Steve Pratt caught up with dancer Liam Mower who will be playing Albert in Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell which comes to York Theatre Royal this June.
Liam Mower was back home in Hull looking through old documents recently when he came across an old school report. “What do you want to do when you are older?” was one of the questions asked.
His reply was straight to the point: “I want to be a dancer.”
Ambition achieved. “I feel I have already done that and want to continue to do it as long as my body will allow,” says Liam – or “the real life Billy Elliot” as he was dubbed 20 years ago when cast in the original stage production of Billy Elliot, the story of a boy from a North-East working class family who wants to be a ballet dancer.
The original film became a musical with music by Elton John and Liam was one of the first three youngsters cast to share the role in the original London production. The show earned him and fellow stage Billys, George Maguire and James Lomas an Olivier award for best actor in a musical in 2006.
Liam began dance classes when he was eight, becoming a disco and rock’n’ roll champion. He trained in modern dance and tap before his dance teacher introduced him to ballet. The stage Billy Elliot casting director saw Liam while searching schools in the North for youngsters to play Billy in the planned stage production.
Some performers might complain about a tag like “real life Billy Elliot’, feeling they’ve moved on from that. Liam, however, is happy to be reminded and talk about it – not least because the tag speaks the truth in comparing him to the fictional Billy.
“Our lives are so similar. That’s who I am. I can’t run away from that – and I don’t want to,” he says ahead of touring to York Theatre Royal in Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell in June.
“I am so proud of my achievements. I feel proud of myself and proud of Billy Elliot. For me at this time in my life everything is a bonus because I have achieved such wonderful things.
I’m always happy to talk about it. It was such an amazing experience and changed everything for me.”
Coincidentally Liam’s connection with Matthew Bourne and his New Adventures company’s all-male version of Swan Lake goes back to Billy Elliot where the final scene sees the adult Billy with the young Billy in a scene from Bourne’s Swan Lake.
Liam returned to show to play the adult Billy in a stage performance broadcast live in cinemas. “It was amazing, but one of the most nerve-wracking experiences because it was live in cinemas,” he recalls.
“There’s so much that can go wrong – Billy flies and you’re in charge of everything in that moment. There was a lot of pressure at the thought of it not only being in the theatre but going out live to thousands of cinemas around the country,” he recalls.
Liam is now part of Bourne’s New Adventures with not only Swan Lake but the title role in Edward Scissorhands and The Car Man among his roles with the company. “It was always an ambition to work with Matthew Bourne although I didn’t know about him when I saw the Swan Lake scene in the film, which of course was one of my favourite films as a kid.
“I obviously learnt about him through the stage version. Seeing the male swan dancer I thought ‘I’d like to do that one day.’ That was always at the back of my mind although I didn’t know it would happen.
“When I was training at Rambert I saw more contemporary work. I saw Matthew’s work was really relevant and thought that’s the kind of stuff I want to be doing. I love watching contemporary dance and ballet but there’s only so much you can get back out of it. Matthew’s work is dance but so much more. It’s always about storytelling and adding another level is what makes it really interesting work.”
He’s been away for five months touring China in the musical Cats. He stayed on to do some travelling after the end of the tour which took in eight different cities, including Shanghai and Beijing. Now he’s back with New Adventures to tour in Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell in a role he created for the original production.
Devised by Bourne, the work revolves around patrons of The Midnight Bell tavern in Soho in the 1930s. Six relationships are woven through the piece, including the story of chorus boy Albert and his policeman lover at a time when gay relationships were illegal.
The production is best described as a play without words or stories told through dance. Devised by Bourne, the main basis of The Midnight Bell is Patrick Hamilton’s novel 20,000 Streets Under the Sky but some characters have been introduced from other sources.
“It was always Matthew’s vision, and he brought it to life. It was created just after lockdown and felt really special to create something brand new,” says Liam.
“A gay storyline has been added with my character Albert, a West End chorus boy, and a policeman. It’s really important to tell these stories as people like Albert did exist in the 20s and 30s. We touch on the idea that they lived in fear of being judged and wanted to exist freely.
Matthew’s work requires a lot of research and character analysis. We were given a lot of material, read a few books and got ourselves into the world. It required in depth research into the characters and those times. They are quite dark characters.
We were able to write our own stories for the characters. It’s important to tell this story because it does seem relevant to today’s society.”
As for the future, Liam welcomed performing in Cats, a musical that gave him the opportunity to use his voice as well as his body. More musical theatre in the future is a possibility if the right project or show came along.
Teaching is another possibility. “I teach already, that’s one thing that comes with the job. As well as performing I get to teach quite a lot,” he says.
The Midnight Bell is at York Theatre Royal from 04 June – 07 June.
Find out more information and book your tickets here.
