IT’S hard to imagine Aussie actress Anne Charleston as a stalwart of the UK stage.

She is Madge, the fiery matriarch of the hit Australian soap, Neighbours. But she will be appearing in the Cemetery Club, at the Mercury Theatre, in Colchester, next week.

Along with Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, Anne ruled the BBC’s daytime airwaves in Neighbours.

“The series started in 1985,” she says. “At the time, I was doing another show for the same production company.

“I was used to playing upper class parts back then and I’m sure they thought she’s a bit up-market for Madge, so I roughened her up.

“Initially, it was very exciting to be connected to such a show, especially with the success it had over in the UK.”

It was that success which enabled her to pursue her real dream, a life on the UK stage.

“I started off in the theatre at the age of 16,” she recalls. “I did heaps of plays back then and it was pretty much all theatre until I got into my thirties. Then I did a lot of television.”

In the Sixties and Seventies, well before Neighbours, she was a familiar face on Australian television appearing in many serials, soaps and television films.

“My first television was live to air,” Anne says. “I was just a baby back then, but it was almost like doing a live play, except it was recorded.

“I always knew I was going to do drama, even when I was as young as ten. It was nothing else but that.”

Anne’s career in television and on stage spans five decades.

After moving to Galway, in Ireland, she re-launched her career in the UK with a number of high-profile television parts on such soaps as Crossroads and Emmerdale.

She has also been a regular fixture on the UK stage, not only in pantomime, but in many successful touring productions.

“I actually did my first panto over here in 1988,” she says. “I’ll be doing another one at the end of this year. I love it. It’s a great theatrical institution.

“My first play was this one back in 1993.”

The Mercury Theatre production of the Cemetery Club also stars Peter Ellis, Chief Insp Brownlow in the Bill, Shirley-Anne Field and Anita Harris.

The Cemetery Club tells the story of three Jewish widows, who meet every month to go the graves of their late husbands.

Described as the Golden Girls meets Steel Magnolias, it is obviously a favourite with Anne because this is the fifth time she’s appeared in the play.

She says: “I love the play. It’s wonderfully written.

“The three widows are in various states of mourning. That leads to a bit of conflict, but it’s very touching and very funny.

“It’s the kind of play people can relate to. We’ve had quite a few people come up after the show and tell us their stories and how the play has helped them deal with their loss.”

The Cemetery Club Mercury Theatre, Balkerne Gate, Colchester.

June 18 to 20. 7.30pm, 2.30pm matinee on June 19, £11.50 to £18.50.

01206 573948 mercurytheatre.co.uk