Two entertainers embark on a life-changing journey

Together they form a duo Satin ’n’ Steel, and a journey of clubs and cruises re-ignites Vince’s flagging career.

It’s a tale told in Satin ’n’ Steel at Horsham’s Capitol on June 5, the debut show from Roberts and John Productions, presented by Roberts and John themselves – respectively Tom and Kilke.

“It’s a two-hander,” Tom explains. “It was written about ten years ago by this lady called Amanda Whittington who had submitted it as part of a short-play season at the Nottingham Playhouse. It won and was presented and extended.

“It’s about this guy Vince who is a cabaret entertainer. Think Tony Christie or Tom Jones, but not in that league though he believes he is! He does the clubs, and he is probably in the prime of his career. He is still doing OK, but he is just fading a little bit. He is looking for a way to get his popularity increasing again, and he comes across this young girl singer who is very shy, very green, very naïve but very good. He suggests they form a duo.”

“Vince is a nice guy. He is a decent guy and is good at what he does. For him, the absolute epitome of fame would be to work at Butlins or a cruise ship. He is probably not going to go beyond that. When they get together as a duo, though, they do start to have some success.

“And they do fall in love, as it happens, but as with any love story, it doesn’t run smoothly. There is a problem two-thirds of the way through. It’s all running well, and then there is a hitch.

“It’s that overworked word, a bittersweet comedy. It is not a musical. It is a play that features music, and there are the songs that he sings, like ‘Burn Baby Burn’ and ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’.

“I am an actor that can sing rather than a singer that can act. I sing in clubs and bars myself, doing blues and jazz, but it is more of a hobby. I have done Blood Brothers. I am not Michael Ball, but I can hold a tune. Kilke is a musical theatre singer. She is the better singer, which is how it has got to be. She has got to be able to eclipse me.”

The momentum is building nicely on tour. “We are getting some nice reviews and some good word of mouth. It’s nice to be playing somewhere in the south now. We have done a lot in Yorkshire and Lancashire and the Midlands” – the area Tom now lives himself, based in Lichfield after a number of years in London.

“I have done a mixture of theatre and TV in my career, but I guess I have done more TV than theatre. I have done all the soaps. I did 20 episodes of Emmerdale last year.”

He also did the TV sitcom 2.4 Children from 1993-97: “I played Tony. There was Rona who was always trying for children. I was only supposed to be in it for one episode, but they extended it for five years. It was a five-year attempt to have children!”

Sadly, it all came to an abrupt end with the death of Gary Olsen: “He died during the last series. He flew to Australia, and he literally died as he walked off the plane. He had a brain haemorrhage, and that was the end of the series. He was established. They couldn’t continue the series without him.”

Tickets on 01403 750220 or www.thecapitolhorsham.com.

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