Simon Callow knows how to charm us. “I love Richmond... The audience is always so responsive and alive and well-informed,” he tells Jessica Abrahams.

The 62 year-old actor has been treading the boards at Richmond Theatre this year to perform a pair of one-man plays by Charles Dickens telling the stories of Dr Marigold, a “cheap jack” with no medical credentials whatsoever who adopts a deaf and dumb child, and Mr Chops, a freakshow turn who finds himself thrown into London’s high society thanks to a winning lottery ticket.

One-man plays are notoriously difficult to pull off and, while many actors shy away from the challenge, Mr Callow has made them something of a speciality.

He says: “You can’t let the ball drop for a second [when you’re performing solo]. It’s like athletics. You’ve got to give 100 per cent all the time. But to be able to just hold the audience with such a master of storytelling as Dickens, it’s just fantastic.”

Mr Callow is a long-standing admirer of the Victorian writer. One of his first jobs as an actor was in 1973, playing Bob Cratchit, the mild and much-abused clerk in A Christmas Carol. Since then he has portrayed Dickens himself on a number of occasions, including a cameo appearance in Dr Who, and has even written his biography.

“Many actors will disagree with me but I think it’s vital that you get to know your author because his personal character will always come through,” he says. “[Dickens] was a most flawed man in many ways but he had such a gorgeous, unending sense of fun and an endless compassion for anyone disadvantaged.”

He also had a strong association with our beautiful borough and frequently mentions it in his letters and novels.

He regularly met friends at the then-fashionable Star and Garter Hotel on Richmond Hill and for 20 years he made it a tradition to celebrate his birthday there. He used to stay in Petersham for several months at a time, sometimes swimming to Richmond Bridge and back to exercise before breakfast – “to the astonishment and admiration of all beholders”, as he himself writes. Estella, a character in Great Expectations, is even sent to a “staid old house” on Richmond Green, just metres from the theatre where Mr Callow will be performing.

“I love Richmond and I love the theatre and I’ve done so much there; acted and directed... Every actor will tell you it’s a joy to perform there,” he tells me with genuine enthusiasm. “You can really cast a spell in that theatre.”

Simon Callow will be appearing in Dr Marigold and Mr Chops at Richmond Theatre until September 17. Visit atgtickets.com/Richmond.