Eastbourne's Mark Curry is our London Wizard in Wicked

“I auditioned in 2015 and it's all sent to America, as they do, to decide and then I started March 2016 and I did five months coming up to the tenth anniversary of the show and then I stayed on and I loved it. I got through three Elphabas and three Madame Morribles which was great because it gives you that new energy. The genius is knowing the book. Stephen Schwartz (music and lyrics) looked at that other side and that is what really appealed. It is a lovely story about inclusion, about being different, about friendships. And it also challenges what is good and what is bad and with the wizard you've got all of that. He thinks he is wonderful but you question why he is doing what he is doing, and that’s a lovely part of it all.”

Mark is thrilled to return to the role now: “When it came up they invited me along to have a sing and to make sure that I could still walk and just really to have a think about it and to get a feel for it and see what we all wanted to do, and again the decision had to go to America and I think that's great. They don't necessarily know the British actors and so they want to check in. The point is they want to make sure that they're getting people who really are right for the parts.

“I'm definitely approaching it differently this time, just slightly differently. I've tried to say to myself that I've not played this before and in fact it's long enough for me able to feel that I haven't played it before. I suppose if it was last year or the year before, it would be different but that gap is just long enough really and also I am just trying to think differently about the material. I am only in a few scenes, but they are pivotal scenes and I'm just trying to find something slightly darker to him. He is a showman. He has always been a showman and a bit of a magician and a bit of a huckster and a bit of an inventor and I'm just thinking a bit more about the darker side to why he does what he does. Why does he want to be the leader? Does he want to be the leader because he wants to make big changes for people or is he just in it for himself? I play him as basically a good-hearted guy but he just can't help the fact that he loves it when someone tells him he is wonderful. But I'm also trying to find that connection. He realises he has some kind of connection with Elphaba. It's more than the fact that she is green and that she is magical. He's just wondering why do I feel connected with you?”

Part of the challenge is that Mark doesn't come on until an hour into the show: “I always get there for the vocal warm-ups and to meet everybody and to have a sing and just to have a chat with everybody and then I start getting ready just as the show starts. I hear the show and I can hear the audience. There are 2,000 people there. It's still doing great business. I can hear all the actors giving it their all on the stage and I just start gradually to get ready, go down into the wings and just get myself into the show. Some people might sit and read but I couldn't do that. I just want to be part of the excitement.”

For Mark, it means a trip up from Eastbourne where he has lived for the past seven years: “I first came to Eastbourne in the 80s when I was doing Blue Peter.

"We were doing a film about a day in the life of a tennis player and I was following the British number one and she was playing down at Eastbourne. I spent a couple of days at Eastbourne filming and I just fell in love with the place. Every morning I would go along the front and it was just so lovely and unspoilt. There are no Burger Kings; there are no KFC's. It's beautiful architecture.

"And I've also played at the Devonshire Park about nine or ten times and every time I go there I just have the best time. We moved in 2015 and it has been a lovely move. It is wonderful to be beside the sea. Eastbourne is a special place.”