If you were lucky, you might have caught Joe Mallalieu’s ‘RUM’ during a short run at the 2024 edfringe. But if not, I would grab your chance now, as his upcoming dates at Camden People’s Theatre and subsequent UK tour stops will be the final performances for this show. 

Mallalieu won rave reviews in Edinburgh for his captivating performance as Danny, a plasterer via whose experiences themes of mental health and the stigma of vulnerability are explored. It’s a play inspired by the actor’s own experiences of loss, as well as his background in the plastering trade, and is currently in TV development. 

I spoke to Joe to find out more. 

CM: Can you start by telling us a bit about the content of ‘RUM’? Who is it about and where does the narrative take us? 
JM: ‘RUM’ is a play about growing up on building sites in the North West. About who we learn to idolise and why.

It follows Danny, who has lived by the rules his father and grandfather laid out for him, but today, as he struggles to finish a job and ready himself to give a speech for his best mate, he finds some of his stories aren’t sitting right.

And he starts asking some serious questions.

CM: What themes are explored through the show? 
JM: There are definitely some big topics that we cover in ‘RUM’, about masculinity, generational trauma, addiction and mental health within working class communities… I know it sounds heavy when I say that, but I promise it’s fun as well.

The character I play, Danny, has some great stories to tell, it’s very true to the experience of lads in the trade. 

CM: When I was growing up in the North, I heard the word ‘rum’ used to describe people or things a lot – perhaps about someone cheeky or a bit naughty, or a strange turn of events. What does it mean to you? 
JM: Yeah exactly, it’s hard to define, but round where I grew up, to get called ‘rum’ was almost something to be proud of.

It meant cheeky, naughty but also tough or scary… but then, it was expected of you. I guess it means you’d do something despite the risk, and growing up that was something we admired. 

CM: What was the inspiration for this show and what made you decide to create it? 
JM: I lost a very dear friend and I wrote the play trying to understand why I’d lost him. 

CM: Does it have a particular message? 
JM: I hope so. Depends who watches it though. I’d love a few dads to think about how they raise their kids.

CM: What was your creative process like? Did you sit down and write it, or was it more of a devised thing? 
JM: I wrote probably twelve monologues and tried to shoehorn them into a play, which didn’t work.

I had some great advice from Simon Stephens – flex! – and I had the help of amazing women – Olwen May, Suzanne Bell and then Tess Seddon, our director – who turned it into the play it is now. I absolutely couldn’t have done it without them.

CM: How does being the creator of the work you are performing affect how you interact with a director? 
JM: I guess because I wrote it, I get to dictate the pace of the play a bit more, because I made the characters rhythm, you know?

I have knowledge about the play’s setting but, apart from that, I try and treat it as I would any other play, listen to my director and take big swings where I can.

Tess is so good and I trust her absolutely. It’s nice as the writer and performer when you have that trust with your director about your script, and you can get on with being the actor in the room. 

CM: Can you tell us a bit about your background? How did you come to be working in a creative field? 
JM: Yeah, my grandad was a plasterer and my dad is, and that’s what I trained to do after I finished school. My form tutor got me to be in a school play when I got in trouble once and I fell in love with being on a stage.

Then I had years of being on building sites and hating it, before my mum got me doing night classes for acting in Manchester. Then I found out about acting schools in London and I got a scholarship to one of them. 

CM: What have been the highlights of your work thus far? 
JM: Performing something that feels important has been the highlight, particularly when people from the audience tell me they feel like the character I play is just like someone they know.  

CM: What aims and ambitions do you have for the future? 
JM: I want to get this play on screen. I want to act and write full time. 

CM: What’s coming up next for you after this? 
JM: Que sera sera 🙂 

Joe performs ‘RUM’ at Camden People’s Theatre from 23-25 Apr, see the venue website here for all the details and to book. 

LINKS: cptheatre.co.uk | linktr.ee/rumjoemallalieu | instagram.com/rumjoemallalieu

Photo: Grant Archer