This Former Squash Champion Has Taken His Show to the Edinburgh Fringe
Fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe, Living North meet former squash champion James Willstrop from Harrogate, who's found a whole new challenge in theatre
James became one of only 23 world number one players in the history of men’s squash, and is one of England’s best ever players, having won three World Team Championships titles for England, becoming the world's number one squash player in 2012, British National Champion four times, and a Commonwealth Gold Medallist in 2018 and 2022. ‘I’m still on the professional tour but I’m mostly coaching now at my club where I grew up, in Pontefract,’ he reveals.
His passion for squash has never wavered but many may have been unaware of James’s second passion – theatre. ‘I always had that love but that went by the wayside when I got so focused on squash whilst at school. I got injured when I was 30 – quite a serious hip injury – and had an operation so wasn’t training for months on end. That gave me a bit of time, for the first time in my life, to look at other things. I always went to the theatre, but I saw more amateur theatre in that period and I was amazed that within the community there were so many good groups. Even just going along and reading plays was fun for me. I got into the groups in Leeds and ended up getting a part, and by then I was into performing on stage. I did a course at University of Leeds in creative writing, and did a solo play for my last project. I thought, I’ve got it written, so why don’t I do it?’
James’s one-man musical play Daddy, Tomorrow Will I Be a Man? debuted at Friargate in York and has just completed a run at theSpace @ Niddry Street, Edinburgh. Based on his own life, the play focuses on what success means to James, and what really matters when an international squash player (dreaming only of becoming world champion) falls for someone who wants a child.
‘I’m just trying to tell a story that hopefully might resonate’
‘It’s not just about me winning a title. It was really about trying to address, or look at, the toll that being at that level takes, and when you’re faced with a decision to make about having a child – it’s the push-pull conflict that arose for me out of that,’ he explains. ‘It’s basically about how wrong I got it in the way I treated people. I didn’t see then, but now I’m 42 I can see what a wonderful gift having a child is, and in my experience that was absolutely incredible. At the time I was so wound up with myself, so young and just wanted to achieve. That’s the crux of the story that I was trying to get at. If people come to watch it, they don’t have to be interested in sport; I think every parent will know that feeling of missing a part of their child’s life and the sacrifices in giving to yourself and your career, and trying to balance that with your child who you want to spend time with – knowing what really matters. When I was younger it was all about squash and I guess it has to be like that if you want to make the top level in the world at anything, and I was presented with a decision when my partner Vanessa wanted to have a child at that time. The way she dealt with it was unbelievable – she was so patient and understanding. It’s about the way we worked together to work it out, but it wasn’t easy at the time.’
James tries to find answers in the form of his late mother Lesley in this unique and deeply personal show which features original songs with arrangements by York-based musical director Sam Johnson. ’It’s particularly hard for me to go back to that but it was almost like when Logan [James’s son] came along it brought her back to me in a way. That grief sort of resurfaces when you have a child. People have been quite touched by that. Sam’s been absolutely brilliant in helping me work through it all. In the few weeks we’ve just done it in one guise, and anyone who’s written a play or a story knows you can always try to adapt it or work on it in workshops to get feedback. The Edinburgh Fringe has partly helped with that, in working out what works and what’s not quite working.
‘I knew all the pitfalls. A lot of people want to make it at the Fringe and are pushing their careers to become famous or be known, but I wasn’t under any illusion that it’s a tough stomping ground for anyone – there’s thousands of shows! When you get there, you get a dose of reality. The costs involved are significant and it’s a conveyer belt of shows. You don’t get the luxury of time like you would at a normal theatre. The Edinburgh Fringe is a machine in a way, but having said all that, what a brilliant thing – to be able to have an open arts festival where anyone can put on a show. It encourages people to perform, create, show their art and tell a story, and telling stories is so important to all of us.’
Talking about yourself and your own story of course isn’t easy and James describes himself as reserved, so he’s definitely stepped outside his comfort zone for his play. ‘I sometimes think is this a little bit self-obsessed? But lots of people are telling stories, and I think we’re interested in each other’s, so I’m just trying to tell a story that hopefully might resonate,’ he explains.
‘We’ve talked about maybe going into squash clubs with the show which might be helpful in terms of getting connections, but they’re also places that aren’t typically associated with theatre and it’s always a nice thing to bring theatre to different audiences. It is a squash story so I think that’s an obvious next step. We had to get it to 50 minutes for the Fringe but it could do with being a bit longer (the preview in York was around an hour and 10 minutes and that was just about right because we could get into the story a bit more), in terms of developing it. I’d love to get a director or producer who would help too.’
