Mark Saturno is two weeks away from taking on the lead role in the State Theatre Company’s production of Jack Maggs and he can’t decide if he’s excited or anxious.

“To be honest it’s equal parts of both,” he laughs during a break in rehearsal.

“There’s always a point where you think, ‘I have no idea what I'm doing, this is going to be a disaster!’

“And then then it all starts to slowly come together.

“So along with the anxiety is this real buzz in the room that we get to do something really special, this new, amazing play that’s based on a couple of classic novels.”

Those novels are Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations and much-loved Australian writer Peter Carey’s reinterpretation, Jack Maggs.

The play, written by world-renowned South Australian playwright Samuel Adamson, tells the story of an enigmatic ex-convict Maggs (Carey’s version of Magwitch, played by Saturno) returning to London from Australia and embarking on a relentless quest to find his “son” Henry Phipps, who has mysteriously disappeared.

“Maggs is a Londoner who was sent to New South Wales for the term of his natural life as a convict,” Saturno says.

“When he returns to London about 25 years later to search for someone and, you know, tie up loose ends, he's actually risking his life because you would be hanged if you ever stepped foot back in England.

“So, he's risking a lot, and it's literally the day he arrives that his plans are completely upended, and he finds himself as a servant in a very bizarre household, a very bizarre gentleman's residence with a bunch of really colourful characters.

“It's a great swirl of a play, and Jack is such a richly drawn character, but around him, in the classic Dickens tradition, are these fully fleshed out, wonderfully bizarre, comical and weird and wonderful characters that Jack encounters throughout his quest.

“There's all of this backstory that I've got to go on, which is so fantastic for an actor, and we get to sort of live in that 1837 Dickensian London, with its smog and its soot and top hats.”

Saturno’s own backstory is equally interesting, beginning at the Norwood Hotel, detouring to New York City, and landing back in his home town.

“I spent the first seven years of my life at the Norwood Hotel because my dad was the publican,” Saturno says.

“It was a great upbringing with lots of colorful characters, that's for sure, and never a dull moment.

“I count myself really lucky to have that sort of somewhat unconventional childhood.”

Perhaps it was that unconventional childhood that gave Saturno the courage to risk everything and choose acting as a career.

And unlike many actors he didn’t leave Adelaide for Sydney, or even London, but the notoriously competitive, rough and tumble theatres of New York City.

“I moved to New York probably a bit prematurely,” he laughs.

“It was not long after I graduated from the Centre for Performing Arts, which is now ACR, and I guess I just had the cockiness of youth. ‘I'm going to go to New York and be a star’, not even really considering just how bloody hard that would be.”

Hard, yes, but ultimately successful with Saturno landing theatre and television gigs, including a spot on that most New York of television shows, Law and Order.

When the acting gigs slowed down he paid the rent by falling back on those hospitality skills he learned as a kid.

“It really is the highest of highs and the lowest of lows,” he says.

“You don't know where your next audition is coming from, let alone your next job. But I got to work in lots of bars and restaurants, which was really great fun and I got to be on Broadway for a spell, which was all I ever really dreamed to be honest.”

But Adelaide, with it’s wide open skies and relaxed lifestyle, has a habit of drawing people back and Saturno was no exception.

He now lives here with wife Jodie and their two children, dividing his work hours between the family vineyard at Longview where he helps with marketing, conducting tours at Penfolds Magill Estate and, of course, acting.

“I'm 50 now and I've been back here for 15 or 16 years now,” Saturno says.

“It was a tricky thing because I loved New York and I’d never felt more at home anywhere in my life.

“I never had a desire to move to LA or London, it was just that place in particular that really called my name.

“But I had a good run in New York and I have a wife, two kids, a great house - it's all very domestic and I love it.

“But the wonderful thing is that I still get to work with a great company like State Theatre and still have that touchstone to the wine industry as well.

“I have a foot in both camps and I feel very lucky.”

Jack Maggs plays at the Dunstan Playhouse from 15-30 November. Click here for tickets and more information.