DARLINGTON actor Peter McGovern can’t quite believe his luck in landing two plum stage productions straight after leaving the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

“I literally didn’t have a day off before attending rehearsals with Alison Steadman and David Troughton for Alan Bennett’s play Enjoy and that was terrifying.

It transferred into the West End in January, so I couldn’t have had a better start,” says Peter, who, this week, is part of the cast for Kes at Darlington Civic Theatre.

“It would seem like a slightly unrealistic view of how everything works but now I’ve moved on to another fantastic story with another great bunch of actors and a great director (Nikolai Foster).

“I’m really looking forward to getting back to Darlington in a professional show because I’ve done loads of stuff there with Darlington Operatic Society and worked there during a year out.

Now I’m coming back to do what I set out to do four years ago when I left for London,” says Peter who thanked his grandfather, Ronnie Tempest, for helping him financially to get through drama school. “I’m looking forward to him and my family seeing me on stage.”

He calls Kes, which runs until Saturday, a real challenge because the film adapatation of Barry Hines’ book, A Kestrel For A Knave, is such an iconic work.

“You have to accept this is a theatrical project and is a work in its own right with original lighting and score composed for it. This is where we’re going to earn our corn,” says Peter, who landed the role of Tibbut, a friend to central character Billy Casper, after director Foster saw him in his West End debut.

“It’s been hard work. Being on stage is the easy bit, the joyful bit, where I still can’t believe I get paid and it’s still sinking in.

The difficult bit is between jobs,”

says Peter, who is now Londonbased and does bar work and is employed to make smoothies to pay bills.

He jokes about his latest role: “It’s quite odd coming back to my home town playing a 15-yearold geek, which is not far away from what I was when I left. People will think ‘he’s just the same as he was before drama school’.”

■ Kes, Darlington Civic Theatre, until Saturday.. Tickets: £17-£24.50.

Box Office: 01325-486555