JANE HARDY INTERVIEW Glen Wallace

Jane Hardy

is a feature writer who has interviewed a few of the big names from Arlene Foster to Mrs Thatcher.

According to actor Glen Wallace, his profession is a Lottery ticket. He adds that it can be life changing: “In terms of the people you meet or the money you make, but we all know the statistics. Over 95% of actors are out of work at any one time”.

Yet since graduating in musical theatre from The Royal Academy of Music in 2001, Wallace (44) has not just been in pretty much constant work, but has carved out a career as a member of the soap aristocracy. Hollyoaks, Casualty, EastEnders, Holby City, he’s graced them all. He’s now in the granddaddy of the genre, Coronation Street. When he got the role as Lucas Kempton at the start of the year he described it as a light at the end of the COVID tunnel.

Why has he constantly been in demand, does he think? We discuss the need for talent, obviously, accompanied by the right personality. Even through my modest PC screen, you know that Wallace has charm. “You have to fit in. One casting director told me he’d imagine whether he wanted to spend two hours on a train with an actor. Because that’s what you’re doing, inviting somebody into your home. It’s quite simple: learn your lines, turn up on time (I’ve only been late on set once), learn your lines and don’t be an idiot.”

Zooming from the West Midlands, where he lives about 20 minutes from Stratford-upon-Avon, Wallace says that soaps have a particular place in the national psyche: “They represent a bit of release and escapism, familiarity even in the time of lockdowns and the pandemic. As soon as you hear the theme tune, you can relax a bit and you know everything’s going to be ok.” Interestingly, a recent viewers’ poll revealed over 60% of viewers wanted their favourite continuing dramas to avoid a coronavirus story line.

Glen Wallace’s favourite, other than the one he’s currently acting in, would probably be Hollyoaks. “My first telly role was actually in Casualty, where I played a character called Bill Tree but unfortunately didn’t meet Charlie. It was a big step up from 30-second commercials with no dialogue to guest artist in a 30 minute programme. But it was Hollyoaks that was my repertory theatre.”

He played Malachy Fisher, remained for three and a half years, and is remembered for introducing a vital HIV plot line. Soaps contain great characters but tend not to be character-based, as Wallace notes: “The major difference between soaps and single dramas is primarily money. With money comes time, but soaps have to shoot so much content, they tend to be more plot-led. But I think they have almost a duty to reach out into different communities and tackle important subjects.”

He adds that Malachy tweaked the public perception of living with HIV. “It was important, especially given the demographic that watched Hollyoaks, to show, may I say, a very ignorant, heterosexual experience of HIV, which hadn’t been done before. The subject hadn’t been tackled since the mid-80s with Mark Fowler (in EastEnders), and back then it was a death sentence but I spoke to people living with the condition.”

Glen says that he learnt his craft on Hollyoaks. “It was like a repertory theatre. Back in the day, you’d go to The Lyric Theatre, Belfast, earn your Equity card and learn your craft. Going to drama school was about going on stage but now you can leave college and not set foot on stage in the age of Netflix and Amazon Prime. We had one week’s training in TV acting in my course. Then you arrive on set, pick up your script, learn about hitting your mark, they mention bananas and you think it’s tea break time.” It isn’t, as Glen explains. Doing a banana means taking a curved walk from point A to point B so that one of two cameras on set will register you properly.

He’s now playing the latest Weatherfield romeo, no doubt with curved camera approaches, cast in an intriguing love triangle with Carla Connor and her alcoholic on-off partner Peter Barlow. As Wallace says, although he’s been part of what he calls the “soap family” for a while, he’s still had to pinch himself, acting in scenes with certain Corrie stars. “We were in the hospital and I was acting but still had to stop myself thinking ‘There’s Bill Roache sitting on the bed’ rather than ‘Here’s Lucas Kempton talking to Ken Barlow who’s getting in the way of his relationship.” Coronation Street happens to be Glen’s mother Sandra’s favourite soap opera, which adds to the thrill of treading the familiar Northern cobbles.

There have been romantic scenes between Glen and Alison King as Carla, and there are rumours of a super -dramatic storyline emerging that may show Lucas in a less favourable light while trying to eliminate his rival.

The anger shouldn’t be a problem for Glen who filmed some stormy episodes of EastEnders a while ago with actor Jake Wood, aka Max Branning. Who can forget the scene when DS Bryant punched lothario Max, who had been seeing quite a bit of his fiancée? Wallace says: “The way you find the anger is really by going back to the script, you don’t have to fabricate it.” What you do have to do, though, is fabricate the punch. That’s important, not just to save Jake Woods’ face, which turned realistically bloody, but because of continuity. Wallace says: “As the character you might want to punch Max but as an actor you can’t actually punch him as they may be shooting out of sequence.”

Although born in Ballymena, the actor left after a year as his family moved to Belfast. But he’s used the

shorthand link to Liam Neeson’s birthplace. Once, though, Wallace came unstuck. He was introducing himself at a theatrical event and using the Ballymena line. He recalls: “I’d noticed some sixty-something ladies nearby. Somebody said to me ‘You do know who that is, don’t you?’, indicating one lady. It was Liam Neeson’s mother - but she was very nice about it and said ‘I’ll let him know you speak highly of him’.”

Glen Wallace has a pleasing accent and has promoted the Northern Irish brogue. “The first commercial I spoke on was the Maltesers one with the pregnant mum where the husbandstroke-boyfriend puts the bag onto her bump, which is kicked off. I say ‘That’s my boy!’ which is what my dad always said to me when he ruffled the hair.” He says he was happy they used his voice. “This was about 20 years ago. I was pleased a major company like Mars would accept the accent. It’s about regionality and we’ve since been having important conversations, about male/female actors, people of colour. It’s about representation. When you see Jimmy Nesbitt and Charlie Lawson onscreen, you think ‘If they can do it, maybe I can do it’.”

Glen Wallace got into acting at school. He later trained as a graphic designer at the University of Ulster’s art college and remembers playing pool at Frames, off Royal Avenue, but the smell of the greasepaint clearly appealed to him from an early age. That, and missing maths. “I went to the Boys’ Model where I think Derek Thompson, Charlie in Casualty, went. We could only do school plays from the second year, but the week before it started was production week and you didn’t go into class at all. I went ‘So I don’t have to do maths for a week?’”

Wallace signed on to act in shows like Oklahoma! His English teacher, Leonard Anderson, was involved in the amateur musical theatre circuit across Northern Ireland. “So at 15 or 16 I got the opportunity with Michael Poynor’s Ulster Theatre Company to act in front of a lot of people. The alumni from there included Conleth Hill, Jimmy Nesbitt, Marty Maguire, more recently Packy Lee of Peaky Blinders and Johnjo O’Neill.” Handily, Mr Wallace also used his artistic skills and helped paint sets.

In terms of celebrity and the public’s reaction to actors they see on the small screen, Wallace says the c-word sits ill with him. “I’m a jobbing actor, I didn’t get into this to maybe get recognised in a pub.” But once, when going to see Sex and the City the movie in London with his flatmate, he sensed the strength of the public ownership of actors. “I’m quite Victor Meldrew about going to the cinema. All phones off, peace and quiet, you’re there to watch the film. We were the only two men in the cinema, it was all women. They started calling out halfway through at the guy, Steve, who had the affair. But then I realised they felt they knew these people.”

Professionally, the last time Glen was in Belfast was to film the dark hit-drama Marcella with Anna Friel. “Yes, It was quite dark, but we’ve had Scandi-noir and I guess this is Nordi-noir. I enjoyed working with Anna Friel, and didn’t have enough time with her. Seeing the way she plans her day and how she gets into character, which I think she finds difficult, is impressive.” He adds that he enjoyed playing alongside the tough godmother figure, Mrs Maguire, acted by Amanda Burton. “I remember seeing her on telly with my parents as a kid. It was like acting with your hero, your parents’ hero even. But she was the opposite of her character, a gentle hug of a person, a beautiful soul.”

The last time Glen was in Northern Ireland for pleasure was over Christmas. He says that he watched The Crown with his mother. “Friends recommended it. I know it’s fiction but my mother and I enjoyed it. I have two younger brothers who are married with families and it was nice to get over and see people. I normally come home every three months.”

In terms of the current royal family’s story line, Wallace admits he did watch Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Meghan and Harry. “I won’t speak about (Meghan) directly but I think they’re entitled to have their say. It’s their lived truth. You access this when you analyse a character. I think there are three truths: yours, the other person’s, and what probably actually happened.”

In lockdown Wallace has learnt things, including how to rehearse for Coronation Street while masked up. He says: “The first six months were ok although you couldn’t visit the gym. You kept going. But under COVID rules, and shows like Emmerdale and Coronation Street are very good with contained bubbles, you have to rehearse while only seeing somebody’s eyes. We were discussing this in the green room. In a way, it makes the take more real, unscripted. But Chris Gascoyne (Peter Barlow) was very good and asked if I wanted to go through the lines. Actually, it makes your reaction more real.”

What next for Mr Wallace? “I’m in a nice place at the moment. But you never know what’s round the corner.”

Glen appeared as Matthew Gaskill in the gritty drama, Marcella.