The Graduate: Joe Leather

On a rainy morning in September, I headed over to the Royal Academy of Music to catch up with Castle Law Graduate Joe Leather. Well known in Durham for his participation in all things theatre, he decided to swap litigation for leotards and pursue a career in performing arts. After being accepted onto RAM’s prestigious postgraduate Musical Theatre program, Joe talks to me about London life, Durham nostalgia and on-stage mishaps.

How did you first get involved in theatre?

I started quite late; I think I did my first show when I was about 15. I was part of a regional youth theatre, and played Mr Tumnus in a production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I did more singing than I did acting – I’ve grown up on a lot of karaoke holidays, which is where I got my singing experience: I was pretty untrained. I went to Durham and, on a whim, started auditioning for plays, and I got the bug. I think I did over 50 different performances while I was there.

So why did you choose to study Law?

I thought performing was for somebody who’d had their parents put them in dance classes at the age of three; I never thought it was an accessible world. I didn’t live in the south, so there weren’t the same opportunities – there were no dance classes for boys. It just never crossed my mind as an option, and I thought Law was a good degree to have.

What’s your best Durham theatre memory?

The head of the Heritage centre commissioned a group of us to write a play for him, called The Almost Complete History of Durham. We had weeks to do it, and then it came to the day before and we still hadn’t done it. So we stayed up all night writing this show and learning it, because the next day we were performing it to the Vice Chancellor and all the university officials. We did a run of it and it was crap, and then we did it the next day and somehow, with all the energy and nerves, they loved it. We ended up having to do an extended run, where we put it on for the next week, because it went down so well.

When did you start considering acting as a career?

It happened quite gradually. When I went to Edinburgh at the end of my first year, I began meeting people who were professional actors; they were all incredibly talented, but still just real people. I had about a year of thinking about it, and then in second year I did a dance show in London, which is when I started seriously considering going to drama school.

How does Durham compare with London life?

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They’re very different. I was at Castle, so I could walk everywhere, and now I can’t walk anywhere. I have no idea how to use public transport and I spend all my time on the tube, or practicing, or sleeping.

Theatre is pretty competitive, how do you deal with not getting the roles you want?

Well I did go to Durham, so I know what rejection is.

What’s your performing goal?

West End: Jersey Boys would be amazing. I’d like to do Fringe musicals and I’d also like to do some TV.

What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you during a performance?

In The Wild Party (LaChiusa), I had to wear some very small pants because it was set in the 1920’s. In the dress run I had a rape scene where I was punched to the floor. When I looked down, my penis was out of my tighty whities and everybody could see it. Also in Bat Boy, I had to get pistol whipped at the start of the show, but I was accidentally hit in the face with a stage gun and ended up spending the rest of the show bleeding. You can still see the scar.

What advice would you give people who want to be on stage?

Learn your lines and never get disheartened. A note I’ve been getting a lot at the moment is, ‘Don’t act, just be.’ In theatre, there are so many factors you can’t control, so don’t get bitter or upset for too long. Think about the things that you can do that no one else can. I’ve done drag, rape, bat boy … that’s just the niche I fill. I guess that I can vaguely pull of being half bat, half boy in a way that some other people can’t. The other thing they keep saying here is, ‘Never say “I can’t do that,” say, “I can’t do that yet.”‘