After being cast in York Theatre Royal’s community production of Sovereign, the first port of call for Sam Thorpe-Spinks was a book shop. Reading C. J. Sansom’s series of books featuring Tudor lawyer-detective Matthew Shardlake was a must after landing the role of Shardlake’s assistant Jack Barak.
“There are seven books which means looking at the pile of them waiting to be read is quite intimidating,” says the former University of York student.
He was travelling in Vietnam and Cambodia when he received a Zoom call at his Ho Chi Minh hotel about playing Barak in the Tudor-set thriller.
Sam studied history and politics at university but more modern history than the Tudor period of Sovereign. As his chosen subjects might suggest, he didn’t have acting ambitions when he arrived in York. Then, when he was feeling down after an illness and his mum, an actor, suggested he join the university acting society.
Acting runs in the family. His mother Matilda Thorpe was in the TV comedy Desmond’s in the 1990s and aunt Harriet Thorpe has joined the EastEnders cast as the Queen Vic’s new landlady.
“When I did come round to deciding to be an actor I’d been set a very good example of how hard it is, and that there’s no such thing as overnight success,” he says.
He trained at Guildhall School of Music and Drama but acknowledges that his time at the University of York with the Drama Barn had a big influence on his decision to perform. He not only acted with the group but wrote and directed, including his own adaptation of The Leader, a novel by his grandmother writer Gillian Freeman.
“York was an amazing place for theatre. The Drama Barn was an incredible platform to make mistakes and lay the basic foundations of putting on a play. I had a great time and studying history came second in my priorities,” he says.
He also took part in York Theatre Royal’s TakeOver season, where young people programme the theatre for a week. He acted in Quicksand, a play about young soldiers in Iraq.
Sovereign is being staged outdoors at King’s Manor, part of the University of York. This won’t be the first time he’s ‘performed’ there. “I did a production of Hedda Gabler as a student and we did a photo shoot at King’s Manor. That’s the only time I’ve been there,” he says.
Sam enjoyed campus life at university but most student forays into the city took place at night. “I’m looking forward to seeing York in the daylight,” he says.
Sovereign is staged outdoors at King’s Manor, York, 15-30 July.
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