Currently treading the boards at York, Middlesbrough actor Graham Martin talks to Steve Pratt about his role in Blood Brothers.

WHEN he was cast in Blood Brothers, Middlesbrough-born actor Graham Martin was already familiar with the show – he’d seen it hundreds of times.

After training at the Arts Educational School in London he’d got a job working frontof- house at the Albery Theatre and regulations required him to sit and watch the show with the audience. “I’d probably seen the show about 400 times before I was ever in it,” he says.

Now he’s a member of the Blood Brothers “family” – one of the performers who’ve appeared in Willy Russell’s Liverpool-set musical saga on a regular basis.

Martin joined the cast in the West End in 2006, then moved into the touring production and has been with it ever since. Apart from a brief summer break, he’ll be in the show until the end of the year.

He plays the policeman and teacher, although there are up to 17 parts he can play. “I started off as the husband who leaves. There are quite a lot of costume changes, it keeps me busy. I really love being the comprehensive school teacher – it’s a very funny scene and always gets a good reaction,” he says.

“I’m very lucky. I have lots of different characters to play and when I’m not on stage, I’m changing into another costume.”

Kiki Dee was playing the lead part of Mrs Johnstone in the first production he saw and, over the years, he’s appeared with a number of different actresses in the leading role. Niki Evans, from The X Factor, is currently starring in the story of a mother whose twins are separated at birth.

He’s also worked with Marti Webb and several Nolan sisters as Mrs Johnstone. Last year former Spice Girl Melanie C played the role in Liverpool. “It’s always a joy to do Blood Brothers in its home city of Liverpool,” says Martin.

“I’ve worked with a few different Mrs Johnstones.

Every one has a different slant on the role. The good thing about cast changes is it keeps it fresh and the director keeps an eye on the show, visiting quite often.

“There is a bit of a Blood Brothers family. It’s like Hotel California – you check out, but never really leave. People come in and out.

“A couple of guys have been involved for ten or more years. It’s one of those shows that once you’re involved, it’s such a great show to be in.”

His stage career began as an amateur at the Little Theatre in his home town of Middlesbrough.

“I knew from the age of nine what I wanted to do,” he says.

“I was with the Little Theatre Juniors and they put on shows twice a year. Then at 16 I decided I wanted to take it further and studied for two years at Stockton and Billingham Technical College. That was a good stepping stone because that got me into a London drama school.”

When he left in 1992, roller skating musical Starlight Express was in the middle of a huge revamp that brought back together the creative team of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, director Trevor Nunn and choreographer Arlene Phillips. He auditioned for the role of Dustin and was in and out of the show over a ten-year period.

“I went off and did other things, but because of the roller skating they’d keep asking me back,” he says.

Despite long associations with Starlight Express and Blood Brothers, he feels he’s escaped being categorised as a musical theatre performer.

He’s worked at Hull Truck Theatre in plays including Wilde Boyz, Studs and Kissing Married Women. He toured with Shane Richie in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

But Blood Brothers is what’s occupying his attention at present. The show has been in the West End for 21 years and the touring production shows no sign of running out of audiences.

“We tend to go back to the same theatres every couple of years. It has such a huge following and fan base. Very often people are in for the sixth or seventh time of seeing the show,” he says.

“This tour is going to some venues we haven’t been before, so we’re seeing some new cities. You do get to see lots of different places you haven’t visited.”

Martin had been living in London since going to drama school but being on the road touring all year caused him to give up his flat and move all his stuff to his parents back in the North-East.

Ask him about his ambition and the answer comes quickly – a TV soap. “I’d love to be in a soap as a regular. I’ve no ambitions to go to Hollywood or anything like that. I’d be quite happy being a William Roache (Coronation Street’s Ken Barlow) and staying in the same place for 40 years.”

• Blood Brothers: York Grand Opera House, May 16-21. Tickets 0844-8472322 and online grandoperahouseyork.org.uk.