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On stage in the King’s Head Theatre production |
Cigarette in hand, another Jagger lights up the stage
Mick’s son makes his theatre debut and says: ‘Judge me on my acting, not my name’
JAMES JAGGER, son of Rolling Stone frontman Mick Jagger and supermodel Jerry Hall, lit up an Islington theatre this week, combining his professional acting debut with a crafty on-stage cigarette.
After making his first appearance in a double bill of plays at the King’s Head Theatre in Upper Street on Tuesday, Jagger jnr celebrated his 22nd birthday, drinking until late at the bar with Keith Richards’ daughters Theodora and Alexandra.
James, who cites Paul Newman and Marlon Brando among his acting idols, said the first night was always a question of “feeling it out” in front of a live audience. “It’s hard to gauge the reaction the jokes are going to get, but I think it went rather well,” he said. “I don’t really get nervous, so I just read the paper backstage, though I did get a bit of a rush when I stepped out under the lights.”
The small fringe theatre was packed for the double-bill performance of Lone Star/Private Wars, which co-stars ex-EastEnders actor Shane Ritchie and young American star Will Meredith and runs until September 23.
James, who turned to acting after being inspired by a drama teacher at his Hammersmith secondary school, has just finished making a film, Knife Edge, with Joan Plowright.
He chose the King’s Head plays on the strength of the writing, despite being offered 10 times more money to play the lead in an indie film.
“You’ve got to pay your dues,” he said. “People remember the first things you do. I just hope people will judge me for my acting and not my name.”
The two black comedies, written in the 1970s by American playwright James McLure, take an offbeat look at the fall-out from the Vietnam war.
In Lone Star, James plays Cletus, a drawling, idiotic redneck from a small Texas town. At one point he lights a cigarette, only to put it out a few moments later and declare he is quitting, just an hour after taking up the habit.
James said: “The smoking is integral to the play. It would have been ridiculous if we’d had to fake it – it’s a draconian, nanny state we’re living in anyway.”
In the second play, Private Wars, James plays a snooty Long Island rich kid, Natwick, in a military hospital. Natwick wears silk pyjamas and is terrorised by Silvio (Ritchie), a psychotic New Yorker missing certain private parts.
James said: “Shane and Will are both great actors and we’re all on the same wavelength. A lot of the characterisation has been left up to us, and Shane and I decided the more he hates me the funnier it is, but off-stage we get on great.”
Famous father Mick and sister Lizzie – both expected to attend the opening night – were absent but James said he had told them to come later in the run.
He said: “Mick’s a very supportive dad. I think he’s just happy I’m keeping busy. If I was in love with taxidermy, he’d support me doing that.” |
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