Entertainment

Callum Maxwell has ‘no time to miss home’ since moving to London to star in West End's Stranger Things

ACTOR Callum Maxwell has left his hometown of Oldcastle in Co. Meath to star in an award-winning new production in London’s West End.

The 24-year-old, who graduated from the Gaiety School of Acting in 2021, arrived in the capital last September, to take up the role of Bob Newby in Stranger Things: The First Shadow.

The Olivier Award-winning show, which is co-produced by Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions, is based on Netflix's hit series Stranger Things, which was created by the Duffer Brothers.

The brothers act as creative producers on the West End production, which is set in Hawkins in 1959.

Since it opened in December 2023, the prequel has introduced theatre audiences to a young Jim Hopper, Joyce Maldonado, Henry Creel and of course Bob Newby, whom Maxwell admits is a “joy” to play.

Now based in Clapham, with a busy schedule comprising eight shows per week, London is home for the foreseeable, the actor, who is also a playwright, told The Irish Post this week…

Callum Maxwell as Bob Newby in Stranger Things: The First Shadow (Pics: Manuel Harlan)

Tell us about Stranger Things: The First Shadow?

Basically, the show is set 20 years before the television series Stranger Things.

We see Bob, Hopper and Joyce navigating being teenagers in the same year at school amidst a bunch of supernatural things happening.

We get to see a different side to all of them and, let’s say, some of the behaviours they have as adults, well we get to see where that comes from.

Do you need to have seen Stranger Things to get this show?

No, if you haven’t seen any of the series you will still enjoy it. It’s still this big, beautiful spectacle of a show with loads of heart in it.

But if you have seen the show you will pick up on a bunch of gorgeous easter eggs that writer Kate Trefry, who also wrote the Stranger Things series, has put in the theatre production.

They really took a lot of extra care to knit the two things together.

How would you describe your character?

Bob is a really nerdy, very intelligent courageous young man who, unsurprisingly, has a crush on Joyce.

His love for technology and her is kind of his main driving force in a lot of his decision-making.

He is a force of joy. Of all the characters in this show I am delighted to play the one I am playing; he’s a great guy.

Are you playing an age much younger than yours?

I am 24 and I am playing an 18-year-old so it’s fine. I have played 15 and 16 year olds in the past.

When you have a young face, it can be useful to get work but it can also mean you get stuck in those teenager type roles too.

The cast of Stranger Things: The First Shadow (Pics: Manuel Harlan)

How do you prepare for your roles?

Taking on any kind of role I like to try and map out the character, see what I have in common and not in common with them and what that means.

Basically you are trying to play to the differences, the bits you need to work on as the other bits are there anyway.

Bob is very close to me in a lot of ways, compared to other characters I have played.

He sees the best in people and is just trying to be a force for good when he can be.

What has been challenging about this role?

Well, there was the accent, trying to get that all together.

The great thing is Netflix and Sonia Friedman are producing the show, so we have people for everything,

There is someone for voice, you are never in want of support for any of that. I have been spoilt rotten in that respect.

It’s an Indiana accent and I’m good with it now. To be honest, I do think that Irish actors have an ear for accents a lot of the time.

Like my friends at drama school, if you gave them ten minutes to work on something they would always come back with an accent that is really decent from anywhere.

How does this show compare to your previous work?

Last year I did Roddy Doyle’s Peter Pan at The Gate Theatre in Dublin.

That had a similar schedule of shows, so I am familiar with that structure, but I do have much more to do in this play.

Doing eight shows a week is never an easy thing, but you do get used to it and the body and the mind adapt to it after a while.

You moved to London to take this role, how was that been?

I came over in September 2024, and we had about two months rehearsals before getting into performances, but it has been wonderful.

Prior to the move I was working in Dublin on my own play, and I flew over a few times for auditions, so it was all a bit of a whirlwind really.

It was one of those things that if I actually had time to stop and think about it, I would have been overwhelmed by it, but because it was all so fast-moving it was just like 'cool, this is what we are doing then'.

Thankfully everyone involved in the show is genuinely the kindest people I’ve ever met in my life so it has been a really sweet experience that way.

I wasn’t really expecting that, you know you are in a big city, you think people might be a bit colder, but that is not my experience at all which has been lovely.

Jessica Rhodes as Joyce Maldonado, George Smale as James Hopper Jnr., and Callum Maxwell as Bob Newby in the produciton (Pics: Manuel Harlan)

How are you settling into London?

I’m having a great time in London, but right now I haven’t really had a chance to explore the city.

It’s been non-stop, I have spent more time in Hawkins that anywhere since I arrived, but my New Year’s resolution was to see more of the city.

So I am getting out more and going places, it’s a gorgeous big city so there is plenty to see.

So, no time to be homesick yet?

I haven’t had time to be homesick at all.

It was so busy when I arrived, especially when I was in rehearsals, it was six days a week, and very long days, so all I had time to think about was the show.

And in fairness, it’s a big cast, there are 34 people in the show, so there were plenty people to meet and get to know anyway.

I wasn’t starved for attention; I wasn’t lonely at all.

And I am living in Clapham Junction, there are plenty Irish people here.

It’s a home away from home, definitely.

Have you had many people over to see the show?

I am the most spoilt man in the universe, I have had people over to see me all the time, all checking in to see if I am good and stuff.

My family are used to seeing me in plays in the theatre so when they came over and saw just how action-packed this show was, they were a bit shook, which I loved.

It was great to see them sitting there with their mouths agape.