Bigging it up (From Living Northeast)

Bigging it up

1:40pm Thursday 19th August 2010 in

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Former soap star Michael Starke admits he’s on the chubby side. But he’s still having to don a fat suit for the touring version of Hairspray.

Viv Hardwick reports.

LET’S face it, until Hairspray came along, large men impersonating women only seemed to turn up in pantomime, and they weren’t a patch on the glamorous vision that is Edna Turnblad.

Now the excitement is building as Michael Starke assumes Edna’s wigs and gowns for the touring version’s visit to Sunderland Empire in September… and the performer known for his girth confesses he’s going to have to wear a fat suit.

But that’s the whole appeal of Hairspray which defies showbiz convention by having a big girl (North Yorkshire’s Laurie Scarth) with big hair making it big.

“My career has always flown in the face of that attitude.

This is much bigger than a drag act or playing a dame. This character is a woman. We’re not going to convince the audience totally, but the great fun is that it is a tradition that a man plays Edna,” Starke says.

So how did he come to be playing this incredible role?

“I think the producers phoned me because they thought I might be an interesting choice,” he says. “I love the show and I thought it would be a great challenge, particularly as the TV-viewing public’s perception of me is totally different from what I can do in musicals. It’s one of those parts that I think you feel you’re born to play.”

In the film version, starring John Travolta, prosthetics were used to enhance the figure of the well-known Hollywood star.

“I’m the only actor I know who’s had to lose weight to get these roles,” says Starke. “I don’t think I would have been considered if I wasn’t the size I am. The great thing for me is I’ve very rarely been out of work and there are a lot of fat people out there to play. We are getting fatter, though, so I may soon be getting some competition.

“I did tell them at the audition that I wouldn’t need a fat suit, but they made me one anyway. I need the voluptuous curves and they’ve made me a suit at great cost. I went in for the final fitting recently and it’s looking really good.”

Michael Ball lost a lot of weight playing Edna in the West End, adds the actor. “I’ll probably be unrecognisable by the end of the run. I might have to rethink my career again as a thin man,” he laughs.

Starke relies on the backstage team to turn him into one of musicals’ fascinating females. “Some of the costumes are out of this world and I’m so chuffed that I’m got a top make-up artist to help me. The wigs are incredible,” he says.

Starke debuts in his home city of Liverpool before moving on to Sunderland, a city he’s never played before.

“It will be run-in by the time I get to Sunderland,”

he says.

There was confusion at one point regarding the tour.

Michael Ball signed up for Manchesterand the Edinburgh Christmas run – before Phil Jupitus was announced for the North-East... and then dropped in favour of Starke.

“I’m as different from Michael Ball as Michael is from Brian Conley (who is also doing part of the tour), but I don’t think there is any added pressure. This is a great show and anyone coming in can put their own stamp on it. The producers spoke to me two years ago when I was doing Coronation Street so I knew I was on the shortlist.

As soon as I was available, I was asked to do it, so that’s all the encouragement you need,”

Most of us remember Clarke as TV’s Sinbad in C4’s Brookside but he’s done his share of theatre work. “I did six years of that before joining Brookside for ten years,”

he says.

It was while playing the brown-coated Ken Hopkirk in ITV’s North Yorkshire-set The Royal that Starke broke into the traditional show of Anything Goes and he pays tribute to Middlesbrough performer Dawn Spence and singer Ria Jones, who helped him find his feet on tour.

“I probably learned more from those two than I’d learned in the previous 20 years. I’d done a lot of theatre, but musical theatre on that scale is such a different discipline.”

Next he’ll be seen in two episodes of Casualty on BBC1 and then Starke plans to tour a one-man stage show next year – “music and impressions and some stories about my career. I’ve had my mid-life crisis in my personal life, now I want one in my career.”

Fellow Liverpool lad Les Dennis will play Starke’s husband, Wilbur Turnblad. “Les and I are on paths that have crossed many times over the years. He’s related by marriage to my wife (actress Lynne Francis) and it’s nice finally to work with him.

“I think Hairspray will go on for years and it’s going to be interesting to see who plays the part of Edna in the future. I’m just glad to be part of the first tour.”

But when I ask for Edna’s measurements, Starke swiftly puts me in my place: “A lady never gives her size away. You’ll have to guess.”

■ Hairspray, Sunderland Empire, September 7-18.

Tickets: £18.50-£40.50. Box Office: 0844-847-2499

Groups (10+) 0844-372-7272

SunderlandEmpire.org.uk