Luke Treadaway: ‘Sometimes it feels as though theatre has become an elite sport’
Luke Treadaway has starred in some of the most notable stage productions of the 21st-century and is the latest actor to take on The Emcee in Rebecca Frecknall’s hit Cabaret. He tells Fergus Morgan about the moments that have made up his career so far
First came Eddie Redmayne. Then Fra Fee. Then Callum Scott Howells, Mason Alexander Park and Jake Shears. Now, it is Luke Treadaway’s turn to take on the role of The Emcee in Rebecca Frecknall’s acclaimed West End production of Cabaret.
“I’m five weeks in and I’ve got seven weeks to go,” says Treadaway. “And I’m loving it. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a job quite as much. I hadn’t done a musical before this. I was in a band when I was younger, though. Words have come out of my mouth to music before. It has been great to have my voice trained up to do the show eight times a week.”
Born in 1984, Treadaway grew up in Devon and started acting as a child in his local pantomime. He joined the National Youth Theatre as a teenager then trained at LAMDA, all alongside his twin brother Harry. The pair found fame simultaneously, too, playing conjoined twins in the 2005 film Brothers of the Head, a year before graduating.
Treadaway soon starred in two of the National Theatre’s biggest hits: he was in the original adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse in 2007, then the original adaptation of Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in 2012. Both shows were showered with awards and both shows ran and ran and ran.
“The whole journey of building that show was a dream,” Treadaway says of Curious Incident. “It was all you could want as an actor. It is a huge highlight of my life.”
Since 2012, Treadaway’s theatrical appearances have been rare but well-received: he starred alongside Imelda Staunton in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in the West End in 2017 and in Robert Icke’s stagings of Hamlet and Oresteia on Broadway in 2022.
“To be honest, those are just the last shows I’ve been offered,” Treadaway says. “It is not a question of choosing to do good stuff. It is a question of being fortunate enough to be offered good stuff and saying yes. There is not a long list of shows I have said no to.”
“That said, they were all easy to say yes to,” he continues. “I love doing theatre. It takes over your life in a wonderful, concentrated, special way and I love that. And if the show is fantastic, too, which they all were, then it is even better. I have been really lucky.”
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What production made you fall in love with theatre?
There was a lot of community theatre going on where I grew up. I would see my parents and friends of my parents and my teachers doing some great stuff like The Threepenny Opera and Shakespeare. That inspired me. It made theatre acting feel achievable.
What are you finding inspiring at the moment?
I saw Sarah Snook in The Picture of Dorian Gray. That is a mind-blowing technical feat. I saw Matt Smith in An Enemy of the People and absolutely loved it. For Cabaret, I have taken a lot of inspiration from musicians: Prince, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Freddie Mercury.
What role do you really want to play?
Hundreds. I did The Threepenny Opera at school and I’d like to play Macheath again one day. I’d like to do some of the Shakespeare parts I’ve never done.
What do you wish you could change about the performing arts industry?
I’d like to see a bigger selection of tickets provided at a lower price. Of course, I understand that theatre is expensive to stage, but there must be a way to get a larger number of seats at a more affordable level. They have risen so much over the past 10 years. Sometimes, it feels as though theatre has become an elite sport.
What is the worst thing that has happened to you on stage?
In War Horse at the National Theatre, there was a moment when the young Joey horse puppet scattered into pieces and the big Joey horse puppet comes crashing on to the stage. One night, the blackout curtains at the back of the stage didn’t rise, so there was a slightly traumatic moment when the young Joey just exploded and nothing replaced him.
What is the best thing that has happened to you on stage?
I can’t pick just one. I’ve loved so many things about all the shows I’ve done.
What projects are you involved in at the moment?
I am playing The Emcee in Cabaret until June. I saw Eddie and Jessie [Buckley] do it when it first opened and absolutely loved it. It was the first thing I saw after lockdown. Two-and-a-half years later, I got an email asking me to come and have a coffee and chat about it. At first, I thought it was too high for me. I was on the verge of saying no, actually, but then I thought: “Go on, what have I got to lose?” And so I went for it. My dad came to see it yesterday and he saw it back in the 1960s. He loved it. I don’t know how well it compared, though. I don’t know if he can remember that production.
Luke Treadaway is in Cabaret at the Playhouse Theatre, London, until June 1. For more information click here
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