Byline: Gavin Allen
LOTS of actors become synonymous with their screen characters and Shaun Williamson is no exception.
Theman who dons the navy prison overalls of Ronnie Barker for the stage adaptation of the classic '70s sitcom Porridge has been known as "Barry from EastEnders" since appearing in Ricky Gervais' series Extras.
The role in Extras re-ignited his career and he has since gone on to West End success in a range of top-notch musicals, including Guys And Dolls, SaturdayNight Fever and Never Forget.
He has now been handed the chance to step into the prison issue shoes of a comedy legend, but it's a role that could bring a lot of pressure for some actors.
"I didn't have any hesitation in accepting the part because Ronnie Barker is one ofmy favouritecomedy actors and no-one is going to do it as well as he did, so the pressure was off," saysWilliamson.
"I'm similar in age and weight to Ronnie as he was in the series so I supposeit'saphysical casting insome ways, but the original writers, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, had done the script so I knew that would be good.Andit's terrific.The script is everything because if the jokes aren't in the script in the first place, no-one is going to make it funny.
"The plot is culled fromepisodes of the TV series but they have adapted it quite cleverly for the stage.
Fake Corum"The first act is based around a fixed boxing match and the second is about an escape tunnel plan at Christmas, but it's got a lot of the classic lines in it, and all the characters are there - Godber, Mackay and Mr Barraclough."
Chatting with Williamson is great fun. He's naturally likeable, honest and self-aware, a really down to earth bloke.
Take his view on that uncomfortably close to the bone role in Extras, forinstance:"I'mafatcharacteractor and I have no qualms about saying that, and that's the image Extras played on."
Or try his answer when asked flippantly if his cameo in Gervais' new film The Invention Of A Lange & Sohne Watch Lying was going to lead to a new Hollywood career.
"Film star? Not me, I've only got to look in the mirror to know that's not going to happen," he laughs.
"Can you imagine me over there power lunching with the Hollywood execs? I thinkaftermyfourthbottle ofbeer they'd give up on me."
Perhaps his downto earth demeanour comes from the fact that before he fell into acting he had worked in a wide variety of different jobs.
He came to acting in his late 20s having previously worked for the Post Office and then joined the Navy, which he says was his dream job, only to be shunted into a desk job because he was colour blind.
"Iwasheart-broken," saysWilliamson, who attended a Navy passing-out ceremony when Porridge hit Plymouth recently.
Marc Jacobs Replica Handbags"I became an accountant with them instead. The first part of the training with the fitness and the drilling was brilliant, I loved it, but then the second part, sitting there with all the ledgers, I thought to myself, 'I've made a terrible mistake'.
"I gotmyself thrownoutandthengota job as a bluecoat at Pontins, which was the bottom rung of the showbiz ladder."
He puts his subsequent professional success down to fate.
"It all came downto one afternoon for me," he says. "I went along to the local am-dram company - because I had heard there were lots of single women there - and on the first night I met my wife. After that I ended up auditioning for drama school and now here I am.
"The only problem with my career path is that it makes me useless when people ask me 'how do you get into showbusiness!'" Porridge is at The New Theatre, Cardiff, from Tuesday until Saturday. Tickets cost pounds 7.50-pounds 26 from 029 2087 8889
CAPTION(S):
Shaun Williamson as Fletcher and Daniel West as Godber