Geoff Aymer is making a welcome return to Frinton Summer Theatre taking on the role of Hoke in Driving Miss Daisy, a role he performed at the seasonal rep back in 2007.

The show runs at the McGrigor Hall until July 14, at 7.30pm each night with a 3.30pm performance on Saturday.

Tickets are available from the box office outside the hall or by calling 01255 676656.

What or who got you interested theatre? Did you take part in any productions at school?

I wasn’t really interested in theatre at a very early age. It was actually a performance of The Sound of Music when I was in the sixth form at my school in Nassau in the Bahamas. I was born in north London but I grew up in the Caribbean first in Jamaica and then the Bahamas.

It was only when I moved back to the UK later on in life I remembered that show in my teens and trying to find something where I could meet new people, I joined a local amateur dramatic club.

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

I have a cousin, a few generations down, who is in Aladdin in the West End and another cousin who works in television and film, so there’s a creative strand somewhere in my family.

What training have you done?

I joined the Royal Court Young People’s Theatre which was for 18 to 25 year-olds, except I was just over at 26, so I lied about my age. Then years later, after doing stand-up comedy, I went to study drama at Brunel University.

Tell us about your life as a stand-up?

I met this guy at the Royal Court called Marcus Powell and we both quickly discovered we liked comedy so we started writing sketches together.

This was in the early Nineties when the UK had quite a burgeoning stand-up scene. We were called Aymer and Powell and at first our gigs were predominantly for black audiences because of the kind of characters we were doing. But later we expanded it, playing all over the place including the Comedy Store in London. Eventually we went our separate ways but he went on to have a little bit of success with one of his characters called Roy Diamond.

Which experience/role do you regard as the highlight of your career to date?

I’ve done Hoke three times now. The first time back in Frinton and then most recently only 18 months ago at the Canal Cafe in Maida Vale, London. He’s a brilliant character to play with some great lines and each time I do it, I find something new in there. It’s always a little different because each director will have their own way.

Certainly when I first came into the rehearsal room I didn’t want to second guess what Vivienne the director might want from him and I was prepared for her to say ‘no, I want you to do it a different way’ but fortunately she liked what I was doing and so I’m having great fun playing him all over again.

My other favourite part would be another American character which I did for an original play down in Brighton. that was set in New England so very different to the southern accent I do for Hoke but it was a real challenge because the guy I was playing was a boxer and had suffered mental problems because of it.

What was your last theatre job?

I had a wonderful four month tour around the country with the Original Theatre company playing Canon Chasuble in the Importance of Being Earnest, which as you might imagine was a lot of fun.

What role would you most like to play and why?

When I was in my second year at university the third year drama students put on a production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure and at the time I thought the part of Angelo looked really good fun to do. A proper nasty piece of work but a character that has lots of layer to him so when they cast me in the part I was delighted. Ever since then I’ve always thought I’d love to play him again in a professional capacity.