So, Jay, you are one of the newest members of the Blood Brothers team. How are you finding the experience?

You know what I’m finding the experience very comfortable at the moment, we are currently half way through the tour and the show is fitting in quite nicely into everybody’s bones by this point, but to be fair the reason why I’m feeling so comfortable is because the cast who some of them have been doing it for quite a long time like Sean Jones who is currently playing Mickey and Niki Colwell Evans who’s currently returning as Mrs Johnston for this current leg of the tour, they’ve been very welcoming and have brought in some of the newbies, which includes myself, Timothy Lucas who’s the new Sammy and a returning actor to Blood Brothers which is Richard Munday, he’s currently playing the Narrator even though he was cover Mickey when it was in town at the Phoenix Theatre, they’ve made us feel very welcome and thus far the experience has been fantastic and looking forward to the rest of the tour. It’s going to be amazing!

What was it like finding out you got the part?

Funny story actually I was auditioning for Mickey, I remember walking in to the audition which was held over one day at Bill Kenwright’s offices in Paddington and getting greeted by a couple of old friends of min who was on the panel and doing some scenes with them as Mickey, I remember getting recalled on the day and getting shoved up to Bill Kenwright’s office being told to read some of Eddie’s lines and thought it was bit weird. I was overhearing the audition going on before me and didn’t really hear him do any of the Eddie material and I ended up coming out of that audition having auditioned for two roles and thinking to myself are you still going for Mickey, then three days later finding out I got Eddie, I was in complete shock, I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t really know how or why, nor what was going on, but it was the best feeling ever after everything that’s happened with the pandemic I think I was just really appreciative to have a job to be going to and then it turned out that it’s a job of such esteem and dept, this is a bit of a dream and it’s lovely, taking the tour around the UK I’m ticking off some bucket list of theatres that I only dreamed of playing at throughout my career thus far and it’s a massive blessing, it was a huge shock but appreciated and loved every single moment of earning that job.

What is your favourite scene/song in the show and why?

Now there is a scene and song actually in the show whereby I have to stand enviously by the side of stage, which is actually quite telling of the character but I enviously stand side of stage and watch the scene transpire, it’s the Kid’s Game scene which all the majority of the cast on stage playing kids, they’re all playing different games with guns and other things they found, Timothy Lucas as Sammy has a drain pipe at one point and uses it as a buzzer and this scenes seems like the most amount of fun and it’s the one scene where I have to stand in the wings and just watch it happen and I’m dying to be on stage because everyone looks like they’re having so much fun, that is probably my favourite scene and song in the show. If i could pick another one it would probably be ‘Easy Terms’ Niki sings it beautifully and think the song is gorgeous where it falls in the show and means for the character of Mrs Johnston in the show, obviously there’s the classic ‘Tell me it’s not True’ but I think ‘Easy Terms’ makes it for me.

What do you enjoy the most about playing the role of Eddie?

I would say I enjoy the transition that Eddie goes through throughout the show the most and thats why I enjoy playing the most I would say is finding and navigating ages seven, fourteen, eighteen and subsequently be my age, its a lovely challenge as an actor, its just so much fun to be had when you’re seven even though your the character that’s the middle class character that you have so much vibrancy and naive intelligence and then to hold on to some of that naivety in a lot of different ways as Eddie has a lot of different changes, but a lot that he holds on to quite nicely and how that transition happens is a beautiful thing, because sometimes its different every night, you try and different things, on a certain night you might really hold on to that naive tendency that he has or lean in to the spoiled nature of his character because he’s grown up in a middle class background, it’s a different transition each night and i think it’s a really lovely process of discovering and playing it every single night. I’m enjoying every second of it.

If you could play any other role in the show that would you play and why?

That’s a really difficult question to answer because I love a lot of these characters in the show, obviously auditioned for Mickey, and I’d love to play Mickey, but I think I’d love to play Mrs Johnston, obviously know that’s miscasting but I think her journey as a character and what she goes through, it’s just so complex a so lovely, your heart just goes out to her in a lot of different ways, but you’re also so frustrated with her as well in a lot of different ways. I think I like characters like that, that have so much complexity that you don’t know whether to hate or love them and I think that Mrs Johnston really tickles that fancy for me ever so slightly if BK ever wants to do a miscast version of Blood Brothers, give me call.

One of the most defining features of Blood Brothers is that the actors play Mickey and Eddie from the ages of around six into adulthood. Is it difficult to capture boyhood, teenage years and manhood whilst still playing the same character?

The answer isn’t as straightforward as that to be fair, its a challenge to get yourself into the mindset of a seven-year-old when your late twenties (like I am) and trying not to over-exaggerate or overplay being seven, children at seven are very inquisitive and actually young adults in that aspect, where they’re asking a lot of questions and a lot more compos mentis than I think the age initially the age would give off and I think adhering to that and giving that the respect that it deserves is very important to start off with, I find Eddie quite naive he’s very sheltered and bubbled I think when Mrs Lyons when he gets taken away and Mickey for him is his superhero, Mickey is the cool kid he aspires to be, using that as the motif for myself helps me create the performance of how Eddie grows up through those ages because you see him quite prominently at the age of seven in the first half, then he’s fourteen, eighteen and then what is essentially my age (maybe a bit older) by the time he hits his Council worker years, so I think using that with Eddie looking at Mickey as an icon, the cool kid, superhero, the person he falls in love with that he wishes he could be helps me a lot with how I perform that transition of years, it arcs quite nicely and slows with that motif. I love the challenge to be honest, it’s a great arc when you have to play the transpiring years and how that pans out to their inevitable demise, it’s a really good challenge, I don’t find it too difficult, I find it a lovely process and it can change and adapt as and how the play goes on, night by night it’s ever so slightly different adhering to the work Willy Russell has created. It’s a lovely challenge, I wouldn’t say it’s difficult, it’s a blessing to be able to do and show to the audiences every single night

Why do you think Blood Brothers is such a hugely successful show?

I would say, probably because of how people people relate to the characters in the show to a certain degree, I think Willy Russell has created a show in which especially when you’re a child you remember aspects of you being a bit like Mickey or Eddie to a certain extent, it doesn’t have to be either one of them innately you can be parts of either one and I think I was defiantly a part of both of those characters Mickey and Eddie. I remember growing up and remember I people that were a bit like Mrs Johnston who were quite brash and outlandish and very earthly, or you remember a lot of mothers like Mrs Lyons who very much mothered their children in a spoiled way, I remember getting quite jealous I think of some of the kids I went to school with who were spoilt in a lot of different ways, probably a lot to do with sandwiches and packed lunches, there’s a lot that I think people can relate to in the show which is why obviously its been going on for nine years and why I think it gets the response that it does every single night which has been BONKERS thus far during the tour to be completely honest with you.

What is your all time favourite musical and why?

Now a lot of people who know me very well know this answer already and know that this particular character is my dream role, but my favourite musical of all time is Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George. I think the musical is literal perfection when it comes to capturing life and relationships and how to manage relationships with work, but especially as an artist and the difficulties of life and death, its a perfect body of work, I cannot speak highly of it enough. I aspire to Mandy Patinkin’s career who played George throughout my entire life since I watched a version online of Sunday in the Park with George when I was a wee tot. It’s a phenomenal musical and I remember watching it for the first time about fourteen years ago and thinking to myself that was a role that I’d love to play in my life and I didn’t really know why for the longest time but then I think the more that you hone in on your artistry and your craft it becomes a lot more clearer as to why you want to play these roles and iI think George and Dot in different ways speak to my heart a lot and i think it’s a perfect musical in my opinion.

What message would you like to give aspiring actors?

I would say to aspiring actors, don’t be afraid to take risks in the boldest way possible, because really nothing is wrong in my opinion. We’re in a day and age now in which boldness is beautiful and so much more accepted that i think it has been before in the past and think that being bold and being rebellious i think is the thing that we need as artists. I think its the most beautiful thing to behold when somebody’s honing in and really owning themselves and unapologetically being themselves on-stage, off-stage in every aspect. I would also say to aspiring actors and probably to all actors i possibly can is that those that have been struggling during what’s been a stupid three years is just to keep going, because right now supporting each other is the upmost important, there’s no support elsewhere, be there for your friends, help them as much as possible, give them the love and the adoration they deserve when they land a job or give them the support and the hugs and the confidence boost that they need when they don’t get the jobs, don’t forget your fellow actor, fellow performer, friends who’re in the same industry as you and competition are healthy in a lot of different ways, but also its very important to remember that we’re all in this together (as High School Musical would say) and you should never forget that, because we need it no more than ever I think. Chins up and keep going what I would say probably more than anything, own everything you do in the room (out of the room where ever it is) just have fun!