Rugby legend turned genie and a true inspiration, Gareth Thomas speaks with Tom Gane about the jump from sport to stage, home, and tabloid rumours.
“A good friend of mine, Christopher Biggins, is like the governor of panto. He asked me if I’d be interested in doing it, and I wasn’t sure but didn’t want to miss a potential opportunity. He got hold of the owners who asked me to come in for a rehearsal and I just thought ‘why not?’”
Most people with no acting experience wouldn’t accept a role performing to tens of thousands of people with “why not?”, but Gareth Thomas isn’t most people. He has 100 Welsh Rugby Union caps, is Wales’ second highest try scorer and has captained both Wales and the British and Irish Lions. He also came out as gay in 2009, one of the first still playing professional sportspeople to do so.
Perhaps it’s not too surprising then that Thomas is more willing to face a challenge than most, and Panto is one that he’s embraced. This is his second time doing what he describes as “the highlight of [his] working year” and he seems very comfortable, with the only indication of his previous career being his shoulders are too big for the Genie costume. He shares jokes with his fellow actors during the photo session and is full of praise for them.
“I don’t claim to be an actor, I just play myself” he says with characteristic humility. “I feel lucky that I’m in such a great cast. Sam [Kane] and Linda [Lusardi] have done panto for years and they’re great teachers. They saw I was a willing pupil who wanted to learn and gave me a lot of the tools I needed to not look out of place. I’m lucky I’ve come to a cast with people who are not only wise and experienced themselves, but also willing to give information to help others be better.”
During the run of Aladdin, Thomas could perform to over 50,000 people. Perhaps this would seem more daunting had Thomas not captained Wales in front of 70,000 people at the Millennium Stadium. Still, I’m curious to know whether the pre-game nerves are similar.
“It’s very similar; I crap myself” he laughs. “If anything I was less nervous when I was leading out Wales because the rugby field is where I’d spent my life, so even if there are a million people watching I know what I’m doing and don’t feel the eyes on me. This is a new environment, so to stand on a stage, even if there were only ten people watching, takes a while to get used to. However I don’t really feel too pressured under the spotlight because I’m part of a good team and crew. Also if I went to other places people wouldn’t know me so it’d be more difficult, but being in Cardiff really helps me just be myself on stage.”
This is a little glimpse of the patriotism that defined much of Thomas’ rugby career and he also jokes that he “couldn’t handle” a Cardiff crowd booing him as a panto bad guy. Given how he was known for giving everything on the pitch, I ask him if it’s difficult to watch Wales play without being able to influence the match.
“No, I love it!” he replies enthusiastically. “The fact that I played doesn’t mean I constantly want to be there. I’m happy to be a fan and to do a bit of commentary work. I get to talk in appreciation of how hard the guys work and I’m as proud of them as anybody in the street. Just because I’m an ex-player doesn’t make me different to any Welsh fan”.
In addition to performing on stage himself, this year Thomas was heavily involved with the process of bringing the story of his life to the stage. Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage discussed Thomas’ life and the problems of teen suicide in his home town of Bridgend. Thomas’ involvement was extensive, even down to conducting the interviews that became the verbatim script. Despite it being a difficult process, Thomas says it was the right one and he felt he needed to be involved as he “knew the questions to ask to get the right answers.”
“I think it was a very powerful form of doing it” he explains. “If something is real then I think the last thing you want to do is add some sprinkle of fairy dust. It was a difficult process to go through but when you see the end product you have an understanding of why it has to be done that way.”
There have been numerous attempts to produce a film about his life and multiple tabloid stories about Micky Rourke and making it an Irish football story for American Audiences. Thomas says a film made by a British company “is happening” and that the rumours are “probably just somebody saying something in the cafe and all of a sudden it’s in the newspaper”. He also confessed that after the movie fuss it was “a bit weird” to finally see his life played out on stage.
“It’s a very strange concept when you’re sat there and you realise that somebody is going to come out and play you. Play your mother and father. Play your brothers, play your best mate. It was daunting, but ultimately it was something I was very proud of that I think was incredibly powerfully done by a great group of actors.”
Thomas was also the focus of Guinness’ World Cup advert, a poignant and honest portrayal of his coming out to his team mates. He says the advert was something he was “honoured to do”, and again focuses on those around him.
“In many ways it’s not about me, it’s about other people who influenced my life a positive way. I think that’s a great thing because a lot of people look at a story and sees the person involved, thinks it’s all about them and misses the things around them. That’s what the play was about, the people around me, and that’s what the advert is about. For me it’s all about them, it’s not about me.”
This ability to look at the bigger picture is a characteristic Thomas has shown time and time again. For example previously he’s spoken about how even if professional sport still struggles with homophobia, many club players have said he’s inspired them to come out to their teammates. I confess that this is something I’ve never considered but is perhaps more important than professional sport.
“They [the professionals] are a tiny percentage of the people that participate in team sport” he agrees. “That’s what you learn to understand, everybody is looking in the wrong place but when you open your eyes and don’t just focus on the headline you see so much more. It’s not wrong not to consider them [the club players], it’s just not people’s natural way of thinking.”
Given the numerous challenging projects Thomas has been involved with this year it’s understandable that he’s looking forward to panto. The chance to have fun and entertain the people of Cardiff appears to be his perfect end to a busy 2015. Although judging from our conversation, it’s still something he’s going to take very seriously.
Aladdin, New Theatre, Cardiff. Sat 12 Dec-Sun 17 Jan. Tickets: £10.50-£31. Info: www.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk
words TOM GANE
photo ANDY PARADISE