Peter McGovern is currently playing Warren Slax in the West End production of The Comedy About a Bank Robbery. His previous theatre credits includeThe Christmas Truce (Royal Shakespeare Company), Love's Labour's Lost, Much Ado About Nothing (Royal Shakespeare Company and Theatre Royal Haymarket), Barnbow Canaries (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Nell Gwynn (Apollo Theatre), The Madness of George III (Apollo Theatre and UK tour), Squirrels (Orange Tree), An Inspector Calls, The Shape Of Things, Vincent In Brixton (Theatre by the Lake), The History Boys (West Yorkshire Playhouse and UK tour), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Royal & Derngate, Northampton), Kes (Liverpool Playhouse and UK tour) and Enjoy (Gielgud Theatre and UK tour).
Tell us a little bit about the play and the character you play?
Well, I don’t want to give too much away to those who haven’t seen the play, but I can exclusively reveal that the play is set in a bank, it involves a robbery and it’s very funny! We follow a group of individuals all desperate to get their hands on a precious diamond.
I play Warren Slax. An ‘externally unfortunate man of 67 years old.’ I work in the bank, and have done so for the past 30 years. Unlike all the other characters in the play, I’m not at all concerned with getting my hands on the diamond. My personal quest is just to improve my life, find a friend, possibly get a promotion and maybe get a certain someone to fall in love with me.
What was the audition process like?
The audition process was pretty straight forward. I had an initial meeting where I met the writers and worked on a couple of scenes, and then a recall audition where several of us worked on a few scenes in small groups.
Toward the back end of last year I was training to be a spin instructor. Just before Xmas I got told that it wasn’t going to go any further as they felt my acting career would always come first and get in the way. I was gutted and dreading going home to see the family. An hour later I was offered this job, as I sat at outside Liverpool Street Station, crying into my second McDonald’s cheeseburger whilst a brass band played ‘Silent Night.’ I’ve never been a great believer in fate but this one did seem written in stars and I’m sure all the hard work training as a spin instructor probably helped me get the job!
