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Meet The New Kids In SCHOOL OF ROCK
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Nov 3, 2022
We sat down for an exclusive chat with Steve Leask, who plays leading man Dewey Finn in the West End production of School of Rock, and two of the newest rock stars in the cast: 12-year-old Gus Graham, who plays Lawrence, and 11-year-old Tahlia Colbourne, who plays Tomika.
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0:00
Hi, I'm Talia and I play Tamika
0:04
I'm Stephen and I play Dewey Finn. I'm Gus and I play Lawrence
0:09
How is the show going at the moment? Are you guys loving it? Yeah, it's really enjoyable
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And same question for you, the big kid at the back. Yeah, so, I've been in the show for nearly a year now
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and it is still an incredible thing to be a part of
0:26
these guys have just joined us as part of the fourth children's team and yeah so that always
0:33
keeps it like surprising and and like new things to sort of discover and like get used to work with
0:40
a new team and yeah that I mean they're fantastic so yeah it's been it's still a really really cool
0:45
job. Das did you play any instruments before joining the show? Yes well especially the keyboards
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I've been playing that for quite a few years now, since year one
0:58
But I also play the drums and the saxophone. I really enjoy music. It's just really fun
1:03
All of the instruments you need. So obviously in your role, you've got great voice
1:07
but do you happen to play any instruments as well? I don't, but being here is really inspiring to me
1:12
So watching them do it is so fun. How has the rehearsal process been for you two
1:16
Has it been quite intense with trying to fit in your schooling as well? For me it's a bit of both but when you're doing rehearsals it's like the balance of knowing that you're going to be in the show and being seen so it's really exciting
1:29
Yeah, the feeling of the first show it just drives you on to make you rehearse more
1:36
And the school has been really supportive of me which has really helped
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For you it's obviously a completely different game because you have all your own dialogue and you as a character but also working with the children as well
1:48
the children as well How has that been This is the first show that I ever done which has had so many child performers in it The first thing is that there are three teams and they are all completely different
2:01
I mean everyone, the range of ages, but also just the way that they play the characters
2:08
is completely different. They're encouraged to create their own version of it
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Talia's Tamika is completely different to Alia's Tamika and that is something
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that as a performer when you go on stage with that team of kids that day you have
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to kind of switch it up maybe do something a little bit different and that
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keeps it really fresh for me which is which is great because you've never
2:32
wanted to become stale you always want to be surprising for the audience as well
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so like every time you work with a new team during the week you can work with all three or two of them but
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it always keeps it sort of alive and buzzing. And for Dewey, when he first enters that school
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he's meant to be like, I don't know how to handle these kids at all
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So sometimes if you forget which team you're going on with, you walk out into the classroom and you're like
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oh, it's this team today. OK, cool. And you have that moment where you're like, OK, good. Yes, I know what I'm doing
3:01
And also there's remembering all the names, which is difficult. But it's so great to be working with 36
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like really incredible performers who also some of them have made their debut
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as well on this this is their like first West End show and that is an amazing
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thing to be a part of, part of that journey with them. It's such a comedic role for you and you obviously have credits like Moons Review and
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Momentum Governors do you enjoy the comedy roles? Yeah absolutely there's nothing more exciting and satisfying than having a
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large audience of people finding something you're doing funny and it is
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It never gets tiring Audiences always react differently to certain bits Sometimes audiences prefer more physical stuff the jokes are a more slapstick element Some of the audiences prefer the songs sometimes they prefer the jokes
3:57
So you always have to mix it up a bit and concentrate. But I think with comedy like that, there is an art in it
4:02
You have to be able to read the audience in a certain way to get to elicit that response from them
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and this show has so many factors that people enjoy and love and really fall in love with
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You have to respect that and go out there and do it. I think as a comedic part, it is one of the best I've certainly played
4:25
Gus, is this your first West End show? Yeah, this is my first West End show
4:29
How was it on that opening night to walk out there on the West End stage? It was really fun. I really enjoyed it
4:35
It's just that buzz of excitement, a little bit of nerves but after a little bit into the show I was really enjoying it, having fun
4:45
The whole team, like the people who had carried on in the last class, they just made it much better and much easier for me to settle in
4:53
So, Mitalia, this is not your first Western show, is it? Tell us a bit more about what else you've done
4:57
I was in The Lion King and this is like, I've only been in series of productions but I really enjoy both of them
5:04
them especially with School of Rock every single time I step out onto the stage it's a new feeling
5:10
it doesn't matter if I've done the show like 12 times it's still that kind of like so I really
5:15
enjoy it so it's like great to be with me. It's quite hard learning like where to build the desks
5:21
or where to pick up your instrument from what wing to go off was that quite challenging
5:25
For me yeah but I feel like the more I did it the more it got like it's more natural now like it's
5:31
I was kind of like, I know what I'm doing. It's really good
5:35
Yeah, it was challenging at start. But once we got used to the system and all the people teaching us were like I giving if we made a mistake and we just did it over and over again until we got it right and then you just
5:48
have that feeling of accomplishment once you get it all correct. Some of the old class as well that might help me if we don't know what we're doing over
5:57
time then we'll help you out. I'm sure you probably don't get the same liberties if you were in the wrong place that I thought
6:03
If I get in the wrong place I get told off by these guys. Honestly, because sometimes you do..
6:09
I'm on stage 99% of the time. There's only a few bits in the show where I'm off stage
6:16
And sometimes you can go like, oh, what's this bit? Or maybe something different happens or you throw yourself
6:23
But what is really good is that these guys, all the teams
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they are really supportive of me and vice versa. So it is a real team effort
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and yeah it is I rely on them just as much as
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I'm sure they rely on me to come in with the right stuff as well because it is a complete team effort
6:40
there's so much, it's a bit it's a very formulaic show, there are bits on top of bits
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that cue this and that and we are on stage all the time
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together, we are it's important that we sort of trust each other
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and so building on that trust and doing the show is a massive, massive part of it
6:58
Did you play any music instruments before the show? Yes, so I grew up playing the drums and percussion instruments, things like xylophones and glock and shabils, things like that
7:09
And then I sort of graduated to the bass guitar because I wanted to join a band when I was 13, 14
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So yeah, I've been playing bass guitar and percussion since I was 10 years old
7:23
We are the school of rock. Come see us at the new London theater
7:33
Stick it to the man
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