Actor Laurie Davidson on Playing Jack in ‘Jack Absolute Flies Again’, A New Comedy at The National Theatre

In the lead up to the two audio described performances of Richard Bean’s new comedy ‘Jack Absolute Flies Again’ at the National Theatre RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey chats with Actor Laurie Davidson who is playing Jack Absolute.

Toby caught up with Laurie online from the heart of the National Theatre in London as ‘Jack Absolute Flies Again’ was in previews prior to the press night on Thursday 14 July to firstly find out more about this new comedy which is based on Sherridon’s the Rivals but set during World War II focusing on the lives of fighter pilots like Jack absolute.

Laurie then talked about how his research into the lives of the young Second World War Fighter Pilots helped to form the character of Jack Absolute along with mentioning his own family connections to the Second World War. Then Toby and Laurie chatted about how those young people at the time would have experienced and coped with all their training to become fighter pilots.

Toby and Laurie then talked about the role of the touch tours in the full experience of an audio described performance with Laurie talking about how blind and partially sighted patrons would be able to get up close and feel the layers of clothing he wears as Jack at the touch tours for ‘Jack Absolute Flies Agin’. Then to a more general discussion about access in theatre with Laurie talking about other productions he has been in where there have been touch tours, captioned performances and relaxed performances.

The audio described performances of ‘Jack Absolute Flies Again’ are on Friday 5 August, 7.30pm with the touch tour 6pm and also on Saturday 20 August, 2pm with the touch tour 12.30pm.

More details about description and other access services at the National Theatre can be found by visiting the access pages of the National Theatre’s website -

https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/your-visit/access


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