Aled Davies is ‘living the dream’ touring in the smash-hit musical
Aled Davies is appearing in Mamma Mia! touring to Hull New Theatre in April(Image: Lloyd James)
Aled Davies says he has “no idea” where his next acting job will take him but at the moment, he is “living the dream” appearing in the touring mega-musical, Mamma Mia!. The show arrives in Hull for a two-week run in April.
Incredibly, a couple of years ago Aled was between jobs and working as a delivery driver when he found himself bringing parcels to the Hull New Theatre stage door. He made a deal with himself, there and then, that next time he was in Hull it would be on the stage.
Now Aled, part of the smash-hit show’s ensemble and under-study for two of the Mamma Mia! dads, Bill and Sam, is manifesting that promise. And on the back of an “almost unheard of” week-long break from the tour, he and the cast will be at their freshest and best to deliver to Hull audiences.
Aled, who hails from Caerphilly, said: “You kind of know with a job like acting that at some point you will be doing other jobs in between. They are maybe not the best jobs in the world but you know something else will come along.
“I was working for a delivery company and I was in Leeds at the time. I’d been up for a 7am start and been driving for three hours.
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“A few weeks beforehand I’d seen a friend in the show, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, at Hull New Theatre. I recognised the place and thought, I know where I’m going, I even know where the stage door is.”
Aled said he felt fortunate to have been working “pretty constantly” after the Covid pandemic, but then things slackened off for him. “I was in that limbo place and I made a bit of a commitment to myself.
“I said I wouldn’t be coming back again [to Hull] unless it was going through the stage door to a dressing room.” Aled said: “I am absolutely not throwing any shade at delivery drivers but it was just not what I set out to do growing up – I was five when I remember thinking, I want to sing on stage.”
Aled said it was thrilling to be part of the Mamma Mia! cast, who have been touring the show since last October and will finish their current contract in August. “With some jukebox musicals you realise you are just waiting for the next song.
“It’s not like that with Mamma Mia!” The show includes plenty of interest and relatable scenes to entertain the audience, he said.
“You almost forget there are songs coming up. It catches you off guard that these are some of the best songs ever written.”
Aled said it was a great feeling to know that, as the audience was on its feet towards the end of a show, there were still three songs to go – and the prospect of a rendition of Waterloo to be excited by every night. “We’ve all had a go at some point at our cover roles and that’s one of my favourite things about theatre.
“I won’t know until about two hours before a performance exactly what I’m going to be doing. I started out in a couple of jobs where there were no covers, a case of if you are ill, you just get on with it.
“I think we’re in a much better place in the industry now where everyone can take a day off where they need to. It’s nice to have the knowledge that we can take a day off and the show’s not going to be the worse for our absence.
“All the main roles have been off for one reason or another and it’s great fun as part of the ensemble, saying whose turn is it today?” Aled said he thought he would be putting himself forward for selection again for the next section of the Mamma Mia! tour to other parts of the UK next year, and the potential to go abroad.
“I’m having far too much fun not to throw my hat in,” he said. He was at pains to let other budding actors know he came to the industry later in life – at the age of 24 or 25 – and worked in an office after university, rather than going straight to drama school at 18.
“I clambered my way up the ladder,” he said. “I had a lot of help and got lucky at certain points in my life but there is no barrier to starting this job; there is no one route to being in the performing arts industry.
“Also, learn how to pull a pint – and how to be a delivery driver, in my case. One of my friends won an Olivier and then six months later they were pulling pints again in London.
“We all have bills to pay and responsibilities and occasionally you might just have to do jobs that are not acting.”
Mamma Mia! is billed as the “world’s sunniest and most exhilarating smash-hit musical”. Set on a Greek island paradise, a story of love, friendship and identity is cleverly told through the timeless songs of ABBA.
Sophie’s quest to discover the father she has never known brings her mother face to face with three men from her distant romantic past on the eve of a wedding they will never forget. Mamma Mia! runs at Hull New Theatre from Tuesday, April 7 to Saturday, April 18. Recommended age is five-plus.