ROBERT Goodale is just about as much fun in conversation as he is on stage in upcoming farce Jeeves and Wooster In Perfect Nonsense.

And that's saying a great deal, because Bobby, as he is known away from the theatre posters, plays Seppings the valet in the play, plus a range of entirely mad characters.

His roles include a pint-sized falsetto Aunt Dahlia, and Roderick Spode, the gigantic fascist with a sideline designing lingerie.

The storyline doesn't matter too much: Bertie Wooster (James Lance) has decided to stage a play recounting his distressing experiences when his Aunt Dahlia dispatched him to Totleigh Towers to steal an antique silver cow-creamer.

And of course Jeeves (John Gordon Sinclair) is on hand to help tell the tale.

But it's all perfect nonsense and great fun. And very physical to perform.

Moments before we speak, Bobby was having his back attended to by a physio.

"I thought I'd got off lightly, but having done the show for almost five months the demands take their toll," says the actor, with a shrug.

"There's just so much movement. Gordy lost five performances from doing the same thing to his back, quite badly, but that's what happens when you jump out of a stage window far too many times.

"And Jimmy Lance has also had the same problem."

There is much in the manic energy and movement in the show to be admired. In fact, it's as clever as Bertie is stupid.

Bobby however is also the man who created the original stage show 20 years ago.

"My twin brother, who has since died from cancer, used to quote Wodehouse to me," he recalls of young adult years.

"But it was only when looking for material for a one man show that I picked up a Jeeves and Wooster book in the cold light of day and realised what a comic genius he really was."

Bobby realised Bertie Wooster to be a great stage voice and created a show that ran successfully at the Edinburgh Festival.

Fast forward two decades when Bobby's other brother, David, met with theatre producer Mark Goucher.

"My brother was having dinner with Mark who said to him, 'Do you think Bobby will want to do his one-man show again?' And my brother said 'No, no. He's far too old for that.

"And it was the right thing to say. But then Mark said 'Why don't you do something else with the show then?'

"So David, who had directed the one-man show at one time, worked with me on developing it. And the moment we decided upon the conceit, it all flew out."

In Perfect Nonsense became a three-man play and a massive Olivier-winning West End success.

"Having two or three people in the cast allowed us to explore the true potential of what would really happen if Bertie Wooster did attempt to hire a theatre and put on a show.

"Inevitably, despite his bravura, optimism and confidence that he could do it all on his own, things would fall apart very quickly and Jeeves would have to save the day."

It's a hugely complicated play to perform, given all the characters played, and the costume changes involved.

"When we originally conceived it we hadn't anticipated major costume changes," says Bobby. "But the director, Sean Foley, wanted us to go the full hog."

However, Bobby wasn't part of the original cast.

"To begin with, I was just the writer and then I came on board as a performer. It wasn't seen as right for a writer to go on stage in his own show. In fact, it was seen as totally wrong."

So what makes the 'totally wrong' now totally right?

"Well, we had a new look at it," he says, laughing. "And we adjusted our thinking. And I think I developed a split personality along the way."

Is there a moral to Bobby's success story. Is it hold onto the dream? Or you never can tell what showbiz life will throw up?

"I think it's both," he says, grinning.

"I've certainly held onto the dream as an actor. I've had to do other things such as teaching during my career, but I don't feel I've stuck at it out of out of sheer bloody mindedness. I feel I have something to offer.

"I know there are people who are deluded and just do it because they think they ought to, but that's not me.

"And I've always thought something would happen. I'd no idea what, but something."

Bobby loves working with Gordy and Jimmy.

"The three of us get on brilliantly," he says.

"And we work so well together. I like to think of us as the Arsenal of theatre casts. We pass the ball when we're supposed to."

And now they have an added shared experience in that each has developed a very sore back.

"That's true," he says. "But as always, the show will go on."

l Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, Theatre Royal, until November 29.