close.
“I play Hedwig and all the other roles, including Luther and her parents. I don’t really have props – I might take off Hedwig’s huge Farah Fawcett wig at times, but I mainly do it by changing my voice and physicality.
“It is daunting. When I first picked up the script, it starts with ‘Hedwig speaks’ and 50 pages later, she’s still speaking!”
Nigel will be employing five local actors and musicians to play Hedwig’s backing band The Angry Inch, including Tim Prottey-Jones from Edgbaston, a finalist in the ITV talent show Superstar.
Now Nigel wants to take his show to London, though he faces competition from a new production set to open on Broadway next year starring Neil Patrick Harris.
Nigel has had the opportunity to learn from the best, especially when he worked at the Old Vic under Kevin Spacey. He appeared in a Robert Altman-directed play, Resurrection Blues by Arthur Miller, with Matthew Modine, Neve Campbell and James Fox.
“It was a magical time,” remembers Nigel. “Kevin is a genius at what he does and gives brilliant advice.”
* Hedwig and the Angry Inch plays at the Old Joint Stock Theatre on Temple Row, Birmingham from September 12-14. For tickets ring 0121 200 0946 or go to .