The changing face of Eastenders star (From Ealing Times)

The changing face of Eastenders star

10:10am Friday 14th October 2011 in Interviews By Clare Conway

RICKY Groves, an actor best known for playing the hapless Garry Hobbs on Eastenders, will come to High Wycombe a changed man. His is the face of the mean spirited Eddie - a scoundrel, a rogue- a character in Alan Ayckbourn’s classic comedy Seasons Greetings. He talks to Clare Conway ahead of the opening on October 31 at The Wycombe Swan.

Groves is chipper when we speak. The play, I’m told, is about having fun. “The audience like it. There’s lots of pace, then you turn a corner and it slows and picks up again.”

Of course I want to know about Ayckbourn’s famously dark humour - comedy dipped in acid. To this I’m told “you can analyse it till the cows come home, it’s an assemble piece, it’s not that deep.” But yes, Groves concedes, the more times you read the play the darker the themes appear. “It’s an interesting little piece like that.” Well there’s no better a time for prickly comedy than at Christmas with in-laws packed around a dinner table. “It’s a reflective time. There’s tension when you put people together for more than 48 hours,” he says. That’s what you have here: a play that brings together an unlikely mix of people - joined by blood and friendship - for one awfully awkward Christmas celebration. There’s bickering, a puppet show and an uncomfortable sex scene. Take Groves’ character Eddie. He’s a complex man: someone who’s fixated on money, who’s rude to his wife, and - according to Groves - “a failure” living out the stirrings of a midlife crisis. “He’s slightly estranged from his wife and is living on his friend’s sofa. He’s got two kids - and a third on the way that he doesn’t want.”

Making the leap from his own life to playing Eddie’s surprisingly requires no great transformation - “It’s just part of the job”. And what about the move from soap acting to the stage? “Theatre is about instinct. Once it’s up and running you’re on your own. You don’t get the chance to reshoot your scenes.” He prefers this - a job with little room for error - “that gets applause after every scene”.

“A pat on the back?” I ask. “No. Not really.” “A standing ovation?” I venture. “Ha, yes” but I don’t think he means it. Perhaps he should: Groves, by all accounts, is a seasoned pro. He doesn’t even embellish his lines. Not ever. “If you ad lib you fall into dangerous territory because sometimes the cast listening out for certain words to use them as cues.”

Starring alongside Groves is former Eastenders' vixen, Glynis Barber, Denis Lill, from The Royal and the popular soap actor Christopher Timothy, amongst others.

There must be some pressure taking on this play. It opened in 1980 to some rave reviews - “Hysterical” said the Guardian, “a masterpiece”, the Yorkshire Post. Cue a TV spin-off in ‘86 and a celebrated stint at the National Theatre last year. Isn’t that daunting? “Of course not. It’s always been a successful play and it will always be.”Poss cut this.

But what about getting the comic timing right? It’s no mean feat making the audience laugh. Apparently not. “You don’t play your lines for laughs. People see you trying too hard and they won’t give them to you. The writing’s good enough. I just play it straight.” So there you go: a serving of Christmas comedy straight up - hold the analysis. It runs for a week, starting on October 31 until November 5 at 8pm, with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm. Tickets range from £20 to £28 from 01494512000 or go to www.wycombeswan.co.uk.