The Brighton Theatre Royal have announced a brand spanking new show for 2019. An adaptation of the 1984 classic Glengarry Glen Ross will hit the south coast next year. With tickets going on sale on Monday, Jamie Walker got an EXCLUSIVE interview with Ricky Roma, played by Nigel Harman, star of EastEnders and stage shows such as The Caretaker, Guys and Dolls and Shrek: The Musical, to name just a few.

How did you get involved with the show?

I went to see it when it was on in London and I really enjoyed it. I know the play from when it was written in the 80s and how brilliant it is. Then I watched the movie when I was growing up, which I think came out in the 90s. So when it came my way it was a really exciting opportunity and I jumped at the chance.

What is the main difference, for yourself, in performing on stage as opposed to in front of TV cameras?

It’s live basically, there’s an audience, the evening is unique. In a theatre, there’s a certain atmosphere that the audience brings. It’s a collaboration; what the audience bring and what the actors bring, at the same time, combined, makes the evening. Whereas on television it’s very much, once you’ve done it, it will be forever the same. The atmosphere is also slightly removed because it comes through the television set, so the liveness is slightly detached. They’re very different mediums.

Do you enjoy the fact that on stage no two shows are the same?

Yeah, absolutely. that’s what I love about it. The fact that it’s completely live and anything can happen; it can go wrong and it can go right, you can have a brilliant show one night and the next it can be completely different and also if you’re dealing with comedy then that obviously has its own energy. Sometimes it’s two hours, with Glengarry Glen Ross it’s 90 minutes so it’s incredibly fast-paced and you go straight through. Whereas with television, on the whole, the longest take you’ll get is probably 45 seconds. So there’s a difference between concentrating for that long and concentrating for two hours.

You mentioned that you’ve performed at the Theatre Royal in The Caretaker. What are your memories of the theatre?

It’s quite an old and beautiful venue, as I remember. This is going back a long time, but it has real history and it’s vintage, it’s a vintage theatre as opposed to a new build and it has that sort of atmosphere. We were only there for a week so that’s really all I remember.

Tickets for Glengarry Glen Ross go on sale on Monday. What would you say to people to get online or down to the theatre to get their seats?

It’s one of the greatest mob plays that’s been written in the last 40 years, by one of the greatest living American playwrights. So for that reason alone you must come and see it.