Words REUBEN HENRY-FELLOWS

“I think most actors want to keep their work as diversified as possible,” Fra Fee explains, detailing the drive behind his desire to expand his craft. “I love having the freedom to pursue things I didn’t think I would try.” Following a string of acclaimed theatre, TV and film productions, including the West End and Broadway iterations of The Ferryman, Disney’s Hawkeye and latterly, Zack Snyder space epic Rebel Moon, the 37-year-old Irish actor is now turning his talents to the BBC’s rollercoaster account of adoption and queer adulthood, Lost Boys and Fairies.

Set against the backdrop of Cardiff’s vibrant LGBTQIA+ scene, with a musical number or two thrown in each episode, the series joins performance artist Gabriel (Sion Daniel Young) and accountant Andy (Fee), a gay couple eight years strong, as they embark on a journey to adopt. A kaleidoscopic exploration of queer trauma (encompassing Section 28-era politics, self-medicating, unaccepting parents), love and healing follows, as the pair negotiate the complexities and reverberations of their own youth as they build a home for a child of today.

As the show hits screens, we caught up with the award-winning actor on all things Lost Boys and Fairies, the success of Rebel Moon, the importance of an actor’s diversification, representation and his dream Irish ensemble cast…

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Hey, Fra! Congratulations on Lost Boys and Fairies. What was it like filming the show?
When I first read the scripts, I fell in love with the characters so quickly and had a real sense of who they were. The team assembled was just a dream to work with. I found it was such a profound experience telling a story that felt close to my lived experience – one that was inherently joyful and full of life. I got to work with Sion Young, my partner in the show, who was just an absolute dream.

You’ve spoken a lot about the importance of queer representation on-screen, especially as a facet rather than the defining feature of a character. What was it like representing Cardiff’s cinematically underrepresented queer scene?  
[The club] Neverland [in the series], although it doesn't exist in real life, we were shooting these scenes there, thinking, ‘God, wouldn't this be amazing?’. It represented something very special that was ideal for a community of people to seek refuge, to talk to each other, to have a safe space to share together. That was very powerful. I hope people see what we were trying to do and think that it's a wonderful representation of all different walks of life in the show. I know Daf James, the writer, was so keen to have the show be a celebration for all queer voices in the way that Cardiff is the wonderfully diverse city that it is now.

You also played Balisarius in mammoth Netflix ratings hit Rebel Moon, which dominated the streaming service’s global Top 10 at the time of release. Have you been recognised a lot since?
So for a lot of the film, I've got this long beard because I'm playing an older version of myself which stops me getting noticed. I was at a festival the other day and someone said, ‘Did I see you pop up in that thing?’, and I can get away with saying no because of the big beard.

What would you like to see more of your character as the film series moves forward?
Like most great villains, whether fictional or not, [he] tends to do things quietly. They're able to influence other people to do their dirty work. Baiisarius was a soldier beforehand, so he’s had to get his hands dirty in the past. We only get to see tiny little droplets of that backstory and I'd really love to follow because it's a really fascinating one that I've had the privilege of hearing from Zack [Snyder] himself, whose zest and enthusiasm for his work is really infectious. So I know what's going on and where he's come from. I’d love to get a chance to look behind the curtain as he remains a very elusive, mysterious figure.

With a background primarily in theatre, what’s it been like focusing on more screen roles? How are you enjoying the theatre-film work split?
There's something inherently active and present about doing a show every night. When I haven't been on stage for a while, I really crave it. You [get] to tell the entire arc of the story over the course of an evening and that's really thrilling, whereas in filming it's naturally going to be a lot more fragmented. That's always fun, but it's a very different process. I would like to continue to keep it varied and challenge myself to do things differently.