ANDREW SUGDEN, 49, from Leigh, plays the title role of Antony in Southend Shakespeare Company’s production of Antony and Cleopatra, part of the Romans season starting on November 19.

When did you start to take an interest in theatre?

I had two lines as Organ Morgan in a school production of Under Milk Wood, but didn’t get more seriously involved until my mid twenties. My first play was a Billericay Players show at the Cramphorn Theatre in Chelmsford in 1989, Francis Durbridge’s House Guest, in which I murdered a couple of people – a perfect way to start.

Are or were any members of your immediate family involved in drama?

My grandma was involved in drama in her younger days and she was infectious in her enthusiasm.

Have you done any sort of formal training for acting, singing or dancing?

Not really – only a short evening course many moons ago.

Do you have any specialist skills which you work into your repertoire?

I can juggle a bit, which very occasionally is of use Which experience or role do you regard as the highlight of your amdram career to date?

I enjoyed playing Prospero in the Tempest outdoors a couple of years ago. A long-time favourite has been Parson Hugh in the Merry Wives of Windsor, a lovely part, by turn melancholic and funny – an authority figure one moment, then very silly the next.

What has been your most embarrassing moment involving drama, on or off stage?

At one open air performance in Stratford-on-Avon we somehow disturbed a wasps’ nest and spent the rest of the scene dodging and ducking out of their way. The scene was rather more animated than usual!

How do you earn your living?

I’m an accountant for a housing association.

Which actors do you most admire and why?

I like Roger Allam. He is such an outstanding actor in comedy and dramatic roles, with superb and expressive vocal tones. Other actors I like are Oliver Ford- Davies and Penelope Wilton.

Ever corpsed on stage? What happened?

A few years after getting diabetes, my blood sugar went far too low in the middle of a show and I wandered on stage, not really knowing where I was, and repeated the same line to every cue I was given, going round in circles. Somehow the others managed to carry on and get me off stage, where I was able to recover.

Any plans for the future, after the Romans?

After the Romans, I have a role in SSC’s King Lear to look forward to in the spring.

Any tricks for remembering your lines or other useful tips to pass on to others involved in amdram?

Tricks for line learning – I wish!

The only way to learn lines is to read the script 50 times and then when you are sick of it, read it 50 times more until some of it sticks in your mind. A great actor once said that to understand a character you need to know what type of shoes they wear. It seems silly and sometimes it’s very straightforward, but often it’s a surprisingly helpful starting point.

Southend Shakespeare Company’s the Romans season presents two separate Shakespeare plays with a Roman background, Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, on alternate nights. It runs for two weeks, from Tuesday, November 19 to Saturday, November 30.