Interview: Kat Ronney and Michael Elcock Talk HEX at National Theatre

Right before Hex started its previews this past weekend, we sat down with cast members Kat Ronney and Michael Elcock to talk about The National Theatre's new original musical. Directed by Rufus Norris, with music by Jim Fortune, book by Tanya Ronder and lyrics by Norris himself, the show is a retelling of the popular fairy tale Sleeping Beauty.

Would you like to introduce yourselves?

Michael Elcock: My name is Michael Elcock and I'll be playing Prince Bert in Hex at The National Theatre.

Kat Ronney: And I'm Kat Ronney. I'll be playing Rose, who is the princess of the story.

What's the show about?

KR Hex is a retelling of the children's fairy tale that we all know and love, Sleeping Beauty. It goes beyond the wee princess - the story is from the fairy's perspective as she tries to make everything good after she puts the curse on Rose.

Rufus Norris, Artistic Director of The National Theatre, is directing the show as well as being its lyricist. Did you feel any pressure going into the project?

ME You know what, yeah, I did! I think every actor does before they do a show. Before you know anyone, before you start, before you rehearse. You're left with all these thoughts like "I hope I do a good job, I hope I live up to what this role demands of me."

I'm not just speaking for myself when I say that these roles are very challenging. It's a big show. There is a lot of pressure on us, but it's good and it's fun! The second we got into that room and we met everyone and we started to go over it, Rufus was so energetic and open and lovely. That pressure went out of the room immediately.

KR I remember going to my first audition being really nervous. Thinking, this is their show and you want to give them what they imagined. But the whole creative team has been so fun and silly, they really helped create this magical world. I don't feel like there has ever been a point where there's been a serious problem. We had so much fun, it's been lovely.

You're originating your roles. Did you get to have any input in who your characters were going to be?

KR I think we had a big part! It's been so exciting. For me, this is a bucket list thing in my career to be able to originate a role. A big pinch-me moment. The creative team have been so open to suggestions, they've left us space to discover our characters through the whole process. It's been wonderful.

ME From the audition process onwards, I felt like they were asking me questions about what I thought. That's rare in shows, especially in musicals as they've been done for decades. Sometimes you just get told to stand in a place and sing a certain line in a certain way. This time around, it's been pure collaboration. It feels like we're building it from scratch. When we started rehearsing, our choreographer Jade Hackett would bring a bunch of Legos and would start building stuff with them. From seeing that, I thought it was really cool.

It wasn't one of those already calculated shows. We were all coming together and building this magical thing from the ground up. Nobody knew what was going to happen and that's the beauty of it. You can surprise yourself and you can surprise each other. There have been loads of surprising and magical moments.

When did you first audition and how long did it take to bring it to the stage?

ME We had different journeys! You've been in this for quite a while, haven't you?

KR I have, yeah. My first audition was back in the summer, maybe in May. And then I actually got to workshop it in the summer for a few weeks, which was really wonderful. I knew they'd been working on it for a long time by then. Some people have been attached to it from day one, and then there are some others who have been with us since the start of these rehearsals. I think I'm speaking for both of us when I say that it's such a great opportunity and I still can't believe that we get to do this.

ME My God, yes.

KR I'm like "Don't pinch me, I don't want to wake up!"

ME It has been a dream, especially for Kat and me I think because we're young. We're in our early twenties and I've always seen this building as the pinnacle of world-class theatre. To be able to lead this story on that stage is something I don't take for granted.

KR Not at all. And it's special for both of us in a different way. Wasn't it your first job at the National?

ME Yes, it was.

KR Michael and I both had our first jobs here just before the pandemic. Michael was doing The Visit and I was doing Hamlet in the NT Learning Department. To come back and finish that journey with Hex is out of this world. I graduated from drama school just before the pandemic. It feels exciting and I'm very grateful. It sounds cheesy but it does feel like a fairy tale.

How would you describe your characters? What role do they have in the story? Are they anything like the traditional versions that we know?

ME Bert is the only son of Queenie, who's an ogress. She had me with a human man, which means that I'm half-ogre and half-human. Which is crazy! The storyline for me is that I've been raised in this castle with my mother, our servants, and Fairy too. She helped raise me and I see her like a babysitter. On my 16th birthday I get to go on this really cool stroll and fight all these thorns, I'm having a good time. Then, I come across this beautiful young woman, whom I fall madly in love with instantly.

The problem is that I don't know what to do. I don't know how to speak to girls, I never had to do anything like it in my life! My mum raised me to stay away from humans because she has these cannibalistic urges and wants to eat people. I'm this confused young lad who's so energetic and so sprightly... I wish I was him. I wish I had that kind of energy and confidence. Then, he meets Rose...

KR I think what's really lovely about Rose and Bert is that we become a real team. I don't think Rose is quite like the classic Sleeping Beauty that people know. She's a bit more wild. From the day she was born, when we meet Rose, she's wild, dreaming of adventure. And then, she's cursed. For her whole life she's indoors, never knowing why.

She feels like no one loves her and they all want her to stay inside and have a boring life. All she wants to do is to go on an adventure - which she may or may not get to do. When Rose and Bert meet each other - they're the first person they ever meet outside of their families - they match each other's energy.

The musical shifts the focus towards the Fairy - what does this mean for your characters?

KR All the characters on the show go on a journey of self-discovery. The whole thing is through the perspective of the Fairy - the one and only Rosalie Craig, who's a complete and utter joy to work with. She tries to make everything good, but all the while she's causing a lot of problems and trying to sweep everything under the carpet. Every single person in the show really has a big journey. By the end, no one is the same as they started, in a good way.

What's the music like?

ME I'm not going to lie, there's everything in this show. There's some reggae, there's ska, they're house-y/disco-y. There's ballads.

KR There's pop songs too. It's a bit of everything. That's one question that friends and family have asked me and I've not known how to answer. I don't feel like there's anything else in the world. Jim Fortune and the creative team have created a magical world and the music is wonderful.

ME What's amazing about it is that it's so accessible. Anyone can come to the show and find a song, or a moment, or a theme that they can connect with. That's not just expressed in the music, it's expressed in the casting and in the characters too.

KR We've done a few studio sessions a while ago and we had the amazing opportunity to record a highlights album, which will be coming out later this month. It's not the whole show but it's a lot of it - it was so much fun.

Without any spoilers, are you looking forward to the audience seeing anything specific?

ME Nobody's seen the show, so all of it! That also means that this is the first time that we also get to see it. The design, the set, the costumes. There have been moments when I thought, oh my God, my mum's going to scream. My little sister is going to cry. Then again, she cries at anything so I don't know...

KR I'm so excited because it really is magical. After the tough times we've been through, this is a show where people can let themselves be transported into a magical world. For us, I can't wait to have audiences in. That's the missing piece of the puzzle to bring this world to life.

Who's your favourite princess?

KR My favourite princess is Merida [from Brave]. Being a Scottish girl, she has to be. That's also one thing that I love about this show: I get to do my own accent. I'm a Scottish Rose, which is so much fun. It's incredible to get to act in my own accent, which is not something that we hear a lot. It's been lovely. I've had some very kind messages from other Scottish people who reached out to say that it's brilliant having a Scottish voice in musical theatre. I feel really chuffed about it.

ME I really like Tiana from The Princess and the Frog. She's so cool. Her and her best friend, I really like them. What I was going to say is that for Bert, accent wise, I toned it down in my audition because I couldn't see myself in that leading male prince in musical theatre. I didn't think it would connect and I didn't think people would understand it. But again, that collaborative aspect of it, they asked what I wanted to do with Bert and what I thought.

So I did my own weird thing and they thought it was funny. It clicked for me. Every time we do the show, it's going to be the first time those people see it. If I can bank on that first reaction, I know that it's going to be special.

KR I don't think we're the typical prince and princess that people know. It's exciting.

ME It's really cool.

Why should people come and see it?

ME I mean, why not?! It's Christmas and there's nothing like it. And it's The National Theatre. It's really special. There's something for everyone in it. It's also so warm. You leave the show feeling great and special. And it's a family show.

KR Not giving anything away, my favourite moment in the show is the finale. It's called "On The Inside" and it's a song that everyone can really relate to and it has a very important message. It's just wonderful. I hope people can come and escape. They'll be transported away. I know I've really missed that in the past few years.

Hex is now running at The National Theatre until 22 January, 2022

Photo Credit: Julia Fullerton-Batten

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