Dramatic entrance as Archer takes theatre's supporting role

They get all the big stars at Lincoln's Theatre Royal. Coming soon, Sooty and Sweep on the Izzy Wizzy tour; then Derek Acorah "TV's No 1 spirit medium". But now, ladies and gentlemen, for five shows a week it's Britain's best-known celebrity prisoner, Jeffrey Archer.

The disgraced peer, on day release from open prison, will perform undisclosed community work for the theatre, which, if appearances are anything to go by, has seen rather better days – rather like the former MP and Tory party grandee. If there is any justice in this world, the man jailed for his lies will be working with the resident Wicked Lips youth theatre company.

"Do you want to be a star, do you wanna work with professionals?" asks its breathless leaflet pinned up in the gloomy box office of the 1893 theatre. But sadly no answers were forthcoming yesterday because the Wicked Lips hotline was closed for annual staff leave in August.

If Archer does have anything useful to pass on to ambitious youngsters, it will be on how to make a dramatic entrance. After arriving in a black BMW, he returned briskly on foot dressed in a smart suit and smiling broadly. It was just like being outside the Old Bailey all over again as he walked through the media scrum that had caused a right old rumpus on Clasketgate.

With a cursory good morning to the reporters he went into the administration and rehearsal building at 10.20am. And no, he wasn't late, Chris Moreno, the theatre director, said afterwards in response to insistent media questioning.

Perhaps a mark of just how low he had fallen was provided by nasty Nick Bateman from Big Brother – briefly the most reviled man on television – who was on the scene to condemn him. Bateman, who lives in Lincoln, told reporters outside the building: "I think it is really great for Lincoln but it shows kids that crime does pay.

"It puts Lincoln in the map but he has got a very cushy job. He will probably want to run the place. He is Lord Archer, he won't be selling ice-creams.''

Ostensibly the morning was spent with Mr Moreno before a quick photocall outside the less than impressive front entrance of the theatre. Mr Moreno said they were discussing what Archer would be doing during his stint at the theatre but he remained deliberately vague about the peer's "community" work behind the scenes.

Tea boy? Stage hand? Costume man for "Elvis Presley in Rockin' On Heaven's Door – The greatest tribute to the rip roaring 50s, 60s and 70s you've ever seen"? But that is not until late November.

Of course Archer is no stranger to the stage. Before he was jailed he appeared in a play he wrote about a court case in which the audience were asked to decide whether he was guilty.

Whatever he does, Archer will be paid for the five-days-a-week job, returning each evening to the North Sea Camp open prison near Boston, Lincolnshire, where he is serving a four-year sentence for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

The former MP for nearby Louth was also allowed out of jail on Sunday to visit his wife, Mary and sons James, 28, and William, 29, at their home in Grantchester, Cambridgeshire. Last month he lost an appeal for early release.

For the people of Lincoln, who are unlikely to see such scenes again – until Sooty and Sweep hit town – feelings were mixed.

Sue Orrey, 44, who works at an amusement arcade by the theatre, said: "If it was me I'd be putting handcuffs on him. I brought up my kids to know right from wrong.''

But for Malcolm Parks the charm was still there when he bumped into the millionaire on the street.

"He said he was pleased to see me,'' the former councillor said, before pausing. "But I don't know if he meant it.''