Star Gareth Thomas takes on quest as Cadfael
After decades of acting, it will be a comfort to amateur stage performers that even Gareth Thomas still battles with his nerves.
The Welsh actor was at Priory Park in Dudley this week in preparation for his latest role.
He is the star of a West Midlands-based theatre company's production of Cadfael: The Virgin in the Ice which is on at Wolverhampton's Grand Theatre this week.
Mr Thomas, aged 68, and a double Bafta nominee, said: "I'd always wanted to play this role of the ex-crusader so when I was asked I said yes.
"It's a wonderful thing to know your performance gives other people pleasure but I don't think any actor really looks forward to performing.
"There are too many nerves and there's no real way to deal with them apart from getting through it."
Mr Thomas, a 50-year-veteran of the stage and screen, who lives in Surrey, is best known for the part of Roj Blake in the science fiction television series Blake's 7.
He has taken roles in many other films and television programmes, including Heartbeat, Taggart, Casualty and Bergerac.
The drama, performed by 15 members of Birmingham-based Middle Ground Theatre Company, is set in the winter of 1139 during a raging civil war which sees refugees fleeing Worcester.
It is based on a book written by Ellis Peters, a pseudonym for Edith Mary Pargeter, written in 1982. In it, Brother Cadfael, played by Mr Thomas, is on a quest to find three refugees – an orphaned boy, his older sister and a young nun. His search will see him discover a murder and also a tale of wayward passion.
The stage performance features music, film projections and lavish settings and also coincides with the theatre company's 25th birthday.
The world stage premiere of the book will also mark a century since Pargeter's birth. Performances started last night and run until Saturday at Wolverhampton's Grand Theatre.
Evening performances are at 7.30pm while Thursday and Saturday matinees are at 2.30pm.
Read a review of the show in tomorrow's Express & Star.
