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Slow Horses star Jack Lowden has said it was a “relief” to return to the stage in the intense role of an alcoholic in the West End hit The Fifth Step.
Lowden first starred in David Ireland’s two-hander when it premiered at the Edinburgh international festival in 2024 and he reprised his character in London earlier this year, this time opposite Martin Freeman. “It’s always a relief to be on stage,” said Lowden. “I don’t really feel comfortable at all on camera.” He continued: “Whenever I get to be on stage, I instantly feel at home. A lot of actors do say that, which can sound like shite sometimes, but I genuinely do mean it. I feel more at home on stage than I do in life and I don’t know why that is at all.”
Lowden’s films have included Mary Queen of Scots (2018) with Saoirse Ronan, whom he later married, and Benediction (2021), as the war poet Siegfried Sassoon. On TV, he is best known for appearing alongside Gary Oldman in Slow Horses, based on Mick Herron’s spy fiction. Lowden was speaking alongside Ireland and director Finn den Hertog at an Edinburgh screening of the NT Live capture of The Fifth Step, which was filmed at @sohoplace in London. The film is released in cinemas on 27 November.
“Watching that was very strange – that’s the first time I’ve ever seen anything of myself on stage,” said Lowden in the discussion. Reflecting on seeing his stage performance, he joked: “I can only apologise for not really having an arse!” The Fifth Step was “the most actor-friendly play I’ve ever done … or seen,” continued Lowden, who suggested that was because both its playwright and director have worked as actors themselves.
In his early 20s, Lowden starred in the National Theatre of Scotland’s Black Watch. His stage career has included a version of Chariots of Fire, Ghosts (opposite Lesley Manville) and Electra (with Kristin Scott Thomas). The Fifth Step was his first play since Measure for Measure at the Donmar Warehouse in 2018, staged by Josie Rourke (who also directed the film Mary Queen of Scots).
Lowden said that when he takes on a play, “I don’t really care what the thing’s about to a certain extent … I just care about the character and if the character’s worth playing”. The Fifth Step, co-produced by the National Theatre of Scotland, was “a play written for two actors to sort of go mad and really push each other every single night”, he added.
His character in The Fifth Step is Luka, who is new to Alcoholics Anonymous and asks the older James (Martin Freeman) to be his sponsor. The drama unfolds on the verge of the confessional stage in AA’s 12-step programme, with Luka expected to acknowledge the harm his addiction has done to himself and others.
Recognising the serious issues raised by the dark comedy, Lowden said: “There’s no point in doing [these issues] in a play unless it is, first and foremost, entertaining. No one should sit in the dark for an hour and 15 minutes and never laugh. I think that’s robbing people of their money.”
