Buddy Holly is looking for love. He's 28, free and single and wants a brunette but insists she doesn't necessarily have to be called Peggy Sue.

Those interested should apply to Anthony Fletcher at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, next week when he pitches up at the theatre to play Buddy in the show Heaven Can Wait.

I caught up with Anthony at his Swansea hotel where he was musing on the fortunes of his favourite football team, Charlton Athletic.

He said: "It has been a good season. We ended midway up the Premiership and I am hoping we get into Europe next year."

He is making his debut as Buddy on this national tour and it is a dream come true.

Anthony said: "When I was a kid Buddy was an icon of mine and in many ways he still is.

"When I first picked up the guitar it was Buddy Holly's songs that grabbed me first.

"They were easier to learn and gave me an instant buzz. I learned to play them quickly. They are catchy and easy on the ear.

"It was a time when rock 'n' roll was in its innocence and the world was just coming into colour as it were. The teenager was being born."

This was the day Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper left the virtually snowbound Surf Ballroom at Clear Lake, Iowa, for the plane journey which killed them.

Anthony said: "Heaven Can Wait begins with the end of that last concert and the final plane ride. This is a play with music following what might have happened to the three musicians and their pilot Roger Peterson.

"The show put the four men in the Celestial Bar sited between Heaven and Earth being tended by the mysterious Stella, a kind of angel, who is their guide on the ultimate trip to Heaven.

"She gets the four to muse on their lives and their music. It gives us musicians an opportunity not just to play the great songs of the period but to bring in some Elvis songs and some by Patsy Cline and others.

"What I think the audience gets is the thrilling sound of some of the greatest rock 'n' roll songs we have heard."

Numbers such as La Bamba, Peggy Sue, C'mon Everybody, Your Cheating Heart, That'll Be The Day and Oh Boy! get an airing.

Anthony said: "I have toured nine months in this show and it has a real feel-good factor."

Anthony, who comes from south London, has also spent time doing several education projects abroad.

Mondays to Thursdays 7.45pm, Friday and Saturday at 5.30pm and 8.30pm. 01273 328488.