Birmingham actor Tyrone Huggins tells Roz Laws about living through half a century of the city's arts scene.

It seems fitting that Tyrone Huggins should have a leading role in the production which launches Birmingham Rep’s centenary.

He’s had a close association with the theatre since, as a teenager, he saw one of the last plays at the Rep’s old home in Station Street in 1970 – and one of the first in its new home on Broad Street a year later.

He went on to sit on the board of the Rep for six years and appear in several productions including Season’s Greetings, Of Mice and Men and Peter Pan.

Now he’s back at the theatre starring in the UK premiere of Philip Pullman’s I Was A Rat!

Full of music, comedy and physical performances, it promises to “surprise, delight and move audiences of all ages”.

Roger is a scruffy boy who turns up on the doorstep of aged couple Bob (Tyrone) and Joan (Lorna Gayle) and insists “I was a rat!”.

Tyrone, 56, explains: “It’s certainly intriguing. I got Pullman’s book and it wasn’t until about two-thirds of the way through that I thought ‘Oh, I’m starting to see what it’s about now’.

“It’s partly based on the Cinderella story, where the rats are turned into horses and page boys for her coach.

“What if one of the boys wasn’t turned back into a rat at midnight?

“He’s stranded, with no idea about how the world works and how to live as a human.

“It has a fairytale aspect to it and it’s funny, but also quite moving. It’s a morality tale about how we treat an innocent abroad.

“Unscrupulous people grab the boy and run off with him, so Bob and Joan try to find him. They’ve never had children and his arrival gives them a purpose in life.”

The fantastical story has been adapted for the stage by Teresa Ludovico, artistic director of Teatro Kismet in Bari, Italy who has previously brought her productions of Beauty and the Beast and The Snow Queen to the UK.

“I’m only now starting to see how it’s going to work,” says Tyrone of the play which will embark on a UK tour after its Birmingham run.

“We’ll be relying on lighting, performances from dancers and actor/musicians and the audience’s imagination more than sets and props.

“I think it will be absolutely fantastic and an exciting celebration of 100 years of the Rep. As a Brummie, it’s great to be involved.”

Tyrone was born on the Caribbean island of St Kitts and moved to Birmingham when he was five.

His father was a welder at British Leyland and his mother a cleaner at the Royal Mail’s sorting office, long before it became the Mailbox.

The family lived in Sparkhill and Handsworth before settling in Nechells.

It was as a pupil at Duddeston Manor School that Tyrone went to see Toad of Toad Hall at the Old Rep shortly before it closed.

“I was fascinated by it, partly because I had done it at school – I played a field mouse when I was 11!

“I was very lucky to be able to act at school, thanks to our English and drama teacher Pete Kirby.

“He put on three plays a year, and from the age of 11 until I left at 18, I was in every one of them. I worked my way up to Fagin in Oliver.

“It was fantastic and very unusual to be given so much stage experience at school – whenever I mention it to other actors, they are always amazed.”

Tyrone’s school and the house where he grew up no longer exist.

“They demolished Duddeston Manor last summer and it was quite poignant to see the pictures on Facebook of them knocking it down.

“I grew up in one of the back-to-back houses in Nechells with an outside toilet. It’s sad to see your history being wiped out. I kind of miss the fact they don’t exist now and haven’t found a future life. In Manchester they’ve turned their back-to-backs into student accommodation.”

Tyrone’s acting career has spanned nearly 40 years and taken him around the country. Although he has a flat in London, he’s maintained a base in Birmingham.

“The flat next to my mum’s in Bordesley Green came up for sale 12 years ago so I bought it,” he explains. “I’m fully resident in Birmingham at the moment.”

Multi-skilled Tyrone has a degree in metallurgy from Leeds University.

When he co-founded the experimental Impact Theatre Co-operative in 1978, he put his technical skills to use.

As well as a writer and director, he is also a set builder and sound and light technician.

He learned some of his skills at 15 while working with his father, welding at British Leyland.

“I worked there for six weeks in the summer holidays,” he remembers. “Being able to weld is a useful skill which I’ve used a lot over the years.

“In between acting jobs, while others found work in restaurants, I’ve always stayed in the theatre, working backstage building sets.

“Theatre is my great love.”

Now and again Tyrone has ventured into television, with small parts in Holby City, Bergerac, Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Casualty and The Bill (three times).

But it’s theatre where he feels most at home. He has appeared in more than 70 stage productions, for companies as varied as the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Savoy, Glasgow Citizens and Black Theatre Co-operative.

He has written nine plays and directed productions for groups at, among others, The Drum and South Birmingham College.

For the last four years he’s been writing a project he calls Digital Inheritance – four plays about digital technology’s influence on the way we live, and an epic narrative of Caribbean Diaspora, about how Caribbean people have spread around the world and especially their experience of migrating to Britain.

His play The Honey Man was staged by New Perspectives last year and he took the title role, in a tale of an unlikely friendship that develops between a 15-year-old girl and an elderly man who lives in a derelict cottage in her village.

Tyrone’s experiences give him a unique standpoint from which to discuss Birmingham’s cultural scene and how it has changed over the years.

“I am optimistic about the future,” he muses. “I think there’s a renewed energy for holding on to the best of the city’s talent – something we have been very bad at.

“We produce great talent but it tends to leave. I think it’s getting better, though, with projects like Rep Foundry to encourage emerging writers, directors and artists.

“I’m involved in a project with Friction Arts to create a development space in Digbeth, and it’s good to see what Stan’s Cafe and the Blue Orange Theatre are doing.

“We are starting to get a critical mass in the city. We’ve always lacked a central hub for the arts, but with the coming together of the new library and Rep, hopefully we will get that.”

Tyrone has no family of his own, but with five brothers he has 20 nephews and nieces to keep him occupied.

He speaks with a wonderful deep, rich timbre, so it’s surprising he has never done any voiceover work.

“I’ve been told many times that I should do voice work,” he smiles.

“But I’m quite adventurous in the type of work I’ve done, and that didn’t seem very creative, although it pays well.

“I’ve been working for the love of it, to feed my artistic side.

“But as I get older, I’m thinking that maybe I’ve had enough love and I should start doing it for the money!”

* I Was A Rat! is at The Old Rep Theatre in Station Street, Birmingham from February 12 to March 2. For tickets ring 0121 236 4455 or go to www.birmingham-rep.co.uk.