James Loye

James Loye

Age: 28

Currently: Leading the hairy-footed charge through Middle Earth as head Hobbit, Frodo Baggins, in Matthew Warchus’ lavish new musical The Lord of the Rings at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Warchus’ vision of “Shakespeare meets Cirque du Soleil” has been heavily reworked from its original Canadian production and features enough spectacular technical wizardry to give Gandalf himself a run for his money. “Sometimes,” says Loye, “I think it’s like doing a play on a multi-million pound Alton Towers ride. I walk on and it’s like…what?”

Hometown: There’s nothing faux about Frodo’s West Country burr. “I’m from just near Bristol,” Loye says. “A little town called Chipping Sodbury.” But the actor has made his home in London for the last seven years. “I started doing school plays about the age of 14. When it came time to decide what I was going to do with my life, I thought, I wouldn’t mind having a go at this acting lark. I did three years at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, moved up to London and started doing provincial theatre. And then this big old thing came along.”

Bob’s Your Uncle: He cites Bob Hoskins as an early inspiration. “I remember seeing him on stage at the Bristol Old Vic in a play called Old Wicked Songs and thinking he was just fantastic in it, a really visceral, powerful actor. This was about the time that I was first thinking, ‘I’d really like to have a go at this acting’. It’s funny. Michael Therriault, who plays Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, has just done a TV mini-series in Canada, which Bob Hoskins was in. I talked to Mike about it when we were doing the Canadian run of the show. I said to him, ‘Oh, I really like Bob Hoskins’, then Mike worked with him and told me that he’d said to him, 'Here, Frodo really thinks you’re a really good actor.' And Bob Hoskins was, like, [assumes Bob Hoskins cockney accent] ‘Oh. Nice one. Good. I’ll come and see the show’.”

James Loye as Frodo

Small Change and Big Breaks: Loye formed an early collaboration with another soon-to-be famous figure of the British stage, Rufus Norris. “He’s a really lovely guy, and a great director, very instinctive. I had a great time with him at the Sheffield Crucible—it’s the thing I’m probably most proud of, a play called Small Change. It was quite simple, just four actors and four chairs in the studio space, but really fulfilling and intense. Then he asked me to play Prince Charming in Sleeping Beauty at the Young Vic, which we did again a couple of years later at the Barbican and then in New York. Well, he’s doing very well now isn’t he, old Rufus?”

The Quest for the Ring: Loye is affectionate and wry about landing the role of Frodo. “I got the call to audition and my initial reaction was, well, laughing. ‘Lord of the Rings…The Musical?’ And they were like, no, no, it’s not going to be cheesy, Matthew Warchus is doing it—to which I said, ooh, right—and they’re really doing it properly, they’ve been planning it for years and it’s going to be a really big deal. So I said all right.” Having never sung at an audition before, he turned up with no music, sang a Don McLean song unaccompanied and then recited Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky because, “I thought, well, that’s quite ‘Hobbity’. Then I embarrassed myself for a morning when I got a dance recall, which sent shivers down my spine because I’d never exactly considered myself a natural mover. I saw the casting director, Maggie Lunn, afterwards. She said, ‘they want to see you again I think.’ I said to her, ‘I’m surprised to hear that after that dance workshop.’ She said, ‘So was I.’”

Hard Working Hobbit: “The Lord of the Rings is undoubtedly the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” he says. “Because of the efficiency of the script and the fast moving narrative, I have to be really accurate with each moment. It sometimes can be quite difficult and you can let something go for nothing. And if you’re not quite on it, it’s you that’s exposed. But Matthew [Warchus] has been really supportive of that. I’ve always been really honest with him if I find something difficult, and he’s a very clever man."

James Loye in The Lord of the Rings

Fellowship: When cast member Adam Slater injured his leg during a recent preview of The Lord of the Rings, Loye realised how close the show’s 50-strong ensemble really had become. “There’s a great company spirit. Especially with what happened last week with Adam," he says. "He’s on the mend now, but when something like that happens, it became apparent what a tight company we have, what a lovely group of people. Malcolm Storry’s just very down to earth, very real. And Laura Michelle Kelly is the kind of person that as soon as you meet her, she’s got this sort of aura about her, a sort of star quality. I mean, sometimes you hear things: Hmm, Laura Michelle Kelly, Olivier Award, ahem... but in actual fact she’s very normal and nice.”

Silencing the Cynics: "I suppose a lot of people are worried that we’re just cashing in,” he says. “But actually, we’re just trying to be as true and authentic to the book as we can, and do it with integrity. With a part like Frodo, which is so integral to the story—he almost is the reader’s eyes—people have read the book and have a very clear idea of what they think Frodo’s like. But all I can do is play it as truthfully to the part as I can and hope people can see that and like that.”