West End star 'juggling' role with being a dad

An actor who plays Ron Weasley in the West End play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child said combining the role with being a dad "takes a lot of juggling".

Father-of-two Thomas Aldridge, 42, from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, has been in the long-running show for eight years.

It is set 19 years after the final book in the series - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - and gives dedicated fans the chance to keep up with the story they love so much.

Aldridge said: "It takes a lot of juggling but my kids absolutely love that I am in it and it is really lovely having your kids proud of what you do."

He has two children, an 11-year-old daughter and an eight-year-old son.

Aldridge said they had read the Harry Potter books, watched the movies - and had been growing up with their father appearing in a Potter-related show on the West End stage.

"My son was six months when I joined the show and my daughter was nearly four.

"I don't have any shows on a Monday, Tuesday or a Thursday, but it means Friday, Saturday and Sunday are just full-on, which is when my family are having their weekends.

He said his wife Helen Owen, who has appeared in The Wizard of Oz and Les Miserables, was very supportive.

"My wife was a huge [Harry Potter] fan.

"She was one of the few people who would be queuing outside book stores and read it all in 24 hours, so she helped me a lot with my audition.

"I hadn't read the books at that point, so I had to cram read when I started auditioning and followed it on when I got the role.

"She was a really good reference point. By the third book, I was absolutely hooked."

Rupert Grint, best known for playing Ron Weasley in the movie franchise, was born in Harlow and grew up in Hertfordshire.

Aldridge said that Grint had come to watch the show.

He said the cast had met a lot of the movie actors, including Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy.

The play began its West End-run nine years ago and has sold two million tickets.

It delves into how life might have progressed for the Harry Potter characters.

"I play Ron as a 40 year-old man, so a lot has happened since the books ended... and life has affected him quite a lot.

"Ron is incredibly brave and courageous, but he just desperately hopes he doesn't have to be.

"If he is put to it, he will defend you to his last breath but he's been like 'please don't put me in this position'."

"As soon as I started reading the script for the audition I just fell in love with it and thought 'this is something that I can really make my own'.

"I'm absolutely loving it so far and I have no plans to leave anytime soon."

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