How does your character Shakespeare feature in & Juliet?

I play William Shakespeare and together with the aid of his wife we rewrite the story from Juliet’s perspective, it’s her story and she takes control of it. So, you see Juliet decide that she is still a young woman, has her whole life ahead of her and that she is able to make her own choices and not live by ones that others have made for her.  That’s the taking-off point for the story.

Shakespeare and his wife are overseeing the story as it evolves. They argue back and forth about their ideas and about how this play should go – with Shakespeare trying to keep it true to his original script and his wife trying to introduce new characters and all kinds of hare-brained (but brilliantly funny) schemes. Shakespeare, I guess, uses Romeo as his little mascot and his wife Anne uses Juliet as her mascot. They both sort of play a game of chess, trying to have their outcome win by the end of the musical.

How would you describe Shakespeare as he’s portrayed in the show? And what are you enjoying about playing him?

Shakespeare’s a bit of an egomaniac. When he comes out on stage he really has to give it some welly and believe that he is the cat’s pyjamas. He’s a bit of a showman; he likes to perform; he likes to show off his moves and his voice. I did that for years with the boys in The Wanted and in the musicals I’ve done since then. I’d also say that Shakespeare is a little bit of a relic from the past. He’s got an old-school view of things and playing that sort of one-rotation-out-of-the-cool-club aspect is something that I’m acutely familiar with because my boy band are currently part of pop history, not the pop present. So yes, I know how it feels to be a relic from the past!

Are you a Shakespeare buff or a novice?

I did Shakespeare to secondary school level and I really enjoyed it. I was also in one of his plays in secondary school. It was The Tempest and I played Caliban. Around the time that I played him the Lord of the Rings movies were massive, so my Caliban was basically a rip-off of Gollum. I always appreciated Shakespeare. It was hard to get through the lingo and discover what he was actually saying underneath that period style of speaking, but once you do it’s just brilliant.

You’re no stranger to musical theatre but what hooked you in about & Juliet?

I just did almost a year with 2:22 A Ghost Story and I loved being in my first straight play. This was an opportunity to go back on stage and sing and dance, which I hadn’t done for a long time. And then the script itself just made me laugh out loud, because you don’t really know what to expect from the twists within the plot. It makes fun of theatre I thought that was really clever. I also like the costume, so it’s a little bit of a vanity thing. I saw Matt Cardle in the show and I was like ‘Yeah, I could wear that!’ I’m pretty happy to put on some trainers and a Tudor vest.

What makes Max Martin’s music so special?

It’s so recognisably him. He’s got a combination of really engaging beats which drive people to dance and on top of that his use of melody is so iconically unique. Whether it’s Jon Bon Jovi, the Backstreet Boys or Robyn, when you listen to it you go ‘Oh, I can hear Max’s melodies in there’. His songs are complete earworms.

Given the fantastic pop score, do you have a favourite number to perform in the show?

There are two parts I particularly like. One is a sort of verbal spa that I have with my wife and it’s not sung, but music comes in and we do an actual tango while we fight verbally. That was really fun for me to learn. Then there’s a song that is sung by William, amongst others, and that’s Jon Bon Jovi anthem It’s My Life. I danced the paso doble to it on Strictly and when I hear that song now I remember being dressed all in black, me with my dance partner Aliona Vilani, taking myself very seriously and stomping around the stage. It makes me feel happy to think that some people might come and watch the show and be like ‘Oh, I remember him doing this on Strictly!’

Speaking of Strictly, have you kept up the dancing since then?

Only with work, only when I’ve done musicals. The last time I danced was two years ago with White Christmas and that was, sort of Fred Astaire/Gene Kelly stuff. I’ll go out to a pub and have a little dance every now and again, but mainly it’s when it’s work-related.

Does the story of & Juliet speak to contemporary audiences?

I think that it does a really good job of talking about subjects of the moment but doing it in a way that’s funny and not preachy. Shakespeare is someone who is learning to think differently during the course of the show. He has to relinquish a lot of control to his wife, which back in his day was unheard of. There are a lot of themes about inclusivity, gay people, trans people, non-binary people, that force him to catch up with the modern world. The show does it in a way that’s hilarious as Shakespeare gets schooled and embarrassed.

You came to fame in The Wanted, but was theatre always part of the plan?

After Strictly, when I started in musicals it was a return to home because before The Wanted I did three years of musical theatre. I was in college in Nottingham and then The Wanted came about after I graduated. There was an advert in The Stage, so I got on the train down to London for the audition and that’s how The Wanted happened. Ten years later, when the band was on hiatus, I did Strictly and that put me back into musicals. My family are really happy for me that I’ve come back to it, because most people didn’t even know that that was part of my life when I was a teenager.

Is being in a show very different to being in a band?

There are a lot of similarities, including working more closely with people than you would in a nine-to-five plus being creative and getting in front of crowds. I love all those things, but with theatre there is maybe a little less pressure because it seems less personal. It’s not necessarily like your name or your personality matter. People just want to see if you’re a good William Shakespeare and if you can sing well and dance well. I think I prefer that.

 & JULIET IS AT BRISTOL HIPPODROME, 15 – 25 JANUARY 2025

Photo credit: Matt Crockett