Guy Masterson plays all 69 characters in Under Milk Wood

11:11am Friday 4th July 2008

Guy Masterson is something of a one-man band. Actor, producer, writer, director, he does it all, and often all at the same time. Local audiences will already be well aware of his talents, being a familiar face to the stages in the area, and now he is back at The Maltings Arts Theatre with two solo performances, his tried and tested Under Milk Wood and his new work American Poodle, which he premiered at the Edinburgh Festival last year.

Discussing Under Milk Wood, which he has performed at the Maltings not once, not twice, but seven times, he tells me: "It's a physical story-telling of Dylan Thomas' great classic. It's an enchanting, and wonderfully beautiful lyrical piece by the Welsh genius. He gets right inside the loves and dreams of the inhabitants of the small fishing village of Llareggub.

It's physically tiring, and I am not as young as I used to be when I first started performing, but two hours later the audience has had a good time and so have I

"I do the whole thing as a solo piece, so I play all 69 characters. I create them all physically and they all talk to each other, and the strange thing is that it works. When I invented it 15 years ago, I didn't know how it would be received but we are still going."

As well as achieving wide acclaim for his unique production, Guy has also enjoyed some physical benefits.

"Playing all 69 character is like going to the gym," he explains, "it is definitely physically tiring, and I am not as young as I used to be when I first started performing it. But it's not a worry, two hours later the audience has had a good time, I have had a good time and that's the most important thing."

Then for something special for US Independence Day, Guy brings his new political pastiche, Amercian Poodle, to the Maltings.

An "absurd take on the Anglo-American special relationship", the play is split into two sections. The first part, Snowball, is a hysterical and insightful romp through early US history as Guy explores how Britain won and lost its colonies.

The 46-year-old actor explains: "It looks at what America has become and how the ideals of the American Revolution and the Bill of Rights have been bastardised by rampant capitalism. It throws a mirror up against the hypocrisy of American ideals in with irony and humour."

The second part, Splayfoot, is told through the eyes of an American in London, as he marvels at quaint Brits', escalators' and poets rushing to get their sonnets published'.

"He looks at London through Dickensian-tinted glasses." Guy says, "seeing everything from an American perspective. The whole thing reminds me of when I visited Neuschwanstein Castle in the Bavarian Alps and this coach of Americans pulled up. The first lady waddled off the coach and said, Oh my God! They copied the Disney Land castle'. "

Performing in St Albans is something that suits Guy. As a local man who lives in Cuffley, near Potters Bar, it means he can get home to spend time with his wife Brigitta and their children, Indigo, eight, and Tallulah, three.

"St Albans is my favourite market town," Guy enthuses. "We go there on Saturday to get our vegetables."

However, when his work takes him further afield, Guy, who is taking six plays to Edinburgh Festival this year, does have to spend long periods of time away from his family, and that, he says, "is a worry."

"It's difficult to take my children with me because of numbers," he says, "but Indigo has been coming to watch my performances since she was a baby. She came to see Under Milk Wood in a packed Edinburgh theatre when she was just one year old. Just when I said the line, Hush the babies are sleeping', she made a noise. It was hysterical."

Under Milk Wood and American Poodle are at the Maltings Arts Theatre on Thursday, July 3, 8pm, and Friday, July 4, 8pm. Tickets: 01727 844222