Actor starring in new Richard Gadd show on the Baby Reindeer effect
Half Man was written and produced by Richard Gadd
When Cumbernauld-born actor Mitchell Robertson agreed to audition for a script about the toxic relationship between two brothers, he had not heard of the writer beyond his moderate success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The writer was Richard Gadd and Mr Robertson’s first audition had come weeks before the launch of Baby Reindeer - and the ensuing media attention.
“I loved it as soon as I read it,” he said. “Baby Reindeer wasn’t out yet, I’d heard of the Baby Reindeer stage show at the Fringe, but I had no concept of the whole Richard Gadd world, then by the time I came to do my recall, Baby Reindeer was out.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t [realise the status Baby Reindeer gave Half Man]. It gave it an extra weight, something had been added, because all of a sudden, Baby Reindeer was the biggest show in the world and Half Man was going to be the follow up to that.”
Half Man, which stars Mr Gadd as Ruben, as well as Jamie Bell, who plays his brother Niall, explores the close, yet often violent, relationship between the brothers and the fragility of male relationships.
Mr Robertson, 27, plays the young version of Niall, alongside Stuart Campbell as young Ruben.
He said he felt the script was a “unique Scottish story”.
“I loved the character Niall, I loved the writing,” he said. “I loved the speed and the intensity of it.
“When I heard I’d got the part, I was aware it could have quite a profound potential effect on my career. But if there had been no Baby Reindeer, I’d still have wanted to do this project as much.”
He said he was drawn to playing Niall, who is a gentle, quiet teenager growing up in Glasgow in the 1980s, due to his “softness and his gentleness”.
He said: “In my world of the things I’ve seen, I’d never seen a Scottish character like this. I guess when I first read it, I felt quite seen. I grew up very soft and very gentle in the west of Scotland.
“It felt very interesting and I’m reluctant to use the word new, but in terms of it being a west of Scotland story, it felt very new.”
Mr Gadd, from Wormit, Fife, started out performing stand-up in student union gigs in Glasgow before his first Edinburgh Fringe show in 2010. He last appeared at the Fringe in 2019, with the stage play version of Baby Reindeer, inspired by his personal experiences, which won a Scotsman Fringe First Award before it transferred to London and was later snapped up by Netflix.
The show won four Emmy Awards in 2024, including Outstanding Limited Series, and secured major wins at the Golden Globes and BAFTA Scotland - but hit the headlines when, following the series’ release, a woman called Fiona Harvey came forward claiming to be the person who inspired the character Martha and subsequently filed a lawsuit.
Mr Robertson, who studied at Langside College in Glasgow, got his first agent after performing in Gregory’s Girl at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe the summer after graduation.
He has recently finished filming a part in new BBC Scotland series Counsels, which also features former MP-turned-stand-up Mhairi Black.
“I didn’t grow up going to the theatre,” he said. “I didn’t come from that culture, that kind of background, the things I had access to were television and movies. Television is probably the most accessible form of storytelling, so I’m very much drawn to screen and it’s the medium I feel most kinship to.
“But I love theatre and I’d love at some point to step into that.”
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.