Chris Thomas was living in Bentley when he first stepped onto a theatre stage in 1993.
He took on a small role because he wasn’t confident enough to try anything bigger.
More than 30 years later, the former Bentley and Maddington resident is preparing to play one of British television’s best-known comedy characters, Lord Edmund Blackadder.
Mr Thomas will take on the title role in Harbour Theatre’s stage production of Blackadder, which opens at Camelot in Mosman Park on October 14.
The character was made famous by Rowan Atkinson in the BBC television series, and Mr Thomas admits there is some pressure in taking on such a familiar role.
“The director, Dr Jarrod Buttery, approached me several months ago and asked if I would be interested in auditioning,” he said.
“At first, I thought he meant one of the other characters – but when he said it was Blackadder himself, I became intrigued.
“It’s not a character I would have ever thought about playing myself. Not least because I’m taller than Rowan Atkinson.”
Mr Thomas grew up in the Perth Hills and attended Lesmurdie High School before living in Bentley and Maddington at different times throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
His first stage appearance was in Nuts at Playlovers Theatre in March 1993, while he was living in Bentley.
That same year, he appeared in four other productions, including Dimboola, Uncouples, A Very Black Comedy Indeed and Cinderella.
He continued acting while living in Maddington, appearing in productions such as Foreskin’s Lament, Borstal Boy and Hogfather.
Although the theatres were outside those suburbs, he remembers spending plenty of time travelling between home, rehearsals and performances.
He said playing Blackadder was a long way from his first acting experience, when he deliberately auditioned for the smallest role because he lacked confidence.
Now, his challenge is to bring his own interpretation to a character audiences already know.
“There is definitely pressure because there are obviously expectations when you perform something so well-known and so well done,” he said.
Mr Thomas has previously played familiar television characters on stage, including The Cat from Red Dwarf, but said Blackadder presented a different challenge.
Rather than trying to copy Atkinson’s performance, he is relying on the script, the character’s sarcastic humour and guidance from the director.
“I don’t have the same twang that Rowan Atkinson has in his voice but you can give the same sardonic and sarcastic inflections to deliver the required performance,” he said.
He also pointed out that performing in front of a live audience requires a different approach from television.
The production features episodes from the second series of Blackadder, set during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Dr Buttery, who previously directed The Vicar of Dibley for Harbour Theatre, said the success of that production encouraged the company to bring another popular BBC comedy to the stage.
More than 1000 people attended The Vicar of Dibley during its two-week season.
The new production also marks Harbour Theatre’s return to Camelot after part of the venue’s ceiling collapsed in 2023.
Meanwhile, rehearsals have given the cast plenty to laugh about.
Mr Thomas recalled an amusingly shaped turnip made for one scene and the entrance of Captain Redbeard Rum, whose unusual travel device he compared to a faulty shopping trolley and the bottom half of a Dalek.
His former housemates have also been enjoying his latest role.
After seeing a publicity photograph of him dressed as Blackadder, one former Bentley housemate immediately commented: “I hope you have your codpiece sorted”.
Mr Thomas said people who knew him during his Bentley and Maddington years would probably remember him constantly learning lines or heading off to another rehearsal.
Three decades later, he is still doing much the same thing, only this time with a much bigger role.
Blackadder will be performed at Camelot, 16 Lochee Street, Mosman Park, at 7.30pm on October 14, 16 and 17, with a 2pm matinee on October 18.
Tickets cost $30 for adults, $27 concession and $25 for children, and are available through TryBooking.
