In Conversation With Tachia Newall

Actor Tachia Newall admits that the new Leeds Playhouse production of George Orwell’s political fable Animal Farm is what he calls ‘a dark show’ but – and it’s quite a big but - it’s fun to do, he says.

The harsh industrial landscape depicted in the production pictures hints that this staging is not going to be what you might expect from George Orwell’s political fable. Director Amy Leach and set and costume designer Hayley Grindle, together with writer Tatty Hennessy, have given the classic a makeover for its 80th anniversary that’s earned the production five star reviews.

Audiences on tour, says Tachia, are loving it. There’s no direct audience participation but theatregoers are participating in their own way. “There’s been really good responses, lots of standing ovations and lots of audience gasps throughout the play. There’s no direct interaction with the audience but they’re interacting with it,” he says
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Tachia is playing Napoleon, the Rutland Berkshire boar pig keen to oust his political rival during the revolution to kick out the farm’s owner. The actor sees Napoleon as “a misguided individual with a lot of power who doesn’t necessarily know the best way to move ahead”. None of the characters, he says, are black and white. No one is all bad, no one is all good.

His knowledge of Animal Farm was limited before this production although he thinks he might have seen the cartoon film version as a child. “But I can only remember one little bit – the pigs marching out in military uniform,” he says.

“I listened to the audio book before we started rehearsals. What a brilliant story that’s so relevant to today’s politics with people chasing power.”

His way into a character is to “look within myself and how I responded to different things that happened to me. I base a lot of my characters within myself. This adaptation is brilliant. Everything you need is in the lines.”

The production reunites him with director Amy Leach who first directed him at Leeds as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. More recently she cast him as the title character in another Shakespeare play – Macbeth. “She’s always really fun and gets the most amazing casts,” he enthuses. “She’s a fantastic director.Everyone feels free to chip in and help the process along and if people have an idea lets them try it out.”

Trust is important. “As you can imagine with there being so many lines in Macbeth and old English too that you worry if you’re going to manage to match the task. But I get in the room - Amy’s room - and find it really easy to get what I’m trying to find in a role. I never feel stressed. Amy provides you with a great backdrop to what you’re doing.”

Ask how he got into acting and Tachia, describing himself as “quite a troubled young kid” and that acting was “something to do”. The inspiration was his sister, whom he used to watch perform poetry. He went to acting classes on a Saturday. “It was a fun thing to do to keep me entertained. That was kind of it. I never really intended to be an actor, I didn’t think there was a route into it for me,” he says.

The BBC1 series Waterloo Road opened the door to acting. At 17 he was cast as pupil Bolton Smilie, becoming a fan favourite over three series. “I’d only done one very small production prior to that. It was a big opportunity but I didn’t know what I was getting into. I didn’t realise it would open so many doors for me.
“It definitely set me up as an actor. I didn’t train or anything like that. There are a few things I’d do differently but at the same time I’m happy where I am”.
He’s done the round of roles in TV series such as Doctor Who, Coronation Street, Casualty and Doctors among them as well as stage roles including Mother Courage and Her Children and Hamlet at Manchester Royal Exchange.

Then there was a small role – well, a scene – in the Hollywood blockbuster Dune Part One. “That was eye-opening. My first Hollywood set with lots of money put into it. I only had a tiny part but it was really great to be part of it,” he says.

Animal Farm: Leeds Playhouse, 12-29 March. Box office 0113 213 7700. Book online leedsplayhouse.org.uk