INTERVIEW WITH CHARLIE CONDOU WHO PLAYS CURTIS

What is Tip Toe?

Tip Toe is a drama, with funny bits, from Russell T Davies, about two warring neighbours, played by Alan Cumming and David Morrissey. It’s about how the underlying vague intolerance that defines our times can turn into something quite horrific. How sometimes, with the best will in the world, you can’t stop that stuff. And maybe trying to stop it makes it worse. 

How much does it chime with its current moment? 

It’s sort of terrifying that we’ve got to a place of complacency. Now, with a bit of recent hindsight, looking back even ten years ago we’d hit a sweet spot with the queer community. We were allowed to get married, have children and it felt alright if we held hands in the street. Looking back, things were much better. Then gradually we’ve started to see intolerance and hatred seeping back in. You can see it very clearly when we look at what’s been happening to the Trans community. It’s really interesting that we hear the same kind of rhetoric around trans people that we used to hear around gay men, in particular. We can see this stuff seeping in again. Russell has been observing this for a really long time. He’s said it was the piece that he wanted to write because it feels so important now. In a way, what’s happened in straight culture is that a subset of very loud people have gone, OK, we’ve had enough of this woke bullshit, maybe it’s time for us to start getting noticed again. Those two things have created a perfect storm, one which is explored in depth in Tip Toe.

How does you character Curtis fit into Leo’s life? What shadow does he cast over it?

Alan’s character Leo is a bit of a mess, and Curtis, his ex-partner, is very much not a mess. You can absolutely see why Curtis would’ve fallen in love with Leo and what it was that was so attractive about him. He’s funny and bright and passionate and a bit all over the place. He makes silly choices but always coming from a place of love. You can see why Curtis would fall for that and also why it would start to frustrate him. You get a glimpse of things that have happened in the past that caused their relationship to break down. Leo needs somebody like Curtis. I think that what his life would be like if he was still with Curtis is very present in his mind. Curtis also works as a metaphor for the audience. Every time Leo says something, you know that he’s trying to say the right thing. The audience can see it unfolding. And Curtis had that with Leo. He can witness an unfolding, so he moved himself from the relationship.

What do you envisage their lives at Spit and Polish was like when Curtis and Leo were together? 

I imagine that it was great until the reality of running a business came into play. Then it would be completely frustrating. They were probably the perfect match while it lasted. 

Why do you think Curtis has ended up in a relationship with a woman? 

I think it was pretty much an internalised homophobic thing for Curtis. Of course there are bisexual people in the world and there are people who have been in gay relationships who end up in straight relationships, but personally I didn’t feel like that was the case for Curtis. He was so desperate for a “normal” life after the chaos that came with Leo. He wants kids, he wants family. 

Because it’s partly set on Canal St, there will be a lot of comparisons made between Tip Toe and Queer as Folk, but Curtis is perhaps a reminder of the central storyline to Russell’s follow-up, Bob and Rose?

Indeed. That’s right.

Do you worry about characters George’s age now coming out in the digital age?

We’ve all witnessed what it is like to hide behind a digital persona. Back in the day maybe it was harder coming out, because of acceptance, but these days everything feels so immediate, things happen so quickly before you have a time to process what is happening. 

What’s your own experience of Canal St then and now? 

I’ve known Canal St since the 90s. I worked in Manchester quite a lot, long before my Coronation Street days. I did Mark Ravenhill’s play, Shopping and Fucking at the Library Theatre I did a sketch show that filmed up there. So I knew Manchester very well. Obviously then I was in Coronation Street. When Queer as Folk happened, it really changed. Because it looked so glamorous it attracted a lot of straight people who wanted to come along too. It’s been really interesting to witness. It’s a very different thing now. A lot of our places have been co-opted into straight culture, which does bring along its own set of benefits and problems. It can be a question sometimes of ‘Oh, let’s look at the funny gays down Canal St.’ I do sometimes wonder if that’s why it is all going underground again. 

Besides what it has to say, we shouldn’t forget that Tip Toe is also a thriller... 

Oh, from the first script I received I was hooked on the story. It is a proper call to arms, which is so necessary at the moment. It really feels prescient. But it works so well as drama. This stuff is happening now and I find it really terrifying that there is a complacency around it. I’ve been involved in small ‘p’ queer politics for decades now and it does feel like we’ve reached a place of complacency at precisely the time it’s all creeped back in. It’s time for people to start getting angry again. It’s not enough that we stand up for the bullies. We need to come for them as hard as they are coming for us. We have to stop seeing ourselves as victims. Tip Toe reignited that side of me. This is Rusell speaking truth. 

Who would you most like the audience for Tip Toe to be?

I would obviously love everyone to see it. I don’t want it to be niche. But the people that really need to see it, in my opinion, are the middle classes that think of themselves as quite accepting but don’t get involved in the difficult arguments that define our times. I don’t think this show is going to change the mind of bigoted people. But I do think it could, and should, galvanize an apathetic, complacent middle who doesn’t think the rise of active inequality affects them, just because it isn’t in their homes yet. It will be.