The Future Festival at The Pleasance is happening in December and one of the shows that is part of it is Migrant Class Hero on the 5th and 6th of December. I caught up with Theo to find out all about the show.
Hello! Tell us about yourself ?
Hi. My name is Theo and I’m a Bulgarian actor and writer from South London. I always feel weird doing these intros but with this one I feel even a stronger sense that I need to be funny.
Tell us a bit about your show Migrant Class Hero?
It’s a class satire in which a white privately-educated actor called POSH ACTOR frustrated by being pigeonholed decides he wants to do a “gritty” independent film “up North” with “an outrageous accent” and “red hair” (thank you for the quotes, Emma Corrin.) His best friend from drama school, Stephan – a migrant working-class actor writes something for himself to star in but POSH ACTOR talks his way into the job and the conflict ultimately strains their friendship to a breaking point.
How are rehearsals going?
We’ve finally reached a point where we can just play around with the text and the characters and that’s allowed us to make bold new discoveries. I mean we’re not inventing penicillin every day but on a purely artistic level we’re having fun. And we want to share the fun with live audiences.
What can you tell us about the stage set?
It’s quite a spare set. We have two stage boxes which we play with throughout and which essentially serve as our set and two other stage boxes at opposite sides of the stage which have our props throughout. It’s quite incredible how much story we can tell with so little.
Tell us a little bit about the rest of the cast
The cast is me and Oscar Nicholson. Oscar is a friend from drama school. He plays POSH ACT OR and I play Stephan. They should be the total opposites of each other and yet there are more similarities than we’re ready to admit. Down to the moustache. We’ve had a great rapport since drama school and I’m happy he’s there every night to share the stage with me.
What is the most challenging thing about doing the show?
It’s a very physical show and it requires a lot of energy doing it every night. There’s a lot of accents and physical nuances and bits of business to keep track of. It’s hard work. But that’s our job as actors at the end of the day. Plus, I’m the one who wrote it so I have only myself to blame.
The best thing about touring the show?
We just did the show at Voila! in a tiny pub venue so bringing the show to the Pleasance means we’ll have to adapt some of the stage combat. But bringing it to a different venue also means we’ll be in front of a different audience and that’s always exciting. There’s no two audiences alike.
What have been some of the best highlights since doing the show?
Seeing audiences connect to the struggles of both characters. Starting the show my main concern was whether I’ve written something so insular that people would be like, “why should I care?” But people seem to connect to both the humour and the emotional arc of the show and that’s all I can for.
What is the best reaction you have had from an audience member?
Somebody said they didn’t expect much going in. And maybe we didn’t change their life but they had a good time and they didn’t have to think about whatever was weighing on their mind that day. As long as it’s not boring and people are not indifferent, we’ll keep doing it.
If people want to follow you on social media where can they find you?
On Instagram, @theo_hristov and @migrantclassheroplay
Finally in three words why should people come to your show?
Because it’s funny.
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