Jonathan Glew in his own words by Maria Azzurra Volpe

by Maria Azzurra Volpe

picture by Maria Volpe

Jonathan Glew is an Olivier award winning actor, who in 2015 turned John Lennon’s first book into a successful show, that ended up at the Edinburgh Festival and the V&A. His talent grew when he was just a child and he kept improving himself until he became a theatre director.

In a century where TV and Netflix have almost replaced theatre shows, some people still believe in the power of live performances, letting the magic atmosphere of the stage transport them to a different dimension of art and pleasure. One of them is Jonathan Glew, theatre director, actor and musician.

Jonathan was born in Preston, Lancashire, thirty-nine years ago, and there he lived until he left for Liverpool, where he graduated with a 1stclass bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA).

His interest in art arose when he was just thirteen years old, “whenI was 13, I got put in a school production where I had to sing a song with a girl, she was a very good singer, a bit intimidating. It was new to me, I used to do all sports before, but then all girls were there” he said laughing. “But also, I fell in love with collaboration, in a musical you work all together, it’s a team work, instead of being on your own like in sport.”

Since then, Jonathan followed his passion until he became successful.

His journey to success was not easy, in fact it took him long before he started making a living out of it, “being creative and self-employed is not easy money, work it’s project by project, when is good you have some good money but when it’s not you need to do anything else, just to survive. I did it for 10 years, that’s how long it took me to start making a living out of it.”

Jonathan’s artistic talent is wide and takes many directions, along with being a theatre actor and director he is a musician, able to play many different kinds of instruments from guitar to ukulele, from percussions to mandolin and banjo and any other string instruments, he also likes to say that he “plays his voice”.

As an actor Jonathan has worked on a wide number of plays, among the most famous ones the are: “The prince and the pauper” adaptation of Mark Twain’s novel by Jemma Kennedy, “The nutcracker”, “Bicycle boy” and “Jerry Springer the opera” for which he won the 2004 Olivier Award for “Best Supporting Performance in a Musical”.

Despite all his successful performances, acting is not his favourite thing, in fact Jonathan prefers directing plays.

“I prefer directing, the actor is a small part of a big machine, but the director is in control, they bring their vision to the public, it’s their play.”

During the years he has directed many successful plays, like: “Much ado about nothing”, in honour of Shakespeare’s 450thanniversary, “Girls like that” and “Pinter at the Pinter”. But one of his most remunerated ones is “John Lennon in his own writings. In 2015 he was granted from Yoko Ono the rights turn John Lennon’s first book into a 3-hander stage show.

“To get Yoko Ono’s rights I wrote the best letter I have ever written in my life, it took me a month to write it, I had to be very clear. To me this wasn’t about money, it’s the idea of making it a play, I wanted to take it to the Edinburgh festival. I wanted to do it for the Lennon Estate.”

The show eventuallyended up at the Edinburgh Festival and the V&A.

He is currently working on “Betrayal” until June, as associate director together with Jamie Lloyd, who he worked with last summer doing “Evita”.

To his friends he’s the most carrying and considerate person, but he’s also uncompromising and can’t back down.

Michael Imerson, who has been his best friends since drama school, says of him: “he is very hard working and tenacious. He is a grafter and will do everything in his power to achieve a goal, even if it turns out the goal is unfortunately unachievable. He is also loud, fun and a very loving person”

Michael talks about Jonathan as a very musical and theatrical person, who has an “excellent hear for harmony” and “a great understanding of theatre”, he says: “his theatre work is well informed, and he is not scared of making new interesting choices”.

According to Jonathan, “you are not born an artist, you become an artist”

He good results come out of practise and hard work, “it’s no gift from God, it’s your achievement”.

Another friend of him, Leon Scott, who is also an actor and works alongside Jonathan, describes him as “one of the best people I know”.

“Jon is all the superlatives.  He is one of the kindest, most generous people I know, he is beautifully flawed with impatience, he is grounded and wise, and this all adds up to making him one of the best people I know, as an actor he is intuitive and playful.  He is a very active performer, in that for example, he is more inclined to “on its feet” rehearsing rather than a more cerebral response, and is excited by the discovery process, rather than the performance.  This makes him perfectly suited for his shift into directing.

Jon is one of my most dear friends, he is very special to me.”