Russell Kane

January 2012

MY house is in Westcliffe-on-Sea, that’s my four-bedroomed dream home but I’ve been so busy with working in London that I had to rent it out.

It was just getting too tiring driving to and from the Essex coast each day, so I’ve taken a flat in North London.

It’s just me, the two cats Keith and Wayne and a new arrival - Captain Colin, the pug. I just like the traditional working class, 70s and 80s names.

And I must admit my new girlfriend does stay over very, very often but maybe we’re in that denial phase.

I would say my weekends are more Monday and Tuesday really. If I can get a rare Friday night off then there’s no question I’ll be down the pub to see some friends. Then ideally there’d be a bit of dancing and a curry. That’s my perfect night out - drink just a little bit too much, go a for a chicken tikka masala, then put a heavy science fiction movie on until four in the morning.

It’s not always science fiction. I can happily sit and watch Love Actually with my girlfriend. And I can turn on the man switch and watch Pale Rider, Carlito’s Way, Goodfellas or Goldfinger, which I got the other day and had an awesome afternoon watching that on blu-ray with surround sound.

At heart I’m a reader. Novels are my thing. At the moment I’m reading Philip Roth’s My Life As A Man. I recently read everything by Evelyn Waugh, then went on Mastermind with the specialist subject of Evelyn Waugh and won. So I love a bit of Brideshead Revisited.

I quite enjoy reading about social spheres that are the opposite of mine. So, Jewish New Jersey or ultra upper middle class 1930s London. It’s almost like science fiction because it’s another world.

I can’t be fussed to keep fit although I try to do a minimum 60 push-ups and 100 sit-ups a day. But it bores me. I can’t think of anything more boring than facing forward and running.

Music? If I’m about to go on stage or I’m trying to gee myself up I’ll go for Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, Tinie Tempah, Example... stuff like that. But if I’m cooking then I might stick a bit of French pop on. If I’m really unwinding it’ll be Shubert or Beethoven.

I don’t go to gigs as much as I’d like to but I barely go to the shops to pick up potatoes as much as I’d like to either. I do love gigs. I was in Norway recently and I had a night off so I went to see The Wombats. I loved it.

But usually if I get a day off all I want to do is sit on the couch and stick Octopussy on.

I’ve done Nottingham loads of times: Just The Tonic; the Playhouse; The Maze; and one of the hardest theatre names to pronounce in England - the Djanogly Theatre (at Lakeside). It was named by Princess Margaret when she was (drunk).

This time I’ll be at the Theatre Royal with a new show called Manscaping. It’s based on the truth. I had a bit of a tough start to 2011. I split up with my missus and it was the first time I’d ever been single. I was like a kid in a sweet shop but I was atrocious at (sleeping) around. I was emotionally ill-equipped. It was really pathetic and seedy and I hit a low point. I cut my hair off, lost some weight... I lost my way a little bit.

I looked in the mirror one day and thought, write a show about that. It led off to analysing men and the different shapes we take along life’s path.

A perfect weekend? I think I had that last month. I met all the friends I grew up with on the Friday night, had something really light to eat and something not so light to drink and we ended up dancing like idiots. Then I went home with the girlfriend and watched a movie.

On the Saturday we went to Champneys (spa hotel in Piccadilly), where I’d never been to before. We put some white dressing gowns on and had massages, facials and Jacuzzis. On the Sunday we drove to a pub for lunch, came home, watched Dog Whisperer and fell asleep cuddling.

Russell Kane brings Manscaping to the Theatre Royal on Monday February 6. Tickets are £17.50 from the box office, call 0115 989 5555 or go to www.trch.co.uk