'I think my days of glamorous dolly bird roles are over!'

A galaxy of stars from stage and television visited Lincoln’s Theatre Royal for the comedy drama, Five Blue Haired Ladies Sitting on a Green Park Bench.

The hilarious – and moving – story by John A Penzotti, concentrates on five wonderful women and is guaranteed to make you laugh ... and cry.

One of its big stars, popular actress Lorraine Chase, says she loves Lincoln and its theatre and is looking forward to her visit along with household names Shirley Anne Field, Anita Harris, Anne Charleston, Christopher Beeny, Frazer Hines and Tom Owen.

She said: “When the Campari adverts took off years ago I’d already been booked to do panto and had to come out of the West End and come to the little Lincoln Theatre, much to the chagrin of my co-star Kenneth Williams, who chastised me!

“That was for Chris Moreno, who ran the Lincoln theatre 33 years ago. I love that theatre and Chris too, who is one of the reasons this cast came together.

“One or two of the ladies had done the play before, and we have some lovely men including Chris Beeny and Fraser Hines, who’s also local to Lincoln.”

Lorraine has enjoyed 32 years in the business, with roles ranging from Dolly Clothespeg in Worzel Gummidge, to working with Roland Rat, having her own TV comedy series The Other Arf and later being a star of Lame Ducks, with John Duttine.

Her TV work in between a prolific stage career includes roles in Casualty, The Bill, Lock Stock and My Family.

More recently she had a prominent role in Emmerdale, playing the unpredictable Stephanie Stokes for six months. She ended up staying for four and a half years, leaving the soap in 2006.

“It’s a different form of acting,” she says.

“When you’re in a soap you can’t get into detail. You get your lines, learn them the night before, then you go in the next day and play it.

“I was just a working actor in a soap. I left because I didn’t want to become too entrenched. If you stay there 25 years, it’s retirement. You don’t have time to do other things. You don’t even have time for panto!”

She said actors have to strike a balance between regular money and living in one place with keeping fresh and moving forward.

“I lived in Yorkshire for four years and the people there were lovely, but my mum and dad – who aren’t getting any younger – and my friends live in London,” she revealed.

You may remember that working as a successful model, The Londoner came to fame in the acclaimed Campari TV commercials when her catchphrases “Nice Ere Innit” and “No, Luton Airport” became nationally quoted moving her on to celebrity status and her highly successful acting career.

But she says: “There’s some confusion now between celebrities and working actors. Once you get into acting you go into TV shows to tell people what you’re about to do.

“Now they make celebrity out of personal lives. If you’re a working actor in rep you’re not on television selling it because you’re at the theatre.”

Her new role in Five Blue Haired Ladies is “a nice little character”, contributing to the pathos and the laughs of the show, which focuses on the sixty-somethings’ well-lived lives and fears for the future.

“I think my days of glamorous dolly bird roles are over,” confides Lorraine, who qualifies for her bus pass later this year. “You have to go with your age, sadly – I’d be able to get into the clothes but it wouldn’t be a good look!”

Discovering the real Dan Clark

by Patrick Astill

Dan Clark is one of the country’s brightest comedy stars, best known for his portrayal of loveable rogue Don Danbury in the BBC3 hit sitcom How Not To Live Your Life.

He writes and produces the show, and you might also have seen him as Johnny Two Hats in The Mighty Boosh.

There’s a chance to see him in the flesh at the Drill Hall, when he visits Lincoln with his new stand-up tour.

And even though it’s a critically-acclaimed show, Dan’s under no illusions about his appeal.

“People are not coming in because of some stand-up,” he tells What’s On. “They are coming because of the television show.

“The audience is made up 95 per cent with fans of How Not To Live Your Life and they expect me to be a bit more like Don.

“We’re both quite similar, but I’m not quite as much of an idiot as Don is.

“He’s neurotic, self-effacing and lacks a huge amount of self-awareness.”

Dan – definitely not to be confused with his comic creation Don, then – is no stranger to live comedy, previously performing in the sketch group Electric Eel and then returning as a solo artist to Edinburgh in 2005 and 2006. In 2007 he went on to tour the UK, selling out around the country.

“I talk about being a victim of awkward situations,” he says of the latest show, which is in town on May 4.

“I look at the awkwardness of mistaking someone in a shop, or of being on public transport, or how we interact on dates.

“The difference is that Don is the cause of the awkwardness and he is unable to understand social etiquette. By the second half of the show they are warmed up and by then it’s a bit ruder, a bit edgier.

“Sometimes I have to elaborate on the truth – there are one or two situations where I have spotted the potential for something to happen. But some stories are 100 per cent true.

“I talk about relationships and about being on the internet all the time – the way we are addicted to checking messages, having about 20 different e-mail accounts and almost not living my life through being so social.”

He enjoys the success of the television series and has other projects in the pipeline.

Dan says: “It feels very much like a cult show, something that’s hidden, that people tell their friends about.

“Writing a sitcom on your own is a tall order, there is a part of me that asks what I want to do next? I wouldn’t want it to be in a corner of the BBC, I’d like it to reach a wider audience.”

After doing sketch comedy in his early 20s, acting and writing plays, he took the plunge to do stand-up in 2004.

He is now working on scripts in development for two television projects, so keep your eyes peeled to see what comes to fruition.

Dave sounds The Alarm against commercialism in music

Dave Sharp from The Alarm (68 Guns, Where Were You Hiding) is on the road, performing his own acoustic solo gigs around the UK.

He says the events rail against the commercial and engineered music that he feels is thrust upon the public.

“More people are saying they are fed up with it,” he said.

“It’s understandable that music doesn’t seem to be reaching out to people how it should be.

“There seems to be a growing appetite for a kind of music that has a human spirit to it, something that speaks on a human level to people.

“And it’s good that venues like the Jolly Brewer stick their neck out to promote music that will reach out to people.”

After The Alarm’s huge success in the 1980s, Dave spent a big part of the 90s in America, touring and making records.

In 1996, he recorded the album Downtown America, before returning to the UK in 2002 to record his third solo album, The Power of Soul, which re-introduced him to British audiences and earned him solo recognition across the UK with the critics.

Dave’s solo albums have received positive critical recognition on both sides of the Atlantic and over the past decade and a half he feels he has been fortunate to work alongside many of the artists he has long respected.

He’s worked with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and others in a period he says helped him “mature as an artist”.

His solo music has been described as everything from folk and blues to rock, country and punk.

And now, during breaks from the current tour, work in Manchester on his new album is progressing, with backing tracks complete.

His series of tour dates are designed to "challenge his electric guitar playing skills in a live format".

“I’m taking a break from recording at the moment and previewing new material,” he added.

“It’s really encouraging that up and down the country a lot of venues are starting to move away from the engineered media products.”

Dave recorded his first solo album, Hard Travellin' with record producer, Bob Johnston in 1991.

He is playing Lincoln and some other dates before embarking on another trip to Scotland - including his first appearance at brand new Glasgow alternative venue Pivo Pivo.