At just 23, actor Louis Healy has a résumé most people his age can only dream of. With acting roles in hit series such as Ackley Bridge, Vera and the legendary Emmerdale, Healy is on his way to becoming a legend himself. He is a talented, determined and ambitious actor and it comes as no surprise that he landed the lead role as Henry Creel in the West End adaptation of the hugely successful Netflix show Stranger Things. Speaking animatedly from the velveted seats of the Phoenix Theatre, you’d never guess that Louis Healy is staring right at the stage where he plays the biggest role in London. With the wisdom typically unheard of in a young actor, Louis sat down with THE REAL in between shows to talk soaps, self-esteem and the big, bad West End.
By Maisy Nichols
Thank you so much for sitting down with me today, and huge congratulations on your new role in Stranger Things: The First Shadow! A huge influx of fantasy franchises has brought productions to the stage in the past decade – from Harry Potter to Back to the Future – why do you think this is and what makes Stranger Things: The First Shadow different?
It’s a great financial decision because they’re so huge, but with these franchises specifically, the worlds of the films are so rich that they transfer to stage incredibly well, especially with something like Harry Potter. People love immersive theatre, and we’re reaching a point with technology where you can make audience members say, ‘I have no idea how that just happened.’
We’re moving into a time where tech-heavy theatre is becoming doable, and after the success of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, producers are looking for what else can be brought to stage in an exciting way, and Stranger Things is just perfect for that. When you think of the monsters and the illusions and the Upside Down, there is so much crazy stuff going on in the Stranger Things Universe that bringing it to life on stage, whilst probably a challenge, was so clever.
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I think that Stranger Things is special because the franchise is so relevant culturally; it’s probably one of the biggest ongoing TV series that we have. So, we’re adding to the story of Stranger Things with The First Shadow, where you get a backstory to characters like Hopper and Joyce, and their relationship as teenagers, but also to my character, Henry, who you only know as an adult and as a villain. Not to say that he isn’t a villain in the play, no spoilers, but what we’ve got is an expansion of the franchise with all the amazing stuff that you can bring to life on stage.
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You play Henry Creel, sharing the role with Jamie Campbell Bower’s onscreen role. How does it feel to be playing a version of a character that another actor is simultaneously portraying in another capacity?
I’ve been quite lucky because the version of Henry that we see onscreen is firstly, a fully grown man and secondly, someone who has spent the last ten to fifteen years of his life in the Hawkins lab with Dr Brenner. So, by the time we see him in the series, his sense of being a ‘person’ has just completely gone. Whereas, whilst there are moments towards the end of the play where time starts to catch up and it feels like I’m playing the exact same character as Jamie, I’m ultimately playing Henry as a fifteen year-old kid.
So, I felt less pressure to study Jamie’s performance in season four because, if anything, the play-script makes him seem different; he’s a nice kid and he’s kind of sweet and innocent and battling with this monster that he can’t control. This monster has found its way into him, and he really doesn’t want it to be a part of him, but there isn’t much he can do. Then Brenner gets his claws into him, and sort of takes him under his wing, and he becomes 001, and we get this origin story about how the powers within Stranger Things came to life.
Whilst I did some research into Jamie’s character for the latter scenes in the play, I didn’t think it was the right decision to completely base my version of the character on his, because Henry only becomes Vecna due to the horrors that he has endured over decades at the hands of Brenner. And in the play, you get to see the origin of Henry and Brenner’s relationship, which is a cool way to tell the story.
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You have this massive task of piecing together how this huge villain essentially came to be. What has been the most challenging part of this role?
The most challenging thing about this role, and I don’t want to spoil (it) for anyone reading, is that the nature of the role is very, very physical. He’s physically fighting with a monster that’s festering inside of him and trying to get it out. There’s lots of grotesque violence happening to Henry, his body, his voice, and as someone that has no movement or dance training, the physical aspect of the role was definitely very challenging.
But in terms of the acting, it took me a couple of weeks of rehearsal to feel confident in what I was doing. With the number of actors that auditioned, they could really cherry-pick the perfect person out of thousands so there was a pressure for me to find a confidence in what I was doing before I could loosen up and freely explore the character. Especially because the show has already run for a year and the first cast was phenomenal, specifically Louis McCartney who played Henry. He is an absolute gem. We get on so well and we’ve spoken a lot. Stepping into the shoes of an actor who has been nominated for numerous awards for the role that you’re about to play is daunting at first, but I just had to kind of forget what he’d done and that was another challenging thing; the knowledge that I was the next person to play this role that had been so revered and so highly spoken of.
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Theatre is such an intense industry and so many actors speak about undergoing a similar crisis of confidence, even after getting the affirmation of booking a role. How do you balance the useful pressure that can come with that lack of security, with the essential sense of self confidence that you need to work as an actor?
It’s such a good question, and one that a lot of actors, like me, would say they don’t have a proper answer for. So much of being an actor is total vulnerability and learning to be okay with it. It’s standing in a room full of people that you have so much respect for, when you want them to think that you’re good, and being prepared to fail miserably. You must be prepared to make yourself feel silly and be comfortable with not getting it right. I don’t know if I will ever be able to answer that question, because it is such a blurry line.
If you’ve decided to be an actor, and you’ve chosen this career, then you already must be prepared to fail. You can never let how you perceive your performance in auditions define you as an actor, and never let anyone else define what you are capable of. I was in a situation where I had done many self-tapes and before you know it, arguably the biggest show in London asks you to play their lead. You’ve just got to hold onto whatever it takes for you to keep that confidence.
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It’s great advice, and it comes from someone with a really seasoned perspective on the industry despite still being such a young actor. Stranger Things: The First Shadow is by no means your first on-stage venture. How did being a part of The Full Monty at such a young age impact you as a young actor and as a young man?
To be completely honest, because I was so young and it was my first job, I didn’t know exactly what I was getting into. I grew up in Cheshire, and I had to move down to London to live with a chaperone and the other two actors playing the role. I found it difficult to leave school and home to do the play. Of course, after a few weeks, I settled into it and had the best time. But it made me realise, even at a young age, that I didn’t want to do anything that would mean leaving home for ages.
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A lot of parents in that situation, if their kid said that they wanted to quit a West End production, would have perhaps panicked and insisted that ‘you have to keep rolling with it, you have to keep going.’ But my parents had that industry knowledge and knew that, at twelve, if you decide that you don’t want to do something, it won’t affect your career as an adult. So, from then on, I would just audition for episodes here and there that wouldn’t take me away from school for a long time.
And that meant a lot of soaps. You’ve done a huge amount of soap work, and I think a lot of people don’t know how crucial these shows can be for young actors or other creatives. How important is it, for young actors, that soaps continue to exist in their current capacity?
It is so important. Doing soaps was basically where I learned the ropes. There’s always so many people working on them. With Emmerdale, for example, you go into this huge studio and become a cog in this massive machine. I learned so much from those jobs. So much set etiquette, how to play the same character under (the direction) of different directors, how to keep your own two feet on the ground with your acting choices. I learned how to be a professional actor on those jobs: how to hold yourself, when to speak and when not to speak.
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I learned so, so, much and, as you said, it is so important for soaps to continue in this country as they are. And they’re not just great for learning. People have made incredible careers out of soaps. If you look at any British actors from the last twenty years that have made it in the US or in a huge film, pretty much all of them have been in a soap at one point. If you make a list of your favourite actors under thirty, most of them will have done at least an episode of a soap. These shows are so formative, not just for actors, but for young writers and directors. I’ll always be a huge supporter of them.
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So, how does working on shows such as those, compare to being on stage with Stranger Things: The First Shadow? Are you able to adapt your acting process for such vastly different projects?
Definitely. When you’re working in a production of this size, especially because this is my first time playing a lead, there’s a lot of new responsibilities to navigate in terms of the social side of working. But acting wise, simply going from screen to stage is a huge transition. Suddenly, every choice that you make in your performance must read for the people sat in the back of the theatre. So, all those little nuances that you could get away with on screen, like a tiny look or a movement of the eyebrow, just aren’t going to be noticed on stage. Nobody is going to care. It’s a completely different style of acting, vocally and physically. It’s just so much bigger. Even beyond the cast, everybody in every single field on this show, from sound to makeup to Millennium FX who made a load of our prosthetics, are just the very best at what they do. Everything is scaled up.
You’ve already spent a significant amount of time as a working actor, observing all shapes and sizes of roles behind the scenes. With that experience, could you see yourself branching out into writing or directing in the future?
You know what? I always thought that I might be an okay director but to be perfectly honest, there’s so many actors that naturally find themselves writing, directing or producing. Right now, I’m so focused on being the best actor that I can be, that it’s hard to see myself being anything else. However, I’m sure that there are plenty of actors that ended up producing, who would have also said, ‘Oh, I could never do that’ at twenty three. But I could maybe see that for myself. Maybe it would start with executive producing a project that I’m in. I find it so interesting – how do you go from Margot Robbie, the actor, at twenty five to Margot Robbie, the producer of Barbie, at thirty. How do you bridge that gap?
Stranger Things: The First Shadow is showing now at the Phoenix Theatre.
Follow Louis on Instagram @healytymd
Team:
Talent: Louis Healy @healytymd
Photographer: Jacquetta Clark @jacquettaclark
Photography Assistant: Isabella Armora @howimwastingtime
Fashion Stylist/Editor: Charmaine Mckoy @charmainemckoystyle
1st Styling Assistant: Emma Hockenhull @emmahockenhull
2nd Styling Assistant: Silvia Asuquo @asnegreg
Set Designer: Samuel Cole @colesvisage
HMUA: Louise Lerego @louiselerego
Videographer: Nana Opoku-Agyeman @official_solarflare
Deputy Editor: Sean McKoy @sean.amck
Assistant Manager: Carol McKoy
Interview: Maisy Nichols @maisyinc
Cover Design: Sofia De Vita @sofia.devita
