Les Miserables arrives at the Mayflower, Southampton
As Nic Greenshields, Javert in the show, says, it’s a show that people travel to – a show that no matter how many times they have performed it, every single member of the cast must give the impression that they are performing for the first time every night, every show.
“We feel it is a duty on all of us. We are just custodians of the show, just passing through and the great thing is that (producer) Cameron (Mackintosh) always keeps such a close eye on it, always nurturing it, always caring for it, always making sure it is absolutely right.”
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Hide AdFor Nic, it has been an important part of his career: “The first time I was involved with the show was back in 2003 when I was in the ensemble and I did a year in town and it was a really exciting year and then I left the show.
“But there were moments when I have wanted to go back and I did the 25th anniversary O2 Arena but it was not until the 2018 tour that I was asked to audition for Javert.
“I had understudied the role in town but I never got to play the role and I suppose I had just thought that the time had passed.
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Hide Ad“It had been a long time since I had been involved in the show, but 14 years later I was asked to come and audition and I got it and we started the tour in November 2018.
“We were on the second leg when Covid happened.
“We closed the show on March 16 2020.
“Boris had said that people should avoid going to the theatre so at that point the decision was left in the producers’ hands and then it was about a week before the country went into national lockdown. We came back to the show on November 30 just gone in Glasgow.
Why theatre matters even more in troubled times - Chichester Festival Theatre 2022 season“It was tough when everything stopped but at first we just thought it was going to be a couple of weeks and that became four weeks and then we had the first lockdown and everyone just had to get their head around it. I was in London. I was at home. I’m lucky enough to have a garden. My kids were off and I got to see my family and it felt like a bit of a 12-week hiatus but then after a while the panic set in. We’re all self-employed people and I had no money. The government left behind a lot of self-employed people and it was hard.
“But Cameron decided to put on a concert version of the show and I was asked to do that.
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Hide Ad“I went back to work but we lasted ten days and then we went into the next lockdown. We reassembled in the November and we opened at the Sondheim and after a few days that was that, and we were all locked down until the following May when we were able to get back to doing the concert and we managed to last the whole summer.”
And then the tour.
There was a tricky moment when Omicron reared its head when they were in Glasgow and the show’s wig department was badly hit. But now things are looking a lot more hopeful and it’s a great chance to explore once again a fascinating character.
“Javert is complex. He is a man who lives by the sword and by the Bible.
“Everything is black and white for him and there is nothing in between, but I have tried to find different layers to him.
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Hide Ad“A lot of people have found that I have brought out a different emotional side to the character and in some ways you do feel sorry for him.
“The way he views the world is that everybody has to live by the law and be ruled by the law and if you break it then you will face contempt.
“We all have to find a way of going through life and I think that is his way of going through life.
“But ultimately he pays the price…”
mayflower.org.uk or 02380 711811.
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