Carry on Kenneth

STEPHEN Matthews is reluctant to say he's doing an impression of Kenneth Williams in the play that opens Harrogate Theatre's new season. He doesn't want to be thought of as a would-be Rory Bremner but as an actor playing a character, even if that character is someone famous. There's no getting away from the fact that he is playing Williams, just as co-stars Michael N Harbour and Zoe Oakes are playing Sid James and Barbara Windsor in Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle And Dick.

All three actors become these real-life people in Terry Johnson's comic take on their relationship away from the camera. The play takes place during the making of the four Carry On comedies mentioned in the title.

"Ninety-nine per cent of the audience are familiar with Kenneth Williams. So there's the pressure of the degree of expectation. But it's an interesting play because it's not just about that," says Matthews.

"A lot of people have billed it as a comedy. I suppose it's like an expose of what went on when the cameras weren't rolling."

The actor saw the play when it was premiered at London's National Theatre, although it never crossed his mind that one day he'd be playing the Kenneth Williams role.

Once he'd been cast by Harrogate director Hannah Chissick, he looked through his limited library at home and discovered that he had virtually every book written by or about Williams. "He was someone who always fascinated me. Even as a child I was very aware of how entertaining he was," says Matthews.

"My earliest memories of him are being on Parkinson. He was so funny and witty, and then to find out that at the age of 12 he was also the man who did the voice of Will O' The Wisp on radio.

"He's just one of those people whose voice you hear and before you look at the screen you have a smile on your face."

He's watched again the four Carry On films around which Johnson's play takes place and admits that they'll never seem the same again, viewed in the light of what he knows about the performers now that he didn't know when he first saw them.

Carry On Camping, for instance, was made 18 months after Tony Hancock committed suicide, Joe Orton had been murdered and Kenneth Horne, Williams's father figure, had died. All three had an influence on Williams life. "It's so vital to know all these things because he's such a complex character," says Matthews.

Obviously, he's doing the voice in the Harrogate production and visually can give himself the appearance of Williams. "Your hope is that after the first five minutes people forget and believe you are that person. It's such a brilliantly written play that I think they will," he says.

Of the three Carry On stars featured, Windsor is still alive and would appear to approve of the play as she went to see it at the National. If she turned up in the Harrogate audience for the Yorkshire premiere, Matthews would be thrilled to bits.

Playing a real-life person can't be as physically tough as the 18 months he spent touring as Lumiere the candelabra in the stage version of Disney's cartoon hit Beauty And The Beast. He spent the performance with both arms raised in the air holding hidden mini-flame throwers. If the gas failed to ignite, his arms were left surrounded by neat gas.

Surprisingly, he can spot a similarity between the two roles: "Lumiere is an exhibitionist and likewise Kenneth Williams".

He never met Williams, who died in 1988, but very nearly got to work with him. "One of my first jobs was in a musical that ended up at the Old Vic in London, and Kenneth Williams was approached to play the lead. But he didn't do it," he recalls.

"I would have love to have met him. I wish he could know how loved and appreciated his talents were."

* Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle And Dick is at Harrogate Theatre from September 3 to 25. Tickets (01423) 502116.