20 Questions with … Joe McFadden

The
comedy, which is directed by Douglas Hodge, tells the story of
torch-song singing drag queen Arnold’s search for love and
acceptance. It stars
David Bedella as Arnold and Sara Kestelman as his mother.
Torch Song Trilogy was last seen in
the West End in 1985 following its premiere in New York in 1983.

McFadden
is best known for his TV
roles in Casualty, Heartbeat
and Cranford,
but has also appeared in many acclaimed stage productions, including at the Chichester Festival
Theatre and the Royal Court.

Date
& place of birth?
9 October
1975 in Glasgow, Scotland

Lives
now in?
North
London

What
made you want to become an actor?
As an
introverted kid I always enjoyed getting to play at being someone
else in drama classes at my school, Holyrood Secondary in Glasgow. A
director came there looking for someone to play a kid whose dad gets
killed in Taggart and I got the part. I remember
being mesmerised by these brilliantly eccentric actors and found the
whole process of making a television show thrilling. Everyone always
says how monotonous filming can be but it’s never stopped being
hugely enjoyable for me.

If
you hadn’t become an actor, what might you have done
professionally?
I’d maybe
have followed my family into the building trade. Whenever I hear
actors moaning about their lot, I always remember how hard my dad and
brother have to work and realise that we don’t really have it that
bad.

First
big break?
I consider
my break to be having the brilliant drama teacher Camille Skilling,
who was instrumental in getting me my first few jobs on TV. I really
do owe her everything.

Career
highlights to date?
I’ve been
very lucky that I’ve gotten to work on some fantastic productions
that I’m really proud of but I particularly enjoyed working with the
incredible cast of Cranford.

Favourite
co-stars?
One of my
best mates is Emma Cooke who played my wife in the TV show Sex,
Chips and Rock ‘n’ Roll. She came up to Yorkshire and did
an episode of Heartbeat and we both said what a
surreal experience it was working with someone who you know so
well.

Favourite
playwrights?
The
novelist and playwright Andrew O’Hagan who wrote The
Missing which I did last year for the National Theatre of
Scotland. I actually played him in the play and with any other writer
the experience might have been daunting. As well as being one of the
cleverest people I know, he’s also one of the nicest and most fun.

What
was the first thing you saw on stage that had a big impact on you?

I remember
being quite young and seeing a production of Irvine Welsh‘s
Marabou Stork Nightmares at the Citizens Theatre
in Glasgow. I wouldn’t say that I really enjoyed it because of its
difficult subject matter of sexual abuse but I do remember being
amazed at how powerful theatre could be.

And
the last?
I loved the
David Greig play The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart
at the Edinburgh Fringe last year. It was a brilliantly inventive
play that was part pub lock in, part Scottish fable, with the actors
playing all their own music brilliantly.

What’s
the best advice you have ever received?
I don’t
know if it’s the best, but a veteran Scottish actor told once told me
that in the theatre “ages and wages are never discussed” and the
older I get, the more I like it!

Do
you often get recognised? If so, for which role?
Doesn’t
happen that often without the motorbike and police outfit but at the
moment it’s for Heartbeat, which I did for two
years.

Are
there any parts you would particularly like to play?
I can’t
believe that no-one has ever done the story of Scotland’s bard,
Rabbie Burns. He’s such a charming character who accomplished so much
in his short life, so in an ideal world I’d love to play him before
I’m too old!

Favourite
book?
The
Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

Favourite
holiday destination?
Cap
D’Antibes in the south of France

Why
did you want to get involved with this production?
I try to
see most of the productions that go on at the Chocolate Factory
because they’re always of such an exceptionally high standard. I’ve
had some of my best nights out at the theatre there. This coupled
with the fact that it’s such a fantastic script made me jump at the
chance to work there.

What’s
Torch Song Trilogy about?
It’s a very
funny and touching play about family. It has these wonderfully
entertaining but damaged people who are struggling to find love, but
first they must decide what they’re willing to compromise in order to
get it.

What’s
it like being directed by Douglas Hodge?
I know
Dougie from acting with him in a pilot for an ITV detective show ten
years ago where we were colleagues in the murder squad and I had a
brilliant time working with him as he’s such a funny, lovely man.
We’re only a week into rehearsals but working with him has been an
enjoyable experience so far and we’re taking lots of time to dissect
the script and get to the heart of what Harvey Fierstein intended
the play to be. We have such respect for the writing and it’s great
that Dougie’s giving us time to find the characters and not expecting
us to jump straight to performance levels in the way that a director
who hasn’t acted might do. He’s such a brilliant actor too that it’s
fascinating to get an insight into what his creative process is.

What’s
your favourite line in the show?
“I
could probably make love to anything … as long as it kept its mouth
shut”

What
have you got lined up next?
I’m doing a
tour in the autumn of the Alan Ayckbourn play Haunting
Julia with Duncan Preston and Richard O’Callahan.

** DON’T MISS our Whatsonstage.com Outing to TORCH SONG TRILOGY on 21 June 2012 and get your top price ticket, a FREE programme and access to our EXCLUSIVE post-show Q&A – all for the INCREDIBLE price of just £32.00!! CLICK HERE TO BOOK NOW! **