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Alexander Hanson is currently starring in Alan Bennett’s Single Spies (the award-winning double bill of An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution) at the Rose Theatre in Kingston.
Alexander most recently created the title role in the world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Stephen Ward. His theatre credits also include: Jesus Christ Superstar (arena tour), A Little Night Music (Menier/West End/Broadway), Marguerite (Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Sound of Music (Palladium), We Will Rock You (Dominion), Candide, Copenhagen, The Merchant of Venice (National), Sunset Boulevard (Adelphi), Talking to Terrorists (Royal Court) and Hay Fever and Translations (Chichester Festival Theatre).
I recently spoke to Alexander about his new role in Single Spies and the secret of Alan Bennett’s success as well as his thoughts about Stephen Ward and the future of new West End musicals…
How much did you already know about Single Spies? What attracted you to the project?
I kind of knew a little bit about it because I had seen it years ago on the telly with Alan Bates. I had also seen A Question of Attribution with James Fox, both were quite brilliant. I’ve always had a slight fascination for those guys. I remember my interest being peaked by an article that William Boyd, the novelist, wrote in the Observer one Sunday. I think he was promoting his book, Restless, which is a spy novel and features a kind of Philby-esque type character in it. I remember it just caught me. Then this year, quite coincidentally, Ben Macintyre came out with his new book A Spy Among Friends which was about Philby so I thought I would give it a read. It’s a riveting read but at the time I knew nothing about Single Spies. It came up and I was drawn to it.
