The Woodsman

Written by Steven Fechter

Directed by Stuart Watson

Produced by Against The Grain Theatre Company

Old Red Lion Theatre, London

The Woodsman received its European Premier with this production mounted by Against The Grain Theatre Company at the Old Red Lion Theatre in London. I had been privileged to have been approached early in the development of this piece to take part in a reading with the director and producer and when this play was being cast for the production to again be invited in and win the role of Carlos.

The subject matter of this play is hard covering as it does child abductions, paedophilia, family, rehabilitation and the rehearsal process was hard as you have to find the humanity for each character. We were lucky that the writer, Steven Fetter, came to London for the production and undertook Q&A’s with our audience through the first week of the run. This was such a great experience and helped us as actors justify some of the choices we had made but also provided space for people to challenge the writer, director and cast and for us to answer. When you perform in something which is controversial having that additional Q&A space can help people process the story and their feelings towards it. This is one of the few plays I have been involved in where I spent more time after the show talking and defending my character in the piece than probably any other character I have played. It also led to some very frank and painful conversations with friends who had experience of some of the things the play sought to explore. It helped me realise that theatre is a safe space that ideas and themes can be explored and discussed which can help people to process the harsh realities of these situations and help those who have no experience hopefully have more empathy with both victims and protagonists as nothing is ever totally black and white.