Scooby-Doo is back at the Empire after two sell-out visits. Laura Davis meets one of its stars

YOU know the routine – spooky location, enter brightly-coloured van, dog and scruffy teen get separated from friends, enter ghost, lots of running about, girl loses glasses, lots more running about, ghost gets caught in cunning trap, blond boy pulls mask off ghost, everyone exclaims, blond boy pulls off another mask, everyone exclaims again, dog and scruffy teen eat lots of food, everyone laughs, roll credits.

Or something like that anyway.

The Liverpool Empire show Scooby-Doo and the Pirate Ghost promises all of the cartoon’s set-pieces and comedy capers with a crucial difference – it’s in three dimensions.

And all this without those funny red and blue 3D glasses because it’s not at a cartoon at all – Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, Velma and Daphne are all being played by real people.

Bringing the teen with the serious facial hair problems to life is 28-year-old Matthew Bloxham from Wilmslow in Cheshire, who was not so much as a twinkle in his mother’s eye when Scooby-Doo first arrived on TV screens as a Hanna-Barbera creation for American Saturday morning viewing.

“When I was a kid, I watched it every day, but it’s not exactly the kind of thing that when you see it at eight-years-old you think 20 years later you’ll be here playing Shaggy on stage,” says Bloxham.

“It’s quite strange, but it’s amazing really.

“You have got a lot of responsibility because the character’s so well known and everybody knows his voice and what he looks like and how he walks.

“There’s quite a weight on your shoulders to get it right.”

By the time Bloxham started watching in the 80s, US DJ Casey Kasem, the voice of Shaggy, had long moved on to Sesame Street but his distinctive tones still had an influence.

“The most striking thing about the character is his voice because it’s so weird,” he says.

“It took a while to get it right but I’ve always been quite good at mimcry and I had a lot of voice coaching when I was at drama school.

“You learn where to place the voice in your throat and what stress to put on things.

“ I’ve done plays before with American accents so that was quite a help.

“And when we started rehearsal, the physicality came along too.”

Preparing for the role has been “a lot of work”, he adds, especially as he only had three or four days to embody Shaggy before his audition.

He was called back after the first one and asked to improve the voice for the second – so he watched lots of episodes and got the part.

It’s a dream job for Bloxham, who only left drama school 18 months ago and has since mostly been acting in TV shows and film, including a horror movie.

He also appeared in the “Tony” episode of the second series of cult teen drama Skins as well as in a short film called Unknown Soldier.

“It’s strange because when you tell people you’re an actor they say ‘Really, what do you do?’ and I say ‘I’m Shaggy at the moment’,” he exclaims.

“Normally people laugh, not in a mocking way but in happy surprise.”

Scooby-Doo is his first theatre show.

“I’ve been mainly doing screen work and I’ve been itching to get into the theatre so this is great,” he says.

“It’s a really huge tour playing such big houses so it’s an invaluable experience.

“I’ve learned a lot about confidence and being spontaneous, which I didn’t really expect.”

The previous two tours have sold out all Empire dates and this time round it’s a new show set on a desert island, which provokes all sorts of questions.

Will Velma keep on her orange knee-length socks and polar neck despite the searing heat? Will Fred stop looking in the mirror long enough to catch the baddie?

Will there be enough Scooby Snacks to go around? Will Old Man Smithers put in an appearance?

Bloxham is giving little away, but does say the brightly-coloured set looks just like the animation.

“The show’s very faithful to the cartoon series, so the audience can expect everything you would have in a classic episode but a lot more of it – more running around, more baddies and locations,” he says.

“It’s a kids show, but the cartoon’s been going for 40 years now so when we get to the stage door all the kids want the autographs but the parents also all say they enjoy it.

“There’s quite a few jokes in there for adults, too.

“And yes – we unmask all the baddies at the end.”

SCOOBY-Doo and the Pirate Ghost is at the Liverpool Empire Theatre until Sunday. Tickets £16.50-£18.50, 0844 847 2525.