Barry from EastEnders is far from Albert Square.
He’s standing in a rehearsal room in the lofty environs of the National Theatre, warming up for rehearsals by getting his vocal chords round a tongue twister.
“I want a proper cup of coffee from a copper bottomed pot,” enunciates actor Shaun Williamson, over and over again.
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Then he and the rest of the cast of One Man, Two Guvnors launch into the production’s final rousing musical number, Tomorrow Looks Good From Here.
It all does look good for the show’s longest 海角视频 tour, which makes Birmingham Hippodrome its second stop for a week from Monday before finally finishing at Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre next March.
Shaun takes four months off over Christmas to star in pantomime, with Norman Pace replacing him as Charlie Clench.
“I’m playing evil Abanazar in Aladdin for the sixth time, in Stevenage,” he confides. “It’s a favourite role of mine.
“I got into acting quite late, not starting drama school until I was 27 after a brief career in the Royal Navy and as a holiday camp entertainer.
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“I left at 30 fully intent on being a stage actor, but within six months I was gobbled up by EastEnders.
“All the time I was itching to get on stage. When I finally left the soap, 10 years ago, I promised myself I would do two stage jobs a year.
“One is the obligatory pantomime but I hope the other is a quality production like this. I’ve been lucky, my hit rate is good with only a couple of turkeys.”
He has starred on stage in the likes of Guys and Dolls, Porridge and The Ladykillers in the decade since he stopped playing hapless Barry Evans in EastEnders, but the soap role has stayed with him – and he freely admits that’s partly his own fault.
He appeared as a version of himself, who everyone called ‘Barry from EastEnders’, in the Ricky Gervais sitcoms Extras and Life’s Too Short.
Even his Twitter name is @FatBarryShaunW.
Shaun, 48, sighs good naturedly: “I just have to put up with being called Barry, it will be on my gravestone. I was filming in Budapest recently and no-one called me Barry. I reverted back to being a fat middle-aged man who everyone ignored, and it was great. There are times I wish I could switch it off, but I know I encouraged it by doing Extras. Though I never regret doing that, I loved working on great scripts with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.”
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Shaun is married to Melanie and they have two children.
“I had mixed feelings about touring when the children were young, but now they are teenagers and I just get a grunt from them, it’s not so much of a problem.
“The first week of a show is sheer terror while you’re bedding in, then you have to keep it fresh every night for the audience.
“You don’t dry through nerves but through complacency. It’s up to you to not lose that concentration, especially with a farce where it’s so full on. It’s vital you burst through the door at exactly the right time.”
One Man, Two Guvnors is set in 1960s Brighton, when Charlie owes gangster Roscoe Crabbe £6,000 – the equivalent of about £100,000 today.
His problem seems to be solved when they hear that Roscoe, who is engaged to Charlie’s daughter Pauline (played by Jasmyn Banks), has been murdered. But then he turns up in Brighton, impersonated by his twin sister, Rachel.
Francis Henshall, the main role made famous by James Corden and now played by Gavin Spokes, gets a job as Roscoe’s minder, and also finds himself working for Rachel’s boyfriend Stanley Stubbers. To prevent discovery, he must keep his two bosses apart.
Shaun says: “I spend the whole play running around, trying to find £6,000 and keeping an eye on my daughter.
“There’s a lot of physical comedy. This is actually my second play in a row, after The Ladykillers, where I end up in a knife fight.
“If someone attacked me in the street now...I will still run away.”
In his spare time between shows, Shaun will also be busy writing – for EastEnders.
He’s returning to the soap but staying behind the scenes, after Barry was last seen being pushed to his death down a mountain by evil wife Janine.
Last year Shaun took part in a writers’ shadow scheme in which potential scriptwriters pen an episode of the soap as if it will be aired.
His first attempt wasn’t quite right but they asked him to have another go, so he will be writing an episode for August.
Shaun says: “I think EastEnders is pretty good at the moment. I’m glad Barry is dead because I really don’t fancy going back as an actor. If the door is open, you always think ‘Shall I, shan’t I?’
“I’d rather go into another soap, ideally as a villainous character who murders someone. What’s the point of playing another Barry?”
Shaun is hoping to show his versatility in his next two screen roles – playing a spy and a Roman chariot driver.
In Budapest he was making a TV mini-series about escapologist Harry Houdini, starring Adrien Brody.
“I play Reilly, Ace of Spies,” chuckles Shaun. “Even though I know Sam Neill played him when he was really fit.”
He went to Rickmansworth to learn how to drive chariots before filming the ITV2 comedy Plebs in Bulgaria.
Unlike Shaun, his co-star Emma Barton would love to return to EastEnders. Not least because her exit was somewhat upstaged by the death of one of Walford’s finest – Wellard the dog.
While her character of Honey Mitchell, wife of Billy, left Albert Square in the back of a cab, viewers were more bothered about Wellard being put down.
Emma, 36, says: “I’ve not been in EastEnders for six years, but people still ask me ‘When are you going back to save Billy?’. I would love it if they asked me back. It was such an amazing experience, going from being a massive fan of the soap to being part of it.
“I also period dramas like Downton Abbey. But would I be upstairs or down? I think more down, though I’d prefer the posh costumes.”
Although the rest of the cast of One Man, Two Guvnors use southern accents, Dolly, love interest for Francis, is a northerner.
“I’m not that good at accents,” she confides. “I played a French lady in my last play, but it was Doctor in the House so I could do a bad ‘Allo ‘Allo accent. I don’t think I can do that in a classy production like this.
“The National Theatre is just the most wonderful place to work. It was definitely on my to do list, as was this play.
“When I first saw it, I wanted to go back the following night because I loved it that much.
“You can’t miss it, it’s too good! It’s so funny. I think it’s the best thing I’ve seen on stage in a long time.”
Emma is no stranger to working in Birmingham, but has vowed to do something more cultural with her spare time than on previous tours. “Last time I spent all my time in the Bullring, but now I want to see as many art galleries and museums as possible. And check out nice tea rooms.”
The star of One Man, Two Guvnors is Gavin Spokes, who is well aware how fortunate he is to land the role of Francis Henshall.
“People this shape and size don’t usually get to play the main part, we’re usually the fat funny friend,” he points out.
“It’s a given that Frances is rotund. You’d think you’d lose weight with all the running around, but every matinee you come off wanting to eat 20 pies because you’re so hungry.”
He doesn’t even mind getting injured in the line of duty.
“I played Francis for a month in the West End and snapped a ligament in my shoulder.
“I dive on to a trunk, and in the first show I did I heard my shoulder go ping. It was really painful and felt like my arm wasn’t attached any more, but I just carried on with the show.
“Injuries happen to all the Francises, it’s the nature of how physical the role is. I also injured my knee because I spend half my time on my knees, begging.
“Kind of like what it’s like with my wife, really,” he jokes.
Francis gets two people out of the audience to help him in one scene and has to be careful who he picks – and how he ad libs with them.
“If you’re James Corden, you tend to get away with being cheeky. People don’t know my fat face so I can’t get away with it.”
Gavin is married to dancer and choreographer Emma Annetts. While she worked with megastar Celine Dion, they lived in Las Vegas for four years.
“Now I’m hoping to take Emma on tour with me. She took me to Vegas, I’m taking her to Birmingham, which seems fair.
“I think she’s particularly excited about Wolverhampton.”
* One Man, Two Guvnors plays Birmingham Hippodrome from May 26 - 31. For tickets, ring 0844 338 5000 or go to . It also plays Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre from March 6-21 2015.