STAVROS DEMETRAKI is reprising the role of Ali Hakim in the West End transfer of the critically acclaimed production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, following the show’s run at the Young Vic.
The production, which won the Magic Radio Best Musical Revival award and the Best Actor in a Musical award (Arthur Darvill) at the recent Olivier Awards, continues at the Wyndham’s Theatre until 2 September 2023.
Stavros’s theatre credits include: Peter Pan (Birmingham Rep), The Vote (Donmar Warehouse), Timon of Athens, Antigone, She Stoops to Conquer, The Kitchen (National Theatre), Adventures in Wonderland, Supermarket Shakespeare (Teatro Vivo), As You Like It (Dash Arts/Curve), Blood Wedding (Liverpool Everyman), By the Way (Chopped Logic), Gilgamesh (Belgrade Theatre/UK Tour) and Birds Without Wings (Eastern Angles).
Television includes: Miss Scarlett & The Duke, Doctor Who, Tyrant and White Van Man. Film includes: The Phantom Warrior, Hampstead, Risen, Dracula Untold, The Hope Rooms, Blush Furiously and The Simple Equation.
Here Stavros continues Musical Theatre Review’s interview series: Five Questions With…
I was lucky to see Daniel Fish’s innovative Tony Award-winning revival of Oklahoma! on Broadway and at the Young Vic. The production has totally redefined the musical for me. Has it done the same for you?
My definition of Oklahoma! has really only been this production. I’d never seen the film or the show before I started this. I guess what it has redefined for me is how to approach a text, how to strip something back and look purely at the language, the words and the themes. It’s worth noting that I saw the film over Christmas and really appreciated its brightness, I think we take that brightness in our production and shine it through a different lens.
A lot of the dialogue and songs remain but the contemporary approach throws a completely different light on the classic musical. How do you think this is achieved and what has the feedback from audiences been like?
I think it’s been achieved by being true to the text, by taking away a lot of the frivolity that was once associated with the piece and concentrating solely on what the characters say, what motivates them to say it and the situations and the stakes that are driving them to act. Reactions from audiences is certainly varied. They are often intrigued and fascinated, sometimes disgusted, but for the most part people seem to enjoy rediscovering this classic show with us.
Picture: Anne Tetzlaff
Tell us more about your character Ali Hakim and how you have approached it. Do you feel like the role was played as something of a stereotype or caricature previously?
Ali Hakim is definitely a lover, not a fighter! His libido gets him in trouble and, like Ado Annie, he has a hard time saying no. I had no previous experience with the show or the character in it, so I’m not familiar with past characterisations. However, it is easy to see how you could slip into stereotyping him. To avoid that I just had to keep going back to the text and look at what’s happening to the him in that moment and not concentrate on external factors like where he’s from or what he does for a living.
What has it been like performing the show in a much larger, conventional space in comparison to the intimacy of the Young Vic?
Interestingly, although the venue is much bigger than the Young Vic the playing space is actually smaller. One of the biggest challenges was re-staging the piece to fit, not only a different configuration, but a smaller playing space without losing any of the storytelling or urgency of the Young Vic production. A challenge that our West End audiences thankfully seem to think we’ve met.
You have an impressive list of stage credits, is it possible to pick out a highlight from your career so far? It doesn’t have to be a musical!
A highlight for me is definitely the production of The Kitchen that I was in at the National Theatre back in 2011. It was a magnificent job not only because of the prestige of working at the NT but also because I got to play a first generation Greek-Cypriot immigrant who had come come to the UK in the late 1950s to work and build a better a life. The character was reflective of my maternal grandfather’s own journey, and this felt deeply special and resonant for me.
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