‘There is a feeling of “why has it not happened before?”’: Actor Ed Larkin on becoming the first wheelchair user in 350 years to lead a West End musical

He dances, does aerial work and moves with flair, nailing a performance that is a kick up the backside to anyone who thinks wheelchair users can’t do these roles justice. Cathy Reay talks to the star and director of a show and west end venue transforming the future of accessible theatre

Ed Larkin and Jonny Amies onstage in ‘The Little Big Things’ (Pamela Raith)

Agnes, a physiotherapist, has been assigned new patient Henry, a young man struggling to come to terms with his diagnosis after a life-changing accident. “Disabled’s not a swear word,” Agnes tells him and his family, as she wheels across the stage confidently. “Henry is disabled. I’m disabled. I’m disabled in this hospital, and, yes, I’m even more disabled out there. And you know what, lifts can get fixed, ramps can get built. What we need to do, right here, right now, is focus on the things we can do, and stop being such a bunch of bloody can’ts.”

It’s a powerful – and tongue-in-cheek – speech, delivered by one disabled actor to another in what is, shockingly, the first of its kind, a West End musical featuring a wheelchair user in a lead role. In taking on the role, Ed Larkin has overturned 350 years of hidebound thinking.

The Little Big Things is based on Henry Fraser’s bestselling memoir; it’s the story of a man processing loss and re-finding his identity after a diving accident on holiday left him tetraplegic. As the adaptation recalls moments of Fraser’s life both before and after the event, the easiest thing would’ve been for the show’s creators to cast a non-disabled actor in the role (the default approach up to now). Yet “it’s important we have people with lived experience of disability playing roles – a way to show the world there is great disabled talent out there,” associate director Nickie Miles-Wildin tells me. And so disabled actor Ed Larkin was cast to play Henry post-accident, while Jonny Amies plays him pre-accident.

Larkin was delighted to have been cast in his first musical, an achievement that comes with the realisation that it has taken a shocking amount of time for this to finally happen for an actor who is a wheelchair user. “There is a feeling of ‘why has it not happened before?’,” he admits, “but then I also feel immense gratitude and a sense of responsibility to try and be a custodian of something. I feel responsible to shine a light on the possibilities, that there are no limitations.”

Historically, of course, there have been many limitations enforced on disabled actors, thanks in part to the sheer inaccessibility of many theatres and entertainment venues, especially those that are hundreds of years old. The decision made by Larkin to study theatre at Plymouth Marjon University, rather than the musical theatre courses he was accepted onto, illustrates this perfectly. He felt there was zero chance of his career dreams being realised. “How many wheelchair users do you see in the West End in musical theatre? It doesn’t happen,” says the recent graduate, although he is quick to praise co-star Amy Trigg, who plays Agnes, and actor Liz Carr, both of whom played a key part in giving him the confidence to try. “Doing this show is a bit of a full circle moment for me,” he smiles.

Larkin, who grew up in a small village near Plymouth, was born prematurely with cerebral palsy. His passion for performing came from his parents, albeit indirectly. “They were trying to find a hobby for me and took me to an afterschool acting club. From there I really started to enjoy it,” he says, smiling. He studied drama at A-level, then completed his BA. The rest is history. “I’ve always been lucky – things like the stage, joining performances at school, was always accessible for me and my school and university were the type of places that would try to adapt”, he says.

Actor Ed Larkin stars in the musical, opening this week at @sohoplace (Handout)

In The Little Big Things, Larkin dances, does aerial work above the stage, and moves across the accessible platform with as much flair and fancy as the rest of the cast. In his solo song “Why?”, he laments his newfound limitations, “Everything needed to be looked at differently”. The way Larkin interacts with both the cast and audience is fully integrated, not othered, not pushed to the side. His performance is a kick up the backside to anyone who thinks wheelchair users can’t do these roles justice – they just might need to do them a little differently. “Everybody has to accept and adapt,” says Miles-Wildin. “Accept that people have impairments and adapt the world around you.”

There were some important considerations the creative team had to make during the four-year-long development process for The Little Big Things. Miles-Wildin explains that she kept reinforcing to the writers, who are non-disabled, that they can’t write a typical narrative where the disabled person is strong all the time, or they’re just the victim. “We’ve got to show the emotional journey of the disabled person,” she says.

They also made a conscious effort to avoid making this a story of inspiration porn, a phrase coined by late disability activist Stella Young to describe the objectification of disabled people in the media to make non-disabled people feel good. “I struggle when reviewers and people lead with how inspiring disabled actors are just because they’re disabled,” Larkin says, adding that it was important The Little Big Things got the tone right. “It’s a very gritty, honest, cheeky show, it doesn’t feel we’re writing for the masses, it feels we are writing for and about disabled people.”

Amy Trigg with the cast of ‘The Little Big Things' (Shona Louise)

Of course, in order to write for disabled people, you’ve got to be able to invite them in. Luckily, The Little Big Things is staged at London’s first wheelchair-accessible West End venue, @sohoplace, on the site of the old Astoria Theatre on Charing Cross Road. The modern space is a long overdue sight for sore disabled eyes: there’s level access in and out of the building at all bar one entrance point, lifts and disabled toilets on every floor, facilities for people who use hearing aids and cochlear implants and wider seats for those who need them. There are captioned, audio-described and BSL-interpreted performances. Quite frankly, @sohoplace puts its crumbling, inaccessible neighbouring theatres to shame.

And that’s all thanks to renowned theatre producer Nica Burns, who owns the venue and co-produced The Little Big Things. The West End was built when accessibility wasn’t considered, and when she acquired @sohoplace she knew that badly needed to change. “Life has moved on – it’s the 21st century, attitudes have changed, and they are enshrined in law,” she tells me, insisting that she and her staff are always keen for feedback from disabled theatregoers, so that @sohoplace’s accessibility can continue to improve. “We do the best work with open access in mind. All our job is, is to have the doors open for all kinds of talent to have the opportunity to walk through.”

Larkin says he’s excited to see the audience’s reactions when doors open later this month, and he hopes Henry will leave a lasting impression. “Hopefully we can draw more people to Henry’s work and life – he’s an incredible artist – but also this idea that a lot is possible,” he says. “We’re pessimists a lot of the time, we treat the world as quite difficult, which I think is normal given the climate we live in. But this show is a show of real hope, and I hope people leave feeling uplifted and secure in who they are.”

Sounds like a pretty big thing to me.

The Little Big Things runs at @sohoplace until 25 November