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Gavin & Stacey star pops in to friend's show

Zoe Applegate
BBC News, Norfolk
Sheringham Theatre Steve Spiers stands left and is grinning and wearing a light blue linen shirt, next to his son Lewes Roberts, who has his arm around him and is wearing glasses, navy shirt and blue jeans. Ruth Jones is next to him and is wearing a black linen dress and has her hair tied back. Suranne Jones is next to her, with her hair combed back and in a black linen trouser suit; Rachael Cummins in a blue print dress and cardigan stands in front of Ryan Starling, whose hair is combed back, and to the side of Laurence Akers, who is also smiling and wearing a black shirt and khaki trousers. Behind them is a background that says ' The Case of...'Sheringham Theatre
Ruth Jones (third from left) visited Sheringham Little Theatre with her friend Steve Spiers (far left) to watch his son Lewes Roberts (standing between them). Also pictured, from left to right, are Suranne Jones, Ryan Starling, Rachael Cummins and Laurence Akers

Gavin & Stacey star Ruth Jones has returned to a small seaside theatre where she appeared more than 30 years ago to watch a family friend's new production.

The actress and writer visited Sheringham Little Theatre in Norfolk with Pirates of the Caribbean actor Steve Spiers for the opening night of his son's new play.

Jones described it as a "trip down memory lane" as she recounted how her summer run in 1993 overlapped with her contract at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

"I had three days where I would get up at the crack of sparrow's, drive to King's Lynn, get the train to London, rehearse all day, get back on the train, head back to Norfolk and do a performance of Absent Friends," she said.

Sheringham Theatre Ruth Jones, when she was 26, with dark wavy hair, red lipstick and in a black and white floral dress. She is on her knees cleaning and looking away from the camera. There is a pile of crockery and teapots on a nearby table and a red handbag on a shelf against a fake brick wall.Sheringham Theatre
Ruth Jones played the character of Marge in Absent Friends at Sheringham Little Theatre in 1993

"I'm so excited to return to Sheringham after all this time.

"We did John Godber's Teechers and Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends and it was such great fun.

"It was a very special time in my life - I was 26 years old and during the run I also auditioned for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

"I was the bottom rung of a very long ladder, with one line in All's Well That Ends Well and lots of understudying."

She has since appeared in a host of TV series including Fat Friends, Little Britain and Fat Friends, as well as the long-running BBC hit Gavin & Stacey, which she co-created and co-wrote with James Corden.

Sheringham Theatre Jones (centre) wore a back-to-front white baseball cap, a white school shirt and striped school tie. She is looking directly at the male actor, also dressed in the same uniform, in front of her and has her hand in front of her face. A female actor, also in the uniform, pulls a quizzical-looking face.Sheringham Theatre
Jones, then 26 (centre), also appeared in various roles during the summer run of Teechers

More recently, she has worked with Spiers on the BBC documentary From Merthyr with Love, looking at his home town in the Welsh valleys.

Both were in the audience, alongside actress and theatre president Suranne Jones, to watch Spiers' son Lewes Roberts perform in a new play on Thursday at the 160-seat venue.

Roberts has co-written The Case of the Three Eyed Elephant - which traces the origins of Sherlock Holmes - with Laurence Akers and actor Ryan Starling.

The show is also being staged at Wolterton Hall, near Aylsham, on 26 July and Bylaugh Hall, near Dereham, on 27 July.

Following the show, Jones said she was "absolutely gobsmacked by the talent and energy".

"If anyone needed an advert for live theatre, this was it – a truly great experience."

Sheringham Theatre Lewes Roberts is dressed as Sherlock Holmes in a deer-stalker hat, cape and holding a pipe, next to a train conductor wearing a black uniform and peak cap, and a man who is holding a clip board and shouting at the camera. This actor is wearing a brown jacket, waistcoat and tie and brown bowler hat.Sheringham Theatre
The cast of The Case of the Three Eyed Elephant trace the roots of Sherlock Holmes through the adventures of his creator Arthur Conan Doyle

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