Hamlet has arrived at the Lowry in Salford – with Paapa Essiedu playing the prince of Denmark as a graffiti artist surrounded by drums and soldiers carrying guns instead swords.

Paapa, who has recently been seen in the TV series Kiri and The Minaturist, was the first black actor to play this role for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2016.

His best friend Horatio is played by James Cooney, a British-Filipino actor who was born in Radcliffe, Bury, Greater Manchester.

James, who has appeared in Silent Witness and Doctors, reveals how he wants this Hamlet to be an inspiration to young people.

What makes this production of Hamlet different from other productions of the play?

One of the best things I’ve felt about this version of the play is that our Hamlet is just that little bit younger, so you can completely understand how difficult he finds it to cope with the grief and other things like the love of Ophelia. You can understand those things because he is still a young man trying to figure it out.

Why do you think Shakespeare is still relevant today, especially Hamlet?

The themes that Shakespeare is exploring are completely universal and completely timeless. It’s about grief, love, wanting revenge, peace… It’s basically Shakespeare considering how we get through life.

The best thing for me about Shakespeare is he has an ability, in one or two lines, to just encapsulate a feeling that I have felt but have never been able to put words to.

Even for my mum and she’s never been a Shakespearean, she didn’t grow up reading Shakespeare or anything like that. When we did King Lear she turned around to me and said “there’s that line I really like” so I said “Oh, which line what do you mean?” and she said “Edgar says the weight of this sad time we must obey; speak what we feel not what we ought to say…’’ and at that time we very sadly lost my granddad and grandma, quite close together, so I think when she heard that she suddenly realised that is what I need to do as well.

And you know that’s written by a guy in the 1600s and yet even today someone can hear that, who isn’t even English, she’s from the Philippines, and she can go wow that speaks to me. Shakespeare has this ability to observe life so clearly and then put it into words in words that will stay with us forever.

Why is Hamlet performed, again and again, year upon year?

You can tell he is at the peak at this time, he reminds me of a musician that has got to the time where he knows what his thing is. So any actor when they pick it up knows it’s a very demanding role, physically, emotionally, mentally so I think every actor is going to pick that script up and say I want to have a go and everyone wants to see what they will bring to it.

As a local actor, why do you think it is so important that this tour opens up here in The Lowry?

Myself and Paapa (playing Hamlet) have spoken about this a lot. We were both really keen that this show particularly would go out to the regions because I think that theatre can still, even in 2018, feel quite elitist, it can feel inaccessible to a lot of people.

We, my parents and I, essentially couldn’t afford to go to the theatre, we didn’t have the time to go to the theatre.

So, it wasn’t something I necessarily grew up with, but I do remember going to one or two shows a year and remember how much I would love doing that. I really hope that in a place like this, where people can feel like theatre is not for them or that Shakespeare is not for them, that we give them the option that if you want it to be for you then here it is and please come along.

I have a goddaughter who’s fifteen and she was just really inspired by the show. The fact that can happen because we brought a show that was performed in Stratford, and rehearsed in London, to Manchester just fills me with pride really.

https://twitter.com/jkcooney/status/958308785155649537

You mentioned that your God Daughter is fifteen, so what advice would you give to children around that age that want to get involved in the theatre?

Just get involved. I used to go to Stagecoach (theatre classes available in Bury and Salford) on a Saturday and be a part of the theatre groups which gave me the confidence to go out and do those things and have a safe space to fail. Pretty much every theatre I know in the north-west has some level of youth theatre.

I’m currently apart of an organisation called Open Door, which is designed to help people between eighteen and twenty-five get to drama school especially if they are from working-class backgrounds and feel like they can’t afford it. It’s currently in London but I know David (Mumeni), who runs it has plans to extend into other regions in the next few years.

There are definitely those opportunities there you just have to be proactive and remember it’s a marathon, not a sprint. I don’t just want five minutes of fame. That’s not why I do it. I do it because I love doing it and I love sharing stories with people.

Hamlet is at the Lowry until Saturday 3 February 2018. Buy tickets here.

Coronation Street stars Nicola Thorp, Victoria Ekanoye, Jimmi Harkishin and Richard Hawley were there to watch Hamlet on the star-studded launch night – see photos below.