Actor Matt Gavan gives the inside scoop on Nottingham Playhouse's new play Eureka Day

Thank you Matt, for speaking with Leftlion today. You’re appearing in the Nottingham Playhouse’s upcoming play, Eureka Day. What does it have to offer audiences?

It's one of the funniest plays I've ever read. It's a genuine laugh out loud experience. When it was in the West End and on Broadway, people were literally rolling in the aisles, especially at one infamous central scene on a Zoom meeting. So yeah, it's brilliantly funny, along with some exciting things to say about misinformation and vaccination, all that malarkey. But mainly because it’s an incredibly enjoyable experience.

And you play Eli. What can you tell us about his character?

Poor sweet Eli. So, Eli is full time father because he's a retired tech entrepreneur. He's fabulously rich and fabulously well intentioned, but he struggles to put his values into action the way he would like. He has an open marriage, which is all consensual and agreed with his wife, but he's blind to the fact that she's actually totally miserable in that open marriage. And he has these high social ideals which maybe don't marry up with his soul.

How do you go about building your performance as Eli, or any character in a stage play?

Well, with this play it's easy, because the writing is so good. Essentially, if you get good at speaking it, the character itself will come out through you. I'm not a big one for learning, for watching people do funny walks or whatever, and then copying them. I think if you're delivering the text with clarity, with meaning and with feeling, then the character is born out of that.

You've worked across theatre, radio, TV, film, from your perspective as an actor, does theatre offer anything that the other media do not?

It's completely different. Film and TV is fantastic, but you turn up and you deliver. Your time to rehearse is the audition. On the day you have to deliver. Even on a long job, you’re practicing things by yourself at home. You come in and people need to you go right now.

Whereas, with theatre, you’re developing things in the rehearsal room just next door. Working on things together with the director, but also your fellow cast, and with yourself over time, repeating and thinking about it, coming back to it. I mean, it's obviously a much richer and rewarding experience, even if it's not as well paid.

Do you ever get stage fright? 

I don't ever get stage fright. What I get is this feeling right before I go on, particularly for the first time on production, this feeling of overwhelming pressure. And you sort of think, oh, my God, what am I going to do now? But then you step on, and this is the nice thing, you have rehearsed it. So, when you’re out on the stage, you don't really care so much. And the relief of that is quite palpable.

How did you get into acting?

I'm not from an acting family at all. I'm originally from Dorking in Surrey and I did loads of youth theatre, basically in Guildford. I happened to be around at the time in a youth theatre at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford which was fantastic. An amazing director called Adam Ford ran it, and a whole generation of us went on into the business. Such as one of my very best friends, comedian Emma Sidi, who’s been on Taskmaster among various other things. So, it was a golden period when I was there. That was my proving ground, not school or anything.

And after that?

I went on to uni, and did loads of student plays there. And after uni, I went to drama school at RADA.

So that's how. What's the why? Why are you an actor?

Oh, God, I've no idea. I ask myself that very question on dark and rainy evenings. Why am I an actor? Suppose this sounds banal, but it's because I enjoy it so much. If I didn't, you wouldn't put up with the periods of not being in work and the difficulty about having a day job and juggling all of that stuff. And I've got a son now. I've got another son on the way. So practical difficulties pile up year on year. But I just love it so much. I guess it's the stupid answer. I just really, really enjoy the actual act of doing it. Not saying I'm an actor, not being an actor, but doing acting, I just think is fantastic.

Any tips you can share for young people trying to break into acting?

Gordon Bennett! It's very hard to make it work practically, so you have to really, really, really, really, really want to do it. And if you don't really want to do it, even if you've been to drama school, or you've thought about it and you think, oh, I'd maybe rather do something else, just go and do that instead. I promise you it’ll be easier. And life is too short to waste on something you don't absolutely love, if it's going to be really difficult.

What do you do to relax when you're not acting in acclaimed movies and shows?

Oh God, I'm obviously a total voracious watcher of all sorts of television. So for some reason, I missed out on Blue Lights the first time it came around, because the new show is coming at the moment, so I'm watching all the Blue 

Lights. I’m on all of the streamers you could possibly think of. So I constantly have infinite choice. Yeah, watching lots of TV. I don't get to the theatre as much anymore, having young kids and I live in a small town now in Dorset, which is a real shame. But yes, hanging out with my wife in front of the TV is probably the honest answer.

You must be away from your wife and kids to do this play. Is that tough?

This was always going to be the longest stint I've ever been away from my son. This three and a half weeks. I was meant to see them last week. But sadly, I couldn't because my wife was ill at home. So it's quite a long stint for me, this one, which has not been very pleasant this last week or so. 

What's in the pipeline after Eureka Day?

Well, we’re having another son in early December. So that's the plan for the rest of the year. We're hitting danger zone at the end of the run. All being well, we'll make it past the end of Eureka Day. Then, I'll be in nesting mode with my wife until the end of the year.

What about say, five years from now? 

Well, I'd like to still be working and still in the business. There's been this massive contraction with streamers, you know, for the last three or four years. At the moment, it's about staying on the bus. If I can do that for the next three or four years, if I did another play as good as this one, I would be a very, very happy man.

Anything I forgot to ask?

I don't think so. Apart from I'm really looking forward to this play. I'm really excited about the work everyone's doing in the rehearsals. It's an amazing cast.

Eureka Day runs at the Nottingham Playhouse from Saturday 25 October until Saturday 15 November 2025.