Interview: Jonathan Butterell Of SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE

Jonathan Butterell - a renowned director and choreographer with credits including the Donmar's Nine, Company and Into The Woods - has returned to the stage as an actor for the first time in many years.

"In all honesty, I never thought I'd be an actor again," he admits. "I'd not been an actor for over 22 years! I find myself here, now, terrified, and being directed, and appreciating actors so much - not that I didn't appreciate them in the first place, but actually being in this position myself at this moment in time is immense."

The piece that has lured him back is Michael John LaChiusa's See What I Wanna See, receiving its European professional premiere at Jermyn Street Theatre, with a cast that also includes Cassie Compton and Marc Elliott.

"In the first part, I'm playing a janitor who observes something - he knows somebody got stabbed - and then is dragged into an interrogation room and has to account for himself, as they all do," he explains.

"It's very complex. The second part I play a priest who becomes more cynical as others become more hopeful - and then doesn't know what to do with the truth. It's all about truth and faith and lies. Act one is about darkness, act two is about salvation and light."

In such an intense piece, it's no wonder that the usual butterflies are equally intensified.

"It's a piece that demands a lot of actors. It's complex musically, emotionally, in a literary sense," says Butterell.

It's just as well the company are pulling together.

"They are completely and utterly supportive - they're amazing," he enthuses. "I'm loving being in the kinship of actors."

See What I Wanna See runs at the Jermyn Street Theatre until October 3.

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