Boyband superstar Stephen Gately has swapped the stadium for the theatre. After recent West End roles he is about to appear in his first pantomime. He chats to GEMMA WHEATLEY ....

IT HAS certainly been a stormy few years for former Boyzone heart-throb Stephen Gately but things finally seem to be back on track for the star, with numerous stage appearances and a children's book in the pipeline.

Stephen is about to start rehearsals for the part of Dandini in Cinderella at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley, and is already considering hypnotism to get through it.

"I hate opening nights, I get really, really scared. I am going to a hypnotist to try and get over my first night fears because I am so worried about it," he says.

After double success in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang anyone would think he would be used to treading the boards by now, but Stephen says he is still getting used to not having the rest of the boys with him.

"I do miss the boys. Being in Boyzone I always had them there with me and I still find it hard in interviews because when you are in a band you can just send the others to do things."

Stephen, 29, joined Boyzone, one of the biggest boy bands in the world, at the tender age of 17 and it was clearly the making of him.

"It was great fun being in the band and I am a lot more confident because of it," he says.

The band split in 2000 and Stephen went on to have a couple of top 10 hits before being dropped from his record label and taking a well-deserved break from the music scene. At the age of 23, Stephen discovered someone was trying to sell a story to the papers outing him as gay and bravely decided to tell the fans himself.

And now he couldn't be happier he made that decision, following a wedding ceremony in Las Vegas to his long-term partner, Andrew, two-and-a-half years ago.

The couple plan to fly to New York for a break before rehearsals start.

"I love New York. I love London but if I had to live somewhere else it's the only city I could see myself living in. I am trying to get in as much fun as I can before we start because I know we are going to be working flat out," he adds.

Christmas has always been a working holiday for Stephen after years of travelling the world with the band, so this year will be the first time he has been able to relax in years and he cannot wait.

"I really don't like working over Christmas, I am always going to be at home for it from now on as I have spent so much time away in the past and I love Christmas."

Stephen won't be spending it with his family this year as he says they all have their own families now but he and Andrew have friends coming over on Christmas Day.

"I don't go back to Ireland as much as I would like, I have to say, I would really love to go back a little more," he says.

Cinderella is Stephen's first pantomime and also the first one he ever saw when he was growing up in Ireland.

"They are such good fun, any little thing which happens on the stage is always a laugh and I am really looking forward to working with Shaun Williamson," he says.

Stephen's life is much calmer nowadays the way he wants it to stay. "When I was with the boys we would sometimes be in three countries in one day, which is enough for anyone."

Stephen is also working on another project, a children's book which he hopes will be finished by the middle of next year.

He says: "It is something I have wanted to do for about eight years, It's an unusual project and I am really happy with it, I just hope it gets published. After all, they say everyone has a book in them, I just hope this is mine."

Cinderella, December 8 to January 22, Churchill Theatre, High Street, Bromley, tickets £16 to £20, 0870 060 6620.