Five Questions With: George Maguire

Olivier Award winner GEORGE MAGUIRE is playing the title role in Rhys Jennings and Darren Clark’s The Wicker Husband at the Watermill Theatre, Bagnor (and will reprise the part of as Buck Barrow in the West End premiere of the cult-favourite Bonnie and Clyde The Musical at the Arts Theatre from 9 April 2022).

George won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his performance as Dave Davies in Sunny Afternoon. His other theatre credits include 35mm: A Musical Exhibition at The Other Palace Studio, Oliver! at the London Palladium and the European tour of Rent.

Here George continues Musical Theatre Review’s interview series: Five Questions With…

Congratulations on being cast in the title role of the new production of The Wicker Husband at the Watermill Theatre. What was it been like being in the rehearsal room after such a challenging time for live theatre?

Being in the rehearsal room for The Wicker Husband after what has been such a hard time for theatre felt amazing. I feel extremely lucky to be back working in the job that I love and live for, but also doing such a beautiful and special project. The energy in the room was amazing and everyone is just here to give audiences that thing that they’ve missed.

Can you tell us about your role, the themes of the piece and the way puppetry is incorporated into the storytelling? Did you know the show at all before you joined the production?

I had heard of the show before, as it’s been in development for quite a few years and it did start a production at the Watermill two years ago before it was horribly closed down because of Covid after its opening night. My role in the piece, The Wicker Husband, is to operate the Wicker Man with two other puppeteers and I also do his voice. I operate his head, his arm and we work together as a trio to bring him to life.

It has been incredibly challenging for me, as I’ve never done any puppetry before but so exciting. It’s one of the main reasons why I wanted to be involved in the project, to have the chance to learn the skill and to give it a go. It’s been great. It’s been painful at times, because you’re holding up this man for five to six minutes at a time sometimes, but we all support each other and we’re trying to bring his personality through the puppet. It is hopefully magical for audiences.

Picture: Pamela Raith Photography

You have appeared in successful revivals and new work. Is it important to you to support new musical theatre writing?

I think without new writing… where would theatre go? It would just essentially stop existing and it would just be revivals. The latter are great because great work is out there and people want to keep seeing them, but I think to support our writers and to show people new stories and new ways of telling them is so important for theatre.

For me, as an actor, there’s nothing more satisfying than being the first person ever to play a role because you have the freedom to do what you want, as no one’s seen it before, and you can just create your version and your telling, your representation of this character. I don’t think there’s a better process or a more exciting position to be in as an actor than that.

Can you tell us about the other projects you have on the boil including starring as Buck in Bonnie and Clyde The Musical at the Arts Theatre?

I’m lucky enough to be performing as Buck Barrow at the Arts Theatre straight after this, which is so exciting. I was in the staged concert at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and it was really wonderful to perform a show that seems to have a real buzz about it in front of that many people. I love the character and I love the story. The music’s really stunning, so I’m really excited about that one and hopefully the London audiences will welcome it with open arms.

Impossible question, but can you pick out a special highlight from your career so far?

That is a tough question. I’m lucky enough to have a few highlights in my career, which is great. One that sticks out would be performing with my fellow cast members of Sunny Afternoon on stage at the Olivier Awards at the Royal Opera House when we were there. We all played our live instruments ourselves. I think we were the first cast ever to play live at an Olivier Awards ceremony and we were very loud and we rocked it. It was one of the craziest nights ever because we were lucky enough to go home with some awards too, which was the cherry on top. So that sticks out as being pretty cool.