RILEY Carter has had a whirlwind start to his acting career.

He was still at university when he was thrust into the national spotlight to play Kyle Slater in the TV soap EastEnders, becoming the first transgender actor to play a transgender character.

“I was attending lectures and two weeks later I was on Albert Square,” said Riley. “It was all pretty hectic.”

Now he is getting ready to come home to Manchester for a quick visit when Birdsong, the play based on Sebastian Faulks’ best-selling novel, calls in to the Lowry next week as part of a national tour.

“I’m particularly looking forward to bringing the show to the Lowry,” said Stretford-born Riley. “There will be a lot of family and friends in the audience that’s for sure. Most of the cast live in London so they have already had their families at the show.”

In Birdsong, a love story set before and during the First World War, Riley plays Evans one of the sappers sent to the front line to tunnel under the German defences.

“The sappers were mainly miners who were brought in to dig tunnels to ‘sneak up on the Bosch’ as they say in the play,” he said.

The current tour is the fourth and final time that Birdsong will play theatres around the UK, marking the centenary of the end of the Great War.

“You do feel the pressure in a production like this,” said Riley. “Not only do you have to try and live up to the hype of the novel but you also have to live up to the three previous productions which got such great reviews.

“But in rehearsal we were told that we were bringing something different to the production.

“It’s weird really that you can read the same lines and yet bring something totally different to it.

“It is a very powerful production. I wasn’t really too aware of the details of the First World War but from all the research we have done and from the play itself, you appreciate what it must have been like for those on the front line.

“You do have to learn to leave that emotion behind when you leave the theatre.”

For Riley the tour is one learning process.

“It’s my first national tour so I wasn’t really sure what to expect,” he said. “And to be honest, I’m still not sure what to expect as we’ve got a long way to go yet” The show runs until the end of July.

“But I’m just learning so much every day. It’s a fantastic experience.”

Riley admits that he still hasn’t had time to take in all he has achieved so far.

“Since I was 16 my life been changing all the time not had a chance to take in what has happened over past couple of years,” he said. “It’s great. You always dream of what you are going to do. From the actor side of things I’m leaving that dream. From the transition side of things I’m at a comfortable place in my life and embracing everything that comes my way.

“When I started in EastEnders it was full on, seeing my face in the paper. But it is nice to be helping represent a small community that is under attack a bit.

“I’m playing a role in this production as an actor. I’m proud to be who I am but at the end of the day I am an actor not a transgender actor. I don’t need that label as it’s just a small part of who I am.”

Birdsong, the Lowry. Salford Quays, Tuesday, April 3 to Saturday, April 7. Details from 0843 208 6005 or www.thelowry.com