Interview: David Hunter Talks WAITRESS Closing and ALL THE WEB'S A STAGE

David Hunter has become a renowned West End leading man - from Guy in Once to Charlie Price in Kinky Boots, and, most recently, Dr Pomatter in Waitress.

Since theatres went dark and lockdown began, he's kept himself busy (and his fans entertained) by actively creating and sharing new material online with his trademark infectious enthusiasm.

We had a natter to David about his involvement in the upcoming All The Web's A Stage online concert, why he'll miss Waitress so much, and which of his previous roles he thinks would cope best in a lockdown.

You've been really active online during this lockdown, including getting involved with the All The Web's A Stage fundraising concert. What can people expect, and how is it different to some of the other streamed gigs that we've seen?

The nice thing about this one is that it pulls all the different arts communities together. There's huge variety of acts - cabaret, music, Shakespeare, etc. It's vast! My friend Caroline [Kay] is a songwriter too, so we'll both be doing some original stuff as well as covers.

I think it'll be a lovely collection of different talents that you don't often see in one place anymore. Like a variety show! It'll be interesting to see how these different communities connect and whether people can use this opportunity to find new collaborators for the future.

That's one of the positive things about this lockdown, right? It provides a platform for people to connect in a way that would be much harder in real life

I'm absolutely certain that after lockdown these things will continue. It had never occurred to me to do an online gig before, and I think it would have been quite a hard sell prior to the lockdown. People would be like "What is it?", "How does it work?" and "What even IS Zoom...?!". When this is all over and I'm planning to do a gig or something, I'll think twice about how I do it - we've got more options now. An online gig definitely feel less scary!

Definitely - and there are fewer barriers to entry with an online gig too. They're lower cost for people, and availability isn't so much of an issue, especially for your fans not based in London

I did my first full-length gig the other day [Leave A Light On] and I had a flurry of messages afterwards from all over the world - even in Australia. I realised in that moment that there were 700+ people all in one place, across the world, who had come together for something I was doing. To then see them all react to it afterwards was a really special thing.

Lambert Jackson Productions and the Theatre Café [who produce the Leave A Light On gigs] were so quick to get this concert series off the ground - thank goodness we've got these amazing, forward-thinking people. Not only are they feeding the industry with content, but they're literally feeding a whole community of actors too.

Speaking of online content, I feel like you spearheaded this whole Cameo movement within our particular community as one of the first artists to embrace it. How's that been for you?

I was talking to a friend recently about this, and we were saying that this lockdown is the age of 'the creative' really, because we're all being forced to look for new and interesting ways to do things. I needed an outlet, and I needed an income...but also there was a demand from fans who really wanted support the industry. So, I jumped on it quite quickly.

I could sense that initially some people weren't sure if it was 'right' to ask people for money, but when you're in a situation where you need to do something to feed your family, and people are keen to support that, it just made sense. And then other people I know started reaching out to me asking me how it all worked, and I just told them it's brilliant and they should do it. For me, it's been a lovely outlet for creativity, writing all these silly songs - and as a parent of two small kids, it's a brilliant excuse to sneak off to the basement for an hour! So, it's kept me sane, kept me solvent...and kept people entertained.

Are you finding engagement with social media quite cathartic at the moment?

Yeah, I've always quite enjoyed Twitter - I don't find it stressful, because I don't take it too seriously. I just look at the whole thing as a massive piss-take and have a laugh, so I very rarely get into any sort of debate or drama with anyone.

Let's talk about Waitress - the announcement that it won't be reopening was a sad one for everyone. What will you miss most about being part of it?

I'll miss being part of that community and seeing the same faces every day. It's like being at university, and then having to leave behind that familiarity and closeness. I'm sad I've not got that to go back to - I think the prospect of that would keep me going throughout all this. But instead, I'm going to have to start auditioning again...which is exhausting!

I'll also just miss the show itself - I was a big fan of the show before I was in it just from listening to the cast recording. It's rare that I find a cast recording that I love purely as a piece of music, so by the time I auditioned for it, I could have sung them any song and done any part!

I also just love playing Dr Pomatter - it's easily the most fun part I've ever played. The singing was at a comfortable level and I didn't have to live like a monk to get through it, which was nice... And my stage time was perfect - I'd come on, get a few laughs, get a big clap, and then I'd go off to drink some tea and hang out with whoever was playing Ogie (which changed about 18 times)! And then I'd go back on and repeat. Easily the most enjoyable job I've ever had, with a really lovely group of people.

Do you think there's any likelihood of the cast reuniting once lockdown is over to do some sort of goodbye gig?

There's a lot of talk about that - even from the producers and some of the American creatives - but whether or not we can do it is another thing. We'll definitely have a big old party! I'd love to do something to mark the end of it, but in some ways, it might be a bit strange. And at this point, you can't plan anything anyway.

There are just so many unknowns. Like, I don't know what will happen with Hello, Dolly! that's due into the Adelphi next - will that be delayed? When theatres do reopen, it will be interesting to see if there'll be a lot of opportunities for actors because there's a huge backlog, or will it flip the other way, with everyone treading really carefully and not wanting to commit to invest in anything?

A lot of those decisions will be guided by trying to anticipate audience behaviour, which is also tricky!

Definitely! My wife and I run a stagecoach at the weekends, and I was saying to her that by the time this over, kids will be so desperate to be out of the house, and the parents will be so desperate to GET them out of the house, those classes will be booming! So maybe we'll see a similar thing with theatre.

Have you been able to watch any of the musicals or plays that have been streamed over the past few weeks?

I miss a lot of the stuff during the day because of the kids - in particular, I've missed a lot of the Leave a Light On gigs that my friends have done because they're either at the kids' dinner time or bedtime. But I have caught up with the NT Live stuff. I was actually in One Man, Two Guv'nors...so basically what I'm saying is, I made sure I found time to watch myself! I'm excited to see what they announce next - I'd love them to release London Road and Frankenstein.

When the kids go to bed, our time is so precious and we're so tired that we often just revert back to old boxsets. We've rediscovered Jonathan Creek recently - it's brilliant. I think there's something about the simple 90s nostalgia set in sleepy villages that's comforting.

What's the first thing that you/your family will do when lockdown is over?

Drop the kids off at the childminder and watch Marvel films for six hours.

Seriously, I'm desperate to lay on the sofa and just binge-watch stuff. Our kids have been brilliant throughout all of this, but they obviously dictate all of our time, so I've missed a lot of the stuff on TV and online that everyone is talking about. In fact, I've missed so much that I could easily just watch TV for the rest of my life!

Have you got anything you'd like to say to your fans, that you haven't already said on Twitter?

Thank you for engaging with it all - and I mean everything that anyone is putting out there. Whether it's booking cameos, attending the gigs....or just the sheer act of responding to tweets. I think actors are getting a lot from it, and I know I've had some lovely interactions with people. It's been great.

And finally, the the most important question - who do you think would cope best in a lockdown: Guy, Charlie Price, or Dr Pomatter?

I love this! I think Guy. He's a bit of a loner, and he probably spends a lot of time stuck in his bedroom anyway. He might get a bit down in the dumps, but he'd have his guitar, and he'd probably become YouTube famous for his music. In fact, yes...Guy would flourish in a lockdown! He'd become mega rich, whereas the other two would be scraping around for work. Charlie Price would definitely be hard work - he'd be a whinger...

All The Web's A Stage takes place on 23 April, and you can find more information here

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