Danny Mac plays John Wilkes Booth in our production of Assassins. A local lad (he grew up in Pagham and went to school in Bognor!) Danny's recent theatre credits include Sunset Boulevard and Pretty Woman The Musical.

Hi Danny! So first things first - what attracted you to being in Assassins?

The thing that attracted me most to being in Assassins was, without a doubt, the material. The book, the script, the story is fantastic, how they’ve bought all these characters together who wouldn’t be together otherwise. And most importantly, the music. It’s written by Stephen Sondheim. I mean he’s a genius.

What’s it like performing for your first time at CFT?

I feel so honoured to have come back to Chichester to work because I grew up in the area, and I don’t live far away now. I trained at Chichester College originally and then went off to drama school in London, and I’ve always wanted to work at Chichester. I saw some of the first shows I ever saw there and have been back ever since. And I just feel honoured to have the chance to perform there myself - and then be 15 minutes down the road from my house!

Can you tell us a bit about Assassins?

It’s a really dark comedy; it puts these various crazy characters in a room together, and we get to see who they are, why they did what they did, what drove them to it… It’s really funny but also it reflects where we are today.

And what about the character that you play?

I play a character called John Wilkes Booth who killed Abraham Lincoln back in 1865. And he was an actor as well; it’s just mad. An actor who was relatively famous at the time, a star name in theatre, and then went on to kill the President.

Why should audiences see this show?

It’s an incredible piece that isn’t done that often, and the songs, the story, the group of characters, and Polly’s vision for it I think is fantastic. I am so excited to perform in it, and it’s not running for very long!

Stephen Sondheim is one of the greatest musical theatre writers of all time – West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, Company, Into the Woods – and the music for Assassins is just epic. But the scenes and dialogue are amazing too - possibly even better!

And this company - every single person in their own right is a lead in a West End show - they’re just incredible.

If you could sum up the piece in three words, what would they be?

Summing up this piece in three words…. I would say it’s dangerous, daring and genius.

Danny performs in Assassins from 3 to 24 June. Pop over to the Assassins webpage to find out more about the show.