My Night with Reg Star Lewis Reeves on Tweets About His ‘Bits and Bobs’ & Being the Worst Singer in London

Lewis Reeves has caused quite a stir during his time in My Night with Reg, the revival of Kevin Elyot’s 1994 play about gay love and lust in the age of AIDS that has transferred to the Apollo Theatre after a sellout run last summer at the Donmar. London Transport officialdom balked at the initial poster for the play, which showed too much of Reeves’s bare backside for their liking, while Robert Hastie’s production finds the actor sharing an extended nude scene with colleague Julian Ovenden. Think of it as all in a day’s work, or so the charming newcomer told Broadway.com in a conversation that widened out well beyond the topic of what it’s like to take to the London stage in the nude.

You play Eric, a young painter/decorator who becomes the object of libidinous attention among older gay men. Did you know much about the play before it came your way?
This was the first time I’d come across it, so I read it wanting to see if I would click with it since there was no point in stressing about it if I didn’t. I sent an email back saying, “I’m not sure I can do a Birmingham accent,” but everything else was pulling me towards it.

You were more worried about the accent than about stripping off?
That didn’t phase me as much. I don’t know why; I suppose it has to do with my training. I never thought the nudity would be grotesque or inappropriate and with that confidence behind me, it was an easy decision. Also, I knew the play’s history—that it had first been seen at the Royal Court and then on the West End and that we would be doing it at the Donmar.

Don’t many actors get nightmares of being suddenly naked on stage?
I know that is some people’s worst nightmare, and it was pretty bloody terrifying when I was in a rehearsal room. But once we got on stage, it felt right and since it comes at that point in the story when the character is stripped bare, you totally get the relevance.

Does it expose you to potential commentary in a way that most actors don’t experience?
Absolutely, and I’ve seen endless tweets about my bits and bobs—some good, some bad, so you take what you will. There was one on an online blog which my mother found, my mum being my biggest fan.

As she should be! What crossed your mind when you first had to perform the play in front of your mother?
Well, my mum’s a bit of a hippy to be honest with you, and more like a friend, really, so I think she was quite proud. She was probably sitting there saying, “I made that bum!” [Laughs.] Far more embarrassing was when me and Julian were doing it in the cold daylight of rehearsals and I was like, “Oh my God, I’m naked. I can’t believe I’m doing this!” It’s kind of like the first day at school where you have to get over your fear and get on with it.

Did you take up decorating so you would know what Eric is up to when the play begins?
I did a bit more running, I suppose, but I was far more concerned about capturing a character who is 18 when the play begins when here I am age 26. I was more conscious of that—though what was good was that during the summer me and my girlfriend [actress Charlotte Jeffery] decorated our whole house from top to bottom, so I was painting during the day and then coming in and doing [the show] in the evening.

What did you think of the flurry of attention when Transport for London vetoed the original poster art for the play?
I just thought it was a bit silly, really. I think it’s quite a tasteful poster and there are others out there that are far more provocative. It seemed to me that everyone should chill out a bit.

Have you ever had some keen-eyed person spot you on a station platform standing in front of the poster?
[Laughs.] If anything, I’m trying to create that scenario; maybe I should hold myself there to see if anyone will recognize me!

You had the opportunity to meet Kevin Elyot before he passed away. What was that experience like?
Just once, very briefly at my audition, he leaned across the desk with a stern look on his face and said, “Are you actually from Birmingham?” I told him that no, I was from Doncaster [in Yorkshire], and I think he was quite impressed. What was amazing later was that me and [fellow cast member] Jonny Broadbent were asked to do a small reading at his funeral before we even started rehearsal. We got to hear how people talked about the play and to see everyone whose life Kevin had affected.

Both West End plays you’ve starred in so far—this and Our Boys—both had all-male casts. What’s that about?
God knows. I like being with the boys, obviously [laughs], though I’ve got to get a female-friendly next job, I do. Maybe I should see if [all-female play] Di and Viv and Rose needs an understudy; that would be perfect!

With your girlfriend Charlotte Jeffery appearing around the corner in Jersey Boys, any thoughts of doing a musical?
I’d love to be in a musical, Matt, but Charlotte reminds me often that I am the worst singer in Britain. I’d do one if I could be dubbed! I can lip-sync the hell out of anything.