“Comedy is a serious business,” Jan Ravens tells me as she takes a break from rehearsing for her latest project at the Royal Exchange.

The impressionist turned actress is currently preparing for the world premiere of 5@50, the new Brad Fraser work in which she appears as one of five women who are approaching the dreaded age of 50.

But like most of the cast, Jan – who made us laugh in Dead Ringers and was last seen at the Exchange in Children’s Hour – has already reached that age. Did she find it cathartic?

“Not particularly,” the 52 year old says. “Forty was more cathartic for me, but I do think it makes you stop and take stock and think, ‘well that’s the past so what do I want to do now?’

“I already knew I was going to do this play in which I play an alcoholic lesbian and if that’s not a challenge, I don’t know what is.’

Playing an alcoholic on stage is a difficult thing to do, so I wonder if Jan was tempted to have one too many – purely for research purposes, of course.

“Show me one person in this profession who hasn’t been tempted at one time or another,” she laughs. “But once you become a working mum with children to look after, that kind of lifestyle has to go out the window.”

Jan is married to second husband Max Hole, the vice-president of the Universal Music Group, with whom she has a 12-year-old son Louis. She also has two other children from her first marriage – 23 year old Alfie Brown, who’s a comedian and Lenny, 20, who is a guitarist studying in Boston.

“I’m very blessed that I have a wonderful husband who totally supports me,” Jan smiles. “I also have a brilliant support system in operation for Louis when I’m working away from home, which isn’t very often. I’m fortunate that, financially, I don’t have to work, but once a performer always a performer and I love what I do.”

After her stint at the Exchange, Jan will return to London, which is now her home.

“I love being here in Manchester because it gives me the chance to catch up with all my family from the Wirrall. But my husband and son are in London, I’ve already written a pilot programme for a new impressions series, which I’ll pursue when my time here is over. ’

Jan grew up in Hoylake on the Wirral and has never forgotten her roots. “I was chubby and it was easy to make my schoolmates laugh with me rather than at me by impersonating teachers and becoming the class clown.

“Suddenly, at 13, I lost all the excess weight and emerged like a butterfly. It was then that I thought seriously about acting.”

Jan went on to study at Cambridge University’s Homerton College, where she became the first female president of the University’s Footlights Club and met some future famous faces.

“My contemporaries were Emma Thompson, Sandi Toksvig, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie,” she says. “We were all fiercely competitive in our different ways. I directed and took a show to the Edinburgh Festival, which did well and that was the start.”

When Jan left university, she became a comedy producer for the BBC, but realised she really wanted to be a performer.

She signed up with David Jason’s agent and hasn’t looked back since. Over the years, she’s appeared on a variety of shows, including Alastair McGowan’s Big Impression, Have I Got News For You and Dead Ringers.

“At first, it was fun dressing up on television to try to look like Madonna or Posh Spice,” she says of the latter, “but you end up dieting and working out trying to physically look like them.”

At the age of 40, Jan decided she needed a break from impressions.

“I didn’t want to continue taking a superficial look at characters,” she says. “I wanted to explore them more in depth, so I returned to acting. As well as theatre work, I did One Foot In The Grave and The Grimleys.”

She also did Strictly Come Dancing and won Celebrity Mastermind and spent a year performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Pentecost. 

“I’m a huge David Edgar fan, so that was a thrill as was my invitation to perform at the Royal Exchange.”

As Jan returns to the subject of 5@50, it’s clear to see she’s enthusiastic about her new project.

“It’s about five friends who’ve been through marriages, divorces and broken relationships,” she explains. “There’s some very witty punchlines and it’s both funny and poignant.”

However, Jan’s not completely forgtten the other side of her career as an impressionist.

“For one night only, I’m also going to do my one woman show, Changing Faces,  in which I’ll be talking about the art of doing impressions. 

“I’ll be describing how to study your subject closely and analyse how they talk. I told you comedy is a serious business!”

» Jan Ravens appears in 5@50 at the Royal Exchange Theatre from Wednesday to May 14, apart from April 26 when she performs Changing Faces.

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