Few personalities carve successful careers as both pop performers and actors but Wales own IAN H WATKINS has successfully achieved this, following hard on the heels of Steps reunion he tells ANDY HOWELLS about his return to a stage role close to his heart...

“I PLAYED Benjamin when I was 9 years old in my local Spotlight theatre company,” Ian H Watkins tells me, “I used to sit in the wings every night watching the guy who played Joseph and just dream that was me.

When they asked me to come and audition for the role of course, it sort of came full circle.”

The Steps star is recalling the moment he stepped frombeing a member of a chart-topping pop band back into stage acting over eight years ago and landing the West End stage lead in Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat a role he had dreamed about since childhood.

“Its just an amazing musical. It crosses such a huge spectrum of ages with its appeal,” continues H, “If you want to bring your child to the theatre for the first time its bright, its colourful, you can sing along to the songs, its got fantastic message for all ages as well.”

His back in the role of Joseph once again and brings the showto the Millennium Centre in Cardiff next month.

“It’s a timeless tale, a Biblical tale told in a very modern way you have Pharaoh, the Elvis impersonator, and talking camels. If you can envisage comic book meets reality then it’s a fantastic fusion, really,” he says.

Before becoming a pop star, theatre was H’s first love. He was a member of both the Spotlight and Parc and Dare Amateur theatre groups in Cwmparc. “My mum channelled my energy in to my local Am Dram group when I was nine years old and I’ve never looked back since. It’s wheremyheart will always lie.”

H’s first major role was playing a white faced clown in a production of Barnum, a role which required him to juggle, walk on a tight rope and ride a unicycle, all good training for the diversity of his future career as both an actor and a pop star.

I ask H which of his roles he finds most demanding. “Its harder work when you’re in a musical,” he tells me, “you literally put your heart and soul into it.

You have to conserve your energy and live the life of a nun. I can’t go out because I’m playing the lead, I have to watchmyvoice and I go home and I sleep, but when I’m in a pop band its the opposite.Alot of the hard work is off stage. You’re travelling, having styling meetings, learning choreography, so it’s the opposite way around.”

Steps of course were featured in a very public reunion last year when a documentary series bringing them back together was aired on Sky Television. This involved Ian along with his bandmates Claire, Lisa, Faye and Lee ironing out many differences the group had when they broke up over a decade ago.

“We agreed to do this documentary to support the release of our Greatest Hits album, “ he tells me, “That turned into a number one albumand a 30-date arena tour.We sold out the 02 twice, it was completely bonkers and unexpected. We’re in a good place now so it was like a public therapy.”

I ask H if there are any more plans for Steps to perform together. “We were always going to have this year off – a mini sabbatical ” he replies, “We were talking about next year but we’ll see what happens. The answer is I don’t know!”

In the meantime, H has just extended his contract for the Joseph tour, which will keep him in a loin cloth up until Christmas. Does he have any other roles he’d like to pursue on stage?

“I’ve actually got my eye on a play. I’d love to do The Woman in Black!” he says.

Wouldn’t that be quite a different role? I ask, “I’ve done a few straight plays,” he confirms, “mainly with Frank Vickery. When I was younger we took a few plays to the West End. I love Frank’s work and I really get his humour because he’s a local guy and the humour sits well with me. I would love to do a few more of Frank’s plays, too!”

Catch Joseph and The Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat at Wales Millennium Centre from August 13- 17. Visit wmc.org.uk or call 029 2063 6464 for ticket details.