Recently nominated for an Olivier Award for Next To Normal (and taking home Critics Circle and WhatsOnStage awards), Jack’s enthusiasm for his art is infectious where we meet. Then again, after 30 minutes in his company, I’m pretty sure that’s always the case. Articulate, thoughtful, engaged and engaging (and unmissably talented), it’s hard to believe that, growing up in the Wakefield area of West Yorkshire, he was so shy that he credits joining a local youth theatre with not just igniting his love of the arts, but also his ability to talk to anyone at all.
The 28-year-old stars as the son Gabe in Next To Normal, a rock musical about the effects of grief and pain on a family of four. Discovering a Tony Awards performance from the Broadway production on Youtube “electrified” his teenage self and ignited a passion for musicals. Joy beams from him as he describes what it’s like working on the show, which has transferred from the Donmar for a limited season at Wyndham’s Theatre, and the realisation of how much it means to audiences who finally feel “seen” by what he and his fellow cast portray on stage.
Ok, Jack, let’s cut to it. How bad do you feel for making us all blubber every night?
Haha, well, I don’t want to be cruel, but you kinda hope for that. But ultimately the shows about humanity. It’s incredibility light at the start and lulls you in, but we all know life isn’t like that… And the show pulls the rug out from under you and becomes about a family dealing with mental health struggles. It’s warm in places, but it’s not afraid to go where it needs to tell that story.
It’s often said you look rather sweet and adorable, yet you play a complex, dark role here that becomes increasingly disturbing. Where do you find that?
My casting in the show was a surprise to myself. I didn’t think a role like that would come my way, since they are usually played by ultra-masculine types. I play the son of the family who brings a lot of pain and acts out. I wanted to explore the needy side of a son who manipulates his mother. As an actor, it gives you access to different parts of yourself and your craft. It’s been nice to surprise people!
How timely does this show feel as we all become much more aware of mental health issues?
Absolutely timely. I don’t think it’s insignificant that it’s taken this show 15 years to make it to this country. We’re now having conversations about mental health that we didn’t before, and I think it’s wonderful. To be part of any project that helps with that is amazing. And it seems that, for a lot of our audience, they feel particularly seen. The way the score represents what’s happening inside the characters’ heads and the increasingly heavy progressive rock means people can almost ‘see’ their feelings explored.
Do audience members ever tell you how much this show, and playing gay character Wylan in Netflix’s Shadow and Bone, resonate with them?
I think I’m really lucky that I’ve been able to play characters so far that have represented outcasts or people near the edges of communities. I wear my differences on my sleeve and I try to be very open about that. I’m grateful to try anything and always want to stretch myself as an artist, but it means a lot to me to be told that my work means a lot to them or gave them the courage to have conversations with their family or friends.
Growing up in West Yorkshire, did London and the West End feel like an impossible dream, a far-away Emerald City?
It did. Although my mum teaches piano and my dad is in a brass band, so music was part of my upbringing, but the thought of being an actor did feel far away. Part of the reason I’m so grateful to be in Next To Normal is it’s a show I discovered on Youtube through its performance at the Tony awards. That was a special moment for me. It electrified me. I was a very young teenager. Years later, to be part of the original cast means more than I can describe. I have a reverence for the original production but I was so lucky to be able to dismantle it and work on this fresh new production.
As arts funding is cut everywhere, how passionate are you about the importance of theatre in schools?
Arts and drama in schools is incredibly important, but I also want to be somebody who can use their voice to support youth theatre. A lot of what built me as a person was the hours I spent at the local youth theatre in Wakefield. It was £1.50 for three hours of training, started by someone who wanted to share her experience. For me, it was more than formative, it was imperative to my upbringing. It gave me a voice.
It also teaches young people empathy and authenticity, and then gives them a voice to use both of those things. I wouldn’t have been able to speak to people without the confidence it gave me. To take that away from young people feels cruel. It’s not just going to make great artists, it’s going to make great people in society, and that’s what we need.
We’re in the middle of culture wars, with screams about ‘wokery’ alienating audiences. How healthy do you think UK theatre is and do critics too easily underestimate audiences?
Throughout London and the UK there is amazing work being done everywhere and it should always challenge you. Theatre should always be a ground for exploration. Art should never be held in by any perimeters.
Of course, different audiences move towards different pieces but it’s amazing when they extend beyond that. It’s amazing when people who’ve never seen a musical come to Next To Normal and think, ‘I really loved this way of telling a story’ and they may go on to other musicals. Seeing loads of different work is the way to develop somebody’s own tastes. It should always be personal. You can’t equate art to good or bad. It’s whether it moved you, whether it taught you something or made you dismantle your own beliefs. That’s what great work does.
NEXT TO NORMAL IS PLAYING AT WYNDHAM’S THEATRE TO SEPTEMBER 21
