'I stepped into lead role with a few hours of prep'

'I stepped into lead role with a few hours of prep'16 hours agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleHenry Godfrey-EvansEssex@Theatre.tripsHundreds watched Craig Mather with his script in hand at the Mercury TheatreA theatre actor stepped into a lead male role he knew nothing about - with only hours to prepare and his script still in hand.Craig Mather was teaching his musical theatre class when he received a call on Thursday from a director to say that their lead had fallen ill.The 37-year-old was presented with the 140-page script and asked if he could be on stage at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester the following evening. He said: "I'd never read the play, I'd never seen it, never met the cast blah blah blah, and yeah, it was the craziest 24 hours."Caroline - A New Musical is set on Radio Caroline, a rebel radio station that defied UK broadcasting laws by playing pop music from international waters off the coast of Clacton-on-Sea.It is the first production launched by the East Anglian Touring Consortium, a collaboration between theatres in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.Mather explained that it was an actor-muso production, meaning the cast both act and play in the band, therefore covering roles can be a "bit more tricky".The actor - who lives in Colchester but is originally from Stroud, Gloucestershire - had not performed in a musical for seven years.He then completed three more shows over the weekend.Lydia GeatrixThe group had to cancel Thursday's performance, but they resumed on FridayMather said the cast would ordinarily get "four or five weeks" to rehearse a show, and it "was just not plausible" for him to learn it, so he kept a wad of script and notes with him throughout the performance."It was either this or the show was cancelled, so they wouldn't have seen anything," he said. "I think the audience was well and truly onside by that point. "There was a couple...