A football-playing professional singer is a rare sight in female opera. Jessica Walker talks to Viv Hardwick about her life, which includes a father who wrote Cream's rock hits and a spell in Maidstone Prison with the lifers.

There can't be many footballing mezzo-sopranos who have spent time with the lifers in Maidstone Prison, so that makes Jessica Walker a little bit of a one-off with Opera North.

The Leeds-based company has tested the performer's ability even further by asking her to become a virtually non-singing comedy character in a rare tour of Kurt Weill's stunning 1940s musical, One Touch Of Venus, which arrives in Newcastle next week.

The tale is of a humble New York hairdresser called Rodney Hatch (Loren Geeting) bringing a statue of Venus to life by slipping the ring of his fiancee Gloria (Walker) on her finger. The renowned Broadway production shot Mary Martin to fame in 1943. Surprisingly, revivals have been rare and this Tim Albery-directed production is a British debut.

Walker couldn't wait to be involved, especially as she's an authority on Weill and is understudying the role of Venus.

The 33-year-old says: "Weill was a German Jew who fled to New York and wrote this musical with Marlene Dietrich in mind. My character has been a very enlightening job because it's an acting job really. When you get to do something like this, which is relying almost totally on the spoken word, it's a real challenge.

"Gloria is a big, loud, aggressive New York Jewish girl and she and her mother are a bit of a double act and they basically scream everyone else off the stage. They're unbelievably unpleasant and it's quite tiring but great fun. We are the comic turn and there wasn't any point in us trying to be subtle."

Walker explains that most of the major roles were given to US singers because of the accents required, but the British cast members have been earning accolades for their ability to join the Bronx-speaking brigade.

"I was very upset because they padded my bottom. When you spend loads of time staying as thin as possible so someone will give you a job, it's not nice having thick wadding added to your arse," she jokes.

"It's probably right that I've jilted by my fiance because it would be difficult to love me."

Among the fascinating influences on Walker is that her birth father, Pete Brown, a rock musician, wrote songs for legendary 1960s band Cream. The Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker supergroup are planning four reunion performances at the Royal Albert Hall next month, with black market tickets currently changing hands for £2,000.

"My dad was the lyricist and a beat poet in the 1960s and he wrote some iconic songs like White Room, I Feel Free and Sunshine Of Your Love. When my dad had a significant birthday not long ago, Jack Bruce came along and sang and I thought he was absolutely amazing," she says.

Concerning her period in Maidstone Prison, Walker comments: "I hadn't done anything wrong. A friend of mine was writer in residence and she decided to put on the musical Tommy with the lifers. I gave them all singing lessons and I learned far more than them. They were extraordinary and ordinary. They had committed terrible crimes but were no different to you and me. We build up these images of violent criminals who actually turn out to be quite vibrant."

Having said that, while the two women were treated with great respect, the show's male director was warned by one inmate: "I'm in for stabbing somebody 20 times, so it wouldn't matter if I did it again."

In addition to having Halliwell Film Guide compiler John Walker as a stepfather, Walker also distinguished herself as a left-winger for South London Women in the capital's second division.

"I stopped playing about three years ago because one of my team mates got all of her front teeth kicked out and I thought 'I'm actually getting quite a lot of work as a professional singer and I really need my teeth'," explains Walker, who recalls her biggest moment was a game against the women of Millwall. "But, I'm not telling you how much we lost by," she laughs.

So far, Walker hasn't had the chance to play Venus, currently performed by Karen Coker.

Opera North is taking the musical to an Italian festival in July and will also be playing an extended London season at Sadler's Wells in November, so she hopes she can be a goddess of love at least once.

So did the great Marlene ever take up Weill's offer of playing the role?

She replies: "When Dietrich read the script she thought it was far too rude and decided she couldn't possibly do it, so they gave the role to Mary Martin, who was actually a far more wholesome actress. And I think that was the point. Venus is not a vamp, she's quite straightforward and matter-of-fact about her love life. She's more like the all-American girl who happens to be a 3,000-year-old goddess."

* One Touch Of Venus plays Newcastle Theatre Royal on Tuesday, April 12, Thursday, April 14 and Saturday, April 23; Don Giovanni runs on Wednesday, April 13, Saturday 16, Tuesday 19 and Thursday 21, and The Thieving Magpie runs on Friday, April 15, Wednesday, April 20 and Friday 22. Box Office: 0870 905 506