I met Shep at a party when I was around 14 or 15. The first play she was in was one I put on with a local church group and convinced her to be in. It was like giving Kerry her first box of matches. The last production she was in that I produced was when I was eighteen, the year she went off to dance school.

For school drama productions we teamed up with the all-girls school down the road. My favourite was a production of Billy Budd, where I got to play the villainous tyrannical Claggart who gets hung at the end. Apart from being able to massively overact I also had to have almost my entire body stained with tanning make up by the young ladies from the Girls School each night.

Jamie Bautista's excellent "Cast" comic book, set in a similar situation where a boys and girls school get togehter to do a play, really gave me some nostaligic moments. Read it if you can find it.