Having already proved his versatility as a performer, Matthew Kelly is currently appearing in three non-Shakespeare productions in the RSC’s summer season in Stratford. Matthew recently took time out from rehearsals to have a chat with What’s On...

A season in Stratford but no Shakespeare. Do you feel cheated?
No, not at all. I’ve done a lot of Shakespeare in my time so I can probably manage. I see this as a bit of a way in. If we do okay with this season then maybe they’ll have me back doing some Shakespeare, which would be wonderful. To have the RSC on your CV is just the best thing ever. It absolutely matters because it’s world renowned.

And if you could take your pick of any Shakespeare role, which would it be and why?
I don’t know. Every time I’ve done a role it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, so that’s tricky. I’ve done four productions of Twelfth Night. I’ve played Andrew Aguecheek twice. I’ve played Malvolio and I’ve played Toby Belch. I love playing Toby, but I’d probably go back to Malvolio because I don’t think I got it quite right last time. I’d love another go at it. Mauruccio in Love’s Sacrifice is very much like Malvolio.

If you’d had a crystal ball back at the start of your career, which incarnation of Matthew Kelly would have surprised you the most? Would it have been the one who hosted light entertainment shows or the award-winning classical theatre actor?
I have no idea. Everything comes as a complete surprise to me. What I do like more than anything else is finding myself in situations where I think, ‘What on earth are you doing?’. I find playing in the dressing-up box a completely bizarre experience but one that I’ve wanted to do from the age of six. I always wanted to be an actor. It excused my shocking behaviour and my appalling academic career, apart from the fact that I’ve since done an OU degree and a teaching qualification. Now I get honorary degrees for nothing. They’re fantastic. I love stuff for nothing. It’s my favourite thing.

These are achievements that have come through choice and not pressure...
Choice is an interesting thing. I look at my CV and it looks like I’ve made some really clever moves in my career, but I don’t really feel like I’ve made choices. Stuff comes up and you go, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll do that’. I wouldn’t have predicted any of it, but I guess if I had to choose, the most surprising would be the presenting. I wouldn’t have seen myself doing that in a million years. Usually presenters come at it from a different angle. They’re either stand-up comedians or people who’ve started out in radio. They don’t normally come from the acting fraternity. What I do love is being in the company of actors. I think they’re fantastic people - generous, spirited, kind, supportive, willing... and bonkers.

You made your name with Game For A Laugh and Stars In Their Eyes. How did your switch from light entertainment to classical acting come about?
I was doing a sitcom for London Television many years ago and they asked me to go on a thing called Punchlines. They asked me to be a celebrity. I was reluctant because I wasn’t one. A friend of mine who was one of The Liver Birds said, ‘They obviously think you are, so take the money and don’t be humble’. So I did. I found out I could do it and then got asked if I’d do Game For A Laugh. The producer said, ‘If I asked you to jump out of an aeroplane, would you?’, to which I replied ‘Yeah!’ - and so I got that job. That’s where the presenting started, eventually leading to Stars In Their Eyes. 
I was still pursuing an acting career while all of this was going on. At the same time as doing mainstream telly on a Saturday night - where you were seen by anything up to ten million people - I would be doing one or two plays, either on tour or in rep, where you’d probably be seen by six thousand people at the most. I could pursue my acting career at the same time but almost practise my art in private. Then there came a point, about twelve years ago, when I decided my heart wasn’t in presenting anymore, so I stopped doing Stars In Their Eyes. I went back to what I knew best. People were surprised by the move, saying, ‘I didn’t know you could do that’.
My only conscious decision was to leave the shiny black floor shows, simply because I couldn’t do them anymore.

You’ve always spoken highly of Stars In Their Eyes...
Why wouldn’t I? They were doing all the work and I was collecting all the money. I used to take a wheelbarrow and get them to fill it up. Then I’d get a little man to wheel it home at the end of the week. Marvellous! It was fantastic, but of course I’ve spent it all. I’m an actor and that’s what actors do. I had a fantastic time while I was doing the show and I got looked after really well. I liked the people who came on the show as well. They were really nice people who I could empathise with because I knew what it was like to be nervous. I got pleasure helping them get over that.

How did you feel about the Facebook campaign last year to get you back on Stars In Their Eyes?
Obviously I was flattered. I thought it was lovely. I think people remember things fondly, but that’s how it should remain - a fond memory. I don’t think people really want to go back to it. Harry Hill did his thing and that’s what Harry does. I watched the not-live final and was completely fascinated by it. The attention to detail about debunking it was an amazing thing and it did make me laugh. Of all the shows where it’s not about the presenter, that’s the one. Those contestants seemed completely at ease with it. They seemed to be having a lovely time.

If you had to compile a promotional video of your career as an actor, whether in television, theatre or on film, which performances would you choose to best represent your talent?
I think the most satisfying have been things like Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, Of Mice And Men, my time at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, Funny Peculiar in the West End and my time at college in Manchester, where me, Julie Walters, Pete Postlethwaite and Bill Nighy all grew up together. It was an amazing time. A photo of us from the 1970s is still on show at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool.
As far as TV goes, it would be Cold Blood, in which I played a serial killer. That was a good experience - quite a funny one, actually.
Also, I’m always very thrilled with what I’m doing at the time. Even if I’m having a bad time I don’t notice. I’m always a bit ‘Hello, birds! Hello, trees! Aren’t we having a lovely time?’.

You mentioned Of Mice And Men, for which you won an Olivier Award. Looking back at that particular performance, what would you say were the factors that contributed to your success?
It was actually a revisiting of a part. I’d done the play at The Crucible in Sheffield in the 1980s. To come back to it, and to be working with George Costigan - who I’d been at college with - and to have the company of the actors who were there, and to have the Birmingham Rep behind it made for an extraordinary combination of events. We did it at Birmingham, then there was a year’s gap before we did it again. It had quite a life.

Were you surprised by the Olivier?
Not half! I was really shocked. I was up against Kenneth Branagh and Michael Sheen, who’d won every award going for his Caligula. And I could see why, because it was fantastic. I reckoned I was a real outside shot.

So does the award still take pride of place?
Definitely. Awards are the best thing ever - but only when you’re winning.

I recently read somewhere that you’ve shrunk in height. Has being tall ever affected you psychologically - and what impact has ‘being shorter’ had on you?
Yeah, I always used to say I was six foot six but I knew that was a lie. I knew I was six foot five. Then I had an accident when I was parachuting for Game For A Laugh. I broke my leg and became an inch shorter. When I started my career, they used to say, ‘Oh, you’re too tall’, 
or ‘We haven’t got any parts for policemen’, or ‘We haven’t got any costumes to fit’. Coming here to work for the RSC, I’ve been measured for the first time in many years. I now measure six foot two-and-a-half. I’m absolutely devastated because, for me, being really tall 
is special.

What’s in the diary after your season in Stratford?
Just before I came to the RSC, I was playing Ugly Sisters with my son in London. I think they might well reprise that in Manchester. Cross-dressing with your son over the festive period is all shades of wrong but great fun. I’m also hoping that Richard Bean’s first play, Toast - which showed at the Park Theatre in London - is going to come back.

So you’re quite relaxed about the whole work schedule thing?
Yeah, why not? I’ll be picking up my pension next month.

When you’re away from the entertainment business, how do you like to unwind?
To be honest, I’m never away from it. I’ve been really jammy with my career and I never seem to stop. My older brother works behind the camera in Hollywood. He always thinks that every time a film comes to an end he’s never going to work again, but he never stops. That said, he did have one year when nothing came in and he got really frightened. What would I do if that ever happened to me? Read. And sit down a lot...

Have you ever contemplated following your brother behind the camera?
Absolutely not. I have no interest in directing, producing or writing. I only want to be in the dressing-up box with my chums, drinking tea and sharing anecdotes. Oh, and going to the pub after, which is my favourite.

Matthew Kelly stars in the following shows at Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon - Love's Sacrifice (until 24 June); The Jew Of Malta (until 24 June) and Volpone, (3 July to 12 September)