The Voice star Sam Buttery’s role in Viva La Drag! brings him to Kent where he may bump into some old friends, writes Jo Roberts The Voice star Sam Buttery’s role in Viva La Drag! brings him to Kent where he may bump into some old friends, writes Jo Roberts

Larger-than-life Sam Buttery burst into the limelight on BBC1’s The Voice with big glasses, a big quiff and an even bigger voice.

Sir Tom Jones spun his chair round as Sam blasted out Adele’s hit Set Fire To The Rain in the blind auditions and the Brummie’s life changed forever. Sir Tom became Sam’s mentor during the first series of the BBC show in 2012, alongside Kent contestants Matt and Sueleen.

While neither Sam nor the duo from Canterbury won the title – which that year went to Leanne Mitchell, also in Team Tom – it was an experience Sam remembers fondly.

“Matt and Sueleen were my good friends in the show. We still message now and again,” says Sam, now 22.

For Sam the stand-out performance of the current series has been Gillingham’s Jamie Johnson’s cover of the Kings of Leon’s Sex on Fire.

“I watch clips of The Voice on YouTube when I can, and Jamie is obviously a really great singer.”

Sam doesn’t have much time for TV on a Saturday night these days – he’s usually preparing to step out on stage in the musical Viva La Drag!

“I play the lesbian daughter of an Australian shopping channel host. My part is character-based rather than drag really, it’s just fun.”

Sam, who thinks his falsetto vocals are sometimes mistaken for a woman’s, came to the role through his connections to Boy George, with whom he worked in the musical Taboo.

He said: “I’d seen Viva La Drag! in Leicester Square and Boy George had contributed some tracks to it. As I’ve been doing some music with him recently, I knew the team behind it was good and it gave me chance to play a different character. He just said that it’s fun and camp.”

With such connections it’s clear that Sam – or ‘Samarotti’ as his family affectionately nicknamed him as a toddler – has come a long way since working in McDonald’s to make ends meet during his uni days at Goldsmiths in south London.

“I studied English and drama and I was involved in the musical theatre society. I was trying to attend every open audition that I could – The Voice was just another one, and it went really well.”

While not many of us could name winner Leanne, Sam has remained among the most memorable contestants from the inaugural series.

“Since The Voice, the highlight for me was doing a scene in a film called Child 44 with Gary Oldman – it was just one of the best days of my life,” says Sam, who also worked alongside Bronson star Tom Hardy on the movie.

“It’s a Cold War thriller set in Russia and I play a character called Varlam. To work with someone like Gary Oldman is an opportunity you don’t get every day! To learn on the job and to go and work abroad. It’s so surreal to think how lucky I am to do it.”

But foremost on Sam’s mind is the job of entertaining Kent musical fans who can see him in Viva La Drag! at either the Assembly Hall Theatre in Tunbridge Wells this Saturday, March 29, or at Dartford’s Orchard Theatre on Thursday, April 10.