Katherine MacAlister finds Jason Donovan going back to his roots in a stage outing without showtunes

Jason Donovan doesn’t miss singing at all. Which is surprising, considering he has been a pop star and a musical lead for several decades now, belting out the classics in the West End night after night.

And yet here he is playing an uncharacteristically straight role, as Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue in The King’s Speech, and is delighted to be doing something different, challenging himself, flexing his acting muscles and remembering what it’s like to tread the boards.

“I have loved everything I’ve done,” the 46 year-old says diplomatically, “but it’s nice not to be worrying about your voice, because singing is always a pressure and you have to really look after yourself all the time. So I’m enjoying it,” he grins.

And yet he’s slightly offended that straight acting might be considered a stretch, reminding me that “My beginnings were acting, so it comes naturally to me.”

I wonder whether his fame in Neighbours and the strict work ethic associated with soaps has helped propel him through the endless list of musicals he’s been in, and the stamina required.

Because he has delivered on every front in terms of performance and longevity, leading shows from The Rocky Horror Show, to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Sweeney Todd, Festen, Joseph, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds, the Here and Now Tour, The Sound of Music, Annie Get Your Gun.

Jason also presents a radio show on Heart every Sunday, consistently releases albums and has played the celebrity game in I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! and Strictly Come Dancing.

In short, he can turn his hand to pretty much anything theatrical and, in so doing, has defied the doubters, silenced the critics who revelled in his much publicised post-Neighbours drug addiction, turned himself into a bona fide family man and proved himself a true professional.

A part in The King’s Speech is not only well deserved then, but appropriate. So does he feel typecast as an Australian?

“My you’re on fire,” he teases. “Look, I don’t get offered many straight scripts, but now I hope I will be offered more, so the pluses and the minuses to being cast as an Australian are almost irrelevant. It means that I can bring all my abilities to playing the part and bring something special to it, but as I said to my agent, it would be nice to be put forward for a part as an Englishman or an American, to do something a bit different. But then people have perceptions of people,”

he shrugs.

“The bottom line is that, although I loved the film, when I got the script I read it in one sitting and knew I had to do it. And that hasn’t disappeared; it’s still exciting.

I’d be very surprised if people didn’t come along and weren’t moved.”

Is that pressure? “Sometimes I feel a theatre is full because it’s Jason Donovan, rather than my ability. But then this is one of the best pieces I have ever been in and we are all very proud of it.”

And does he draw any parallels between himself and Lionel?

“Australians are more forward-thinking in many ways, because they aren’t restrained by class. We have a meritocracy which is very liberating. Or, as Lionel says to the Archbishop who calls him a charlatan, ‘This is how it is – like it or lump it’.”

The Playhouse is the high point of Jason’s tour. “I’m just looking forward to that Oxford week. We have a house nearby, so it’s close to home and a date I always look forward to.

“It’s not easy being away from my family. You have to be really disciplined to be away, but this way I get to breathe some fresh air and see my family.”

The King’s Speech
Oxford Playhouse
Monday to Saturday, May 11 to 16 
For tickets, call 01865 305305 or see oxfordplayhouse.com