Interview: Sally Cookson, Theatre Director of Wonder Boy

Sally Cookson, Director of Wonder Boy was interviewed by Nancy Durrant.

Olivier Award-winner Sally Cookson directs the critically acclaimed Bristol Old Vic production of Wonder Boy by Ross Willis which tours to York Theatre Royal from 29 October to 2 November. Wonder Boy explores the power of communication told through the experiences of 12-year-old Sonny and his imaginary friend Captain Chatter. Packed with playful humour, dazzling visuals and thrilling original music this innovative production uses live creative captioning on stage throughout.

How did your production of Wonder Boy originally come about?

I was invited to a new writing festival at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School pre pandemic in which Ross Willis’ play was presented. It jumped out at me as a piece of unique writing, and I was attracted to the way Ross combined an absurd world with the very real. It made me laugh and cry. I contacted him and went to see his production of Wolfie at Theatre 503 which I loved. Tom Morris (the then Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic) agreed to programme Wonder Boy the following year at Bristol Old Vic but that got postponed because of Covid. Ross and I got to know each other during the pandemic via delightful phone calls where we’d just talk about anything and everything. Chatting with Ross is like being in one of his plays. Wonder Boy finally got performed in 2022, a couple of years later than intended, but by which time we’d had a chance to dream up ideas together about the show.

The play is about Sonny, a young boy who stammers. Ross Willis has written movingly about the frustration that can come with that – how did you bring that into the structure of the show?

This is at the heart of the piece. Ross calls it ‘the great inner operatic pain that comes from not being able to be seen or express yourself’. It was essential that we found a way of bringing all elements of the production together to illustrate and highlight Sonny’s plight. Music is especially important in helping with this and Benji Bower’s composition manages to get right inside the character’s head. But casting an actor who is able to portray the character’s trauma is key. Understanding what causes Sonny to behave in the way he does and identify every moment of his thought process is vital. Some of Sonny’s darkest moments happen when there is no text, so being able to identify how his pain manifests physically is important too. Ross has written it into the structure of the show, those big absurd moments when Shakespeare comes to life to torment Sonny or when vowels and letters attack him are all moments that tap into his inner operatic pain.

Can you talk about the use of creative captioning in the show?

The play is about what happens when a person communicates differently and the challenges they face when fluent speech is the expected societal norm. It felt entirely natural to include Creative Captions as part of the overall design of the show to tap into the major theme of communication. Creative Captioning involves incorporating the entire text into the world of the play. We don’t just display the words on a small digital strip positioned either to the left or right of the stage, we ensure that all the words spoken are visually central to the piece. Designed by Tom Newell (Video Designer) the Creative Captions provide another creative layer and are not only an access tool for Deaf, Deafened or Hard of Hearing people but an important part of the imaginative world created in the play.

Wonder Boy deals with quite extreme mental health issues, including suicide. Can theatre do that particularly well?

My experience is that theatre is a wonderful place to interrogate the stuff that frightens us as humans. And to ask those questions safely in a rehearsal room, and to share that with an audience is what theatre does best. In Wonder Boy the protagonist Sonny experiences complicated feelings of guilt, shame, grief and anger as a result of his mother’s death by suicide. A lot of plays written for young people shy away from themes such as this, but Ross approaches the subject with honesty and integrity. He understands what young people endure and gives voice to their suffering in an imaginative way. Theatre is a space to gather together to explore human behaviour, and hopefully come away with a bit more understanding of why we do the things we do.

The play is clearly for young people; it’s also very sweary…

Oh, we had so many discussions about the sweariness. It has taken us around and about and back to where we started, which is why we’ve changed very little of it. Ross is quite right – most young people swear a lot. It has become part of the way they communicate. Some adults get quite upset about the amount of swearing in the show, no young people do. And the play really is for teenagers. Getting teenagers into the theatre is very difficult, and I think Ross has absolutely found a way of engaging them – by telling a beautiful and important story and using an extreme version of the language they identify with.

This show illustrates the impact that art, and theatre in particular, can have on young people, especially those who are finding things quite difficult. Is that something you’re passionate about?

Yes. That’s what helped me. I hated school. I was really miserable. And my mum sent me to the local youth theatre. That’s where my journey into the arts started. And it’s where I suddenly felt valued, and where I had a voice, so I feel very strongly about it. And now more than ever – with a curriculum starved of the arts (hopefully this will soon change) theatre is essential in engaging young people’s imaginations and allowing them space to dream and think big.

What can theatre give to a young person who is struggling to be heard or find a voice?

So many things. It’s not just about encouraging young people to work in the arts. By joining a youth theatre, being part of an audience regularly, partaking in drama, it can make you feel more connected, less alone; it can inspire your imagination, make you think bigger, think differently; it can encourage empathy by helping you understand why other people behave like they do. It can tap into your own artistic talents, and help you find things out about yourself that you never knew you had. It can also just be a good laugh. The list is endless.

Wonder Boy is at York Theatre Royal, 29 October-2 November.

Find out more information and book your tickets here.