Hugh Bonneville is one of Britain’s most-loved screen actors. But theatre has always been his first love – and it’s why he’s championing new writers and performers at Halesworth’s INK Festival
We may know him best as Mr Brown, Ian Fletcher and the Earl of Grantham through his award-winning, much-loved film and TV roles, but before Paddington, W1A and Downton Abbey, Hugh Bonneville was on stage, fulfilling a passion and compulsion to act.
‘I’m very much a stage actor – that is what I wanted to be,’ he says. ‘So I spent many years doing Rep (repertory theatre) and at the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company – classical theatre, mainly.
I never thought in a million years I’d do anything on screen. I thought that was a foreign land.’
Recognising that the opportunities which were available to him are not present for young actors, writers and directors in the same way today, he is eager to support avenues encouraging emerging talent. And that’s one reason why he’s coming to the INK Festival in Halesworth next month.
The other reason is that he had no choice.
‘My boss told me I had to be there,’ he says with no hint of irony or a glint in his eye. ‘I have to do what he says.’ He’s referring to Paul Schlesinger, the executive producer of Hugh’s latest project for the BBC, Twenty Twenty Six, and a supporter of INK, Suffolk’s acclaimed festival of short plays.
The ‘mockumentary’ will be screened later this year, but it’s already attracting great excitement. The successor to W1A and Twenty Twelve, this time Hugh’s character, Ian Fletcher, is director of integrity for ‘a worldwide football competition’.
Though Hugh claims he’s on a three-line whip to attend INK, the festival’s aims and achievements are clearly something he considers important. So he’ll be making the trip to Suffolk while in the middle of a run on the West End stage and shooting a film at the same time. ‘It’s a bit mad,’ he concedes of his schedule. ‘I might be quite tired.’
If anyone can pull it off, he can, though it does bring to mind an episode early in his acting career, related in his recent autobiography, Playing Under the Piano. Hugh was at the National Theatre appearing on some nights as a flamenco-dancing villager in the Cottesloe Theatre and other nights at the Lyttelton Theatre as a member of the crowd. Ambitious and under-utilised in these minor roles, he also volunteered to join the army in Antony and Cleopatra at the Olivier Theatre. But he missed the rehearsal, didn’t know the moves and found himself on stage in the opposite direction to the rest of the troop. He very slowly turned round, just like Mr Brown in one of his scrapes with Paddington.
The book is a brilliantly written account of his career, from his big break as Third Shepherd in the school nativity play to ‘having a conversation about your weight’ for his role as a stockbroker in Notting Hill (Hugh was too slim).
And he’s sure to give us more behind-the-scenes tales from his life and career when he speaks at the INK Festival at Halesworth. But, just as in the book, Hugh is also keen to share his views on the state of the theatre today, and its value and importance for the future. Indeed, when he is much in demand on screen, why does he choose to take to the stage again?
‘Theatre, or live performance of any sort, has a premium, certainly an emotional, spiritual and aesthetic premium,’ he says. ‘Because it’s real, it’s not fake. Everything you see online, you think: “Is that true? Has that interview been manipulated?” You can’t beat being in a theatre with a couple of hundred other people experiencing a story being told.
‘I took a friend to a production of Romeo and Juliet, and Romeo fluffed a line. My friend thought it was amazing – he fluffed his line! It was real! It was a sort of revelation, that theatre is happening in the present moment. And that is why I think performers enjoy it so much‒ you can’t be edited out of the final version. And, as Judi Dench says, “tomorrow night, you can get it right.”’
We’re unlikely to hear any fluffed lines when Hugh plays CS Lewis in Shadowlands, running till May at the Aldwych. It’s a role he first performed in Chichester in 2019 and he’s clearly relishing the opportunity.
‘It’s an emotionally charged play. The audience come with you on the journey and participate in it. Whether it’s a big laugh or a pin-drop silence, the experience in a theatre is unique, which is why it remains potent and effective.’
And it’s why we should encourage new writers, new performers and new interpretations, he says. ‘Plays that shock and illuminate for one generation, may not shock and illuminate the next. As always, Shakespeare puts it best when he said in Hamlet that we should hold up the mirror to see who we are and why we are here.’
Though it’s something we should all explore, at any age, Hugh is particularly energised about helping young people appreciate the arts.
‘I would like the arts back in mainstream education,’ he says. ‘But I don’t mean exams. I mean the experience of singing in a choir, picking up a paintbrush, putting on a pair of dance shoes, making up a story in an improvisation class, self-expression. All these transferrable skills that the arts give you for any walk of life: being able to look someone in the eye and communicate at an interview.
‘I grew up with the National Youth Theatre,’ he says. ‘It changed my life so I’m very passionate about supporting young talent that doesn’t perhaps have access. The number of times I’ve heard it said that the arts aren’t for me because they’re for other people. It’s just not the case.
‘Every time we go to the pub and tell a joke, that’s theatre. If a child comes back from school and tells Mum and Dad about his day, he tells the funniest bits, or edits the most annoying bits. We all tell stories every single day. We filter out the stuff that we don’t think is interesting and bring out the highlights. That’s the basis of playwriting, of theatre, of performance, of being human, frankly.’
So he’ll be delighted to see all the good work being done by INK this year, but despite developing screenplays, and this year publishing his second children’s book, Hugh hasn’t been tempted to write a play himself.
‘I am in such awe of playwrights that I don’t think I dare to dip my toe into it,’ he says. ‘Maybe because I’ve worked on so many good plays. Playwriting I hold absolutely aloft and as the greatest thing.’
INK Festival
For 10 years, the INK Festival in Halesworth has been championing new writing for theatre and radio and is now believed to be the UK’s largest producer of new plays. At the end of last year, it was presented with the 2025 ABTT Stephen Joseph Award for ‘changing the UK performing arts landscape in terms of audience involvement and theatrical possibility’.
Over four days in 12 venues throughout the mid-Suffolk town, short plays are performed, back-to-back, with more than 40 professional actors and directors.
‘Every performance is different,’ says artistic director Julia Sowerbutts. ‘And seeing such a variety of productions is a really joyful shared experience. You’re laughing together, or you’re moved by what you see.’
Day tickets provide the opportunity to see a multitude of plays, and there is also an accompanying programme of talks, workshops, poetry readings, comedy nights, Suffolk short films, art exhibitions and free children’s activities in venues throughout Halesworth.
Leading actors, writers and directors attending this year include, as well as Hugh Bonneville, Alistair McGowan and Dead Ringers’ Jan Ravens and Jon Culshaw in the evenings. Daytime events feature Sir Tony Robinson, Best of Suffolk short films, BBC short story winners, intimacy director to the stars Lucy Fennell, poet Luke Wright and writer Jan Etherington’s Conversations on a Long Marriage, and more.
‘It’s wonderful that we have such big names supporting the festival each year,’ says Julia. ‘The fact that they dedicate their time shows how important they believe INK is as a stepping stone for new writers and actors and for attracting new audiences who might be reluctant to step inside a theatre.’
This year, the team received nearly 1,000 script submissions, original work from which it has selected and cast 70 plays boasting a wide range of subjects, styles, genres and themes.
Each play lasts no more than 20 minutes and takes place several times during the day in venues throughout the town, from The Cut arts centre, which was INK’s first home, to the Rifle Hall, the scout hut, The White Swan pub, the bowls club, The Angel hotel, the Community Larder and even a Hoppa bus.
These bitesize productions, ‘little gems’ of theatre, are less daunting than full-length works, so writers can try out their ideas and audiences are more willing to see something different, too.
‘We need places like this for writers to learn their craft,’ says Julia. ‘Everyone needs to practise their art, their skill. We have great writers in this country but they need somewhere to showcase their talent.
‘People say they don’t go to the theatre, but most watch television and see films. The people who write or act often start their trade in the theatre, so we need to support them if we want a film industry in the future.
‘And the plays that are written for INK are so immediate, so current. I guarantee you will come away changed by what you’ve seen – and also have a great time!’.
INK Festival 2026, Halesworth, takes place April 16-19. Day tickets from £40/£10 concessions. There are many free events, including the Sunday Funday, theatre-based family activities taking place in Halesworth Market Place. The INK Youth Festival Day on Monday, April 20 presents all the festival plays to 500 secondary school students with backstage tours and the opportunity to meet the actors and directors. inkfestival.org
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