Tom Varey is currently starring as Ollie Olsen in the UK premiere of One Arm by Tennessee Williams at the Southwark Playhouse.
In 1942 Tennessee Williams wrote One Arm, a short story with a striking central character who haunted his imagination for the rest of his life. Williams revisited Ollie’s story 25 years later in a screenplay of the same title – a script too provocative for the studios of 60s Hollywood. Moisés Kaufman, creator of The Laramie Project, fuses these texts into a powerful theatrical work inspired by the movie that was never made.
Having graduated from RADA in 2014, Tom made his theatrical debut in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse. On screen he has been seen in No Offence and The Village.
I recently spoke to Tom about how it feels to be taking on such an almighty role, why he’s feeling the pressure and what it has been like to delve into the 1940s….
What drew you to One Arm?
The script, as soon as I read it I knew One Arm was something I was interested in doing because it was so brilliant. I couldn’t believe that it hadn’t been picked up before in the UK. When I met Josh (Seymour) the director and Alex (Turner) the producer they were both really passionate and it seemed like they really cared about making it a good show. I think it is a good show and I think it deserves to have that amount of passion put into it.
