In the first part of his report from the Immersive Experience, Nick Joy spoke with creator Jeff Wayne and his daughter Anna-Marie Wayne, who plays Carrie in the show. In this concluding portion, he chats with two other key cast members:

Tom Brittney is probably best known for his performance in ITV drama Grantchester – genre fans will remember him from Outlander and Humans – but in the Immersive Experience he’s lead role Tom, following in some esteemed company.

Tom, how did you find interacting with yourself in the virtual world?

I find it hard enough watching myself in 2D, let alone being able to walk round the back of my head, which I’d never seen before. It was odd. I’ve done green screen stuff before with TV and film, but no motion capture or video game stuff.

What was your first relationship with The War of the Worlds? Did it feature in your youth?

I read the H G Wells story when I was younger and did know about Jeff Wayne’s version, but not to the extent that it meant so much to other people. When I joined the project I told some friends of mine who were of a certain age and they knew the LP and sung Thunder Child and Forever Autumn. Once I heard them do that I knew that it was much bigger than I ever thought it was. I didn’t have as much experience as others – I’m still a young guy, and Jeff Wayne’s stuff was really before my time.

There’s quite a fandom for this brand.

Yes. When I got here last week – and it was only the previews – I think eight out of the twelve people in our group had Jeff Wayne T-shirts on. I thought ‘Christ alive, I hadn’t realised it was such a big thing’. People told me that when the album came out it had scared them in much the same way as when Orson Welles had done War of the Worlds [in the radio version of October 1938 where listeners believed it was real].

How do you think the journey went from Grantchester to here? Do you think someone in the casting office saw Will Davenport and thought he’d make a dashing Victorian lead?

I don’t know how the casting process went, but I heard that Jeff Wayne liked my voice. He’s very protective of his material and I’m joining the likes of Richard Burton, Liam Neeson and Michael Sheen. That’s a privilege.

Have your friends and family been on the Experience yet? What did they make of it?

Even as we speak, my girlfriend, agent and one of my best friends are going round it. My dad is sat over there having a glass of wine with me. I’m going to take my parents through with me as I want to experience it with them. They’ve never done VR before – it’s a completely new technology. The immersive part is easy to understand and so well performed by the actors, but even for someone for me who has used a VR before, the first time I stepped into that 1-to-1 world in that first room, for me that was insane. At least you can see the other avatars in the room, so I’ll try and find my dad’s –probably a Victorian woman – and I’ll be able to say ‘It’s ok dad, I’m here.’

Where do we go next with this tech?

I’ve done pure VR experiences before that are around 20 minutes long, but these guys are the first, I think, to mix in 30 to 40 minutes of VR into a 110-minute Experience. I’ve always been interested in technology and wondered where it will take the TV and film industry. Sometimes it goes the wrong way, such as high frame rate or smoothing, but VR could be the way that some films go. It’ll be Minority Report ocular reports next – Christ, what will we become?

It gives you the opportunity to do different things – to become a different person.

I just had an interview with somebody from secondary school, who I knew, but hadn’t seen them for many years. She said to me ‘So who did you play in the thing?’ ‘Erm, I play George. The man that you just saw. All mucky at the end of it?’ She didn’t have a clue. Maybe I could be the Daniel Day-Lewis of VR world… no, not yet! ‘Are you in Game of Thrones?’ That’s all people care about.

 

Carrie Hope Fletcher was previously Beth the parson’s wife in the 2018 touring version of The War of the Worlds, with other recent credits including The Addams Family musical and Heathers: The Musical.

Carrie, how was your VR experience?

It’s the first time I’ve been part of a production involving interactive theatre, and in fact the first time I’ve seen anything like it. I was talking to the casting director about it and she said ‘You’ve never seen anything like this before?’ And I told her that it’s hard when you’re in shows because you never get to see other shows. It was amazing, and I want to do more now.

I just saw you coming out of the exit door of the Experience. Congratulations on being a survivor! How weird was it seeing the VR version of yourself from the confessional in the church?

Really weird. But because I was dressed up in the full Victorian get-up, my hair pulled back, the whole Parson’s wife’s costume, I felt very detached – it didn’t look like me as I sit here now.

Did you feel a little disloyal to Jason Donovan [on-stage co-star on the arena tour] now that you have a new cleric for a husband?

Ha ha. A little. But Jason is here this evening so I gave him a hug before I went in… before I cheated on him [laughs]! I’d love to watch him go round on the Experience, being around the madness that is the invasion.

I imagine that if I was doing the Experience and Jason was in my group it might be a distraction from what else is going on.

Yes, and you’d want to sit next to him in the boats!

When you finished the arena tour, was this gig already on the cards for you?

No. I knew that they were talking about it but I had no idea they’d ask me to be a part of it. When they asked me, it was ‘Yes! Absolutely.’ When you love a show and story so much, you want to follow it and be a part of it, no matter how it’s told. To be a part of something that’s so new – I don’t think there’s anything like this in London at the moment – it’s awesome.

You pretty much came from Heathers: The Musical straight onto the tour. 

Yes. I actually overlapped. I did rehearsals during the day for The War of the Worlds then went to Heathers in the evening. I missed a couple of the days for tech rehearsals but I had my final night for Heathers on November 24th and then at eight o’clock the next morning I was picked up and drove to Redditch.

In Heathers you were the lead. Did it take the pressure off a little to be part of an ensemble, albeit with different technical challenges?  

Yes. With Heathers I was the first one on stage and the last one off. It was a nice transition to make from constantly being on stage to taking a step back. I wasn’t even in Act One! I’d open Act Two, meet my sticky end, and then come back on again at the very end. Less pressure. War of the Worlds is a real spectacle. Heathers was very stripped back, with no effects. War of the Worlds is very special effects heavy – pyros, fire, Martians. Very small trapdoors that I have to fit through! Because the arenas are so big, you’re moving around an awful lot, and because they’re all very different you have to be very clear where your entrances and exits are every night. It keeps you on your toes.

You have a big social media following. Have any of your followers come to see the show just because you’re in it, and then recognised it’s something their parents or siblings used to play to them?

My parents used to listen to it when I was a child and it used scare me senseless as I sat in the back of the car. It would terrify me. And then as I got older I had a massive appreciation for the music. My family are very musical and I’ve grown up with it. I remember the day the email came in when I was told that I had an audition for it, and the first people I messaged were my parents. They said ‘We can’t believe you have a shot at being in something we have loved for all our lives.’ So, for me, it was a case of ‘Please Jeff, let me do it.’ My audition was recording my voice in with Jason’s in Jeff’s studio, which is a surreal enough thing in itself. But to get the call a few weeks later and be told I’d got the part – it was crazy.

Is The Spirit of Man a particularly tricky song to sing?

We’ve all got in-ears because the arenas are so big and the sound bounces around so much. The music is fed straight into us, so it’s easy to know when to come in. But the whole song is about this relationship between Beth and the Parson Nathaniel, so if you don’t have a good dynamic I can understand how it could fall apart. Luckily, working with Jason was the most bizarre and brilliant experience I’ve ever had. He’s such a pro and he’s so much fun – he really makes you feel comfortable working with him. Any time someone asks me what it’s like working with Jason Donovan, I end up with a massive smile on my face before I say anything.

And just to round things up, what was your favourite bit on the Experience?

All of the live actors are incredible in the show. They are amazing, and there’s various different people playing the same roles. We had such a good bunch tonight, including Ogilvy looking through the telescope at the stars, Perry with the boats was amazing, and the living room with Peggy was… terrifying.

 

‪Tickets start from £49.50 and are available to book now at www.dotdot.london/TWOTW.

 

‪With thanks to Katie and Ellen at Kallaway Ltd for arranging the interviews.