Bob Barrett, the actor who portrayed Sacha Levy on Holby City for 12 years across 480 episodes, has criticised former US President Donald Trump while starring in a new stage production of Graham Greene's 1950s novel Our Man In Havana. The spy satire follows a cash-strapped vacuum cleaner salesman in pre-revolutionary Cuba who is recruited by MI6.
Parallels to Modern Politics
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Barrett reflected on the enduring relevance of Greene's work. "The genius of Graham Greene is that he wrote this in the 50s, and you have the Suez Canal crisis just afterwards. You have the Straits of Hormuz now. All are very relevant. He talks about weapons of mass destruction in this, and pretending they're something else, and saying people have got weapons even though they haven't got weapons. You think about people like Trump - I mean, everything is unbelievable," he said.
Barrett continued: "The Americans are still as paranoid about Cuba now as they were then. And also, we're as paranoid about Americans and about Cubans and about Russians as we were then. It's sort of poking fun at the era's establishment. And I suppose you could, that's why it sort of translates quite well to this era because you could still say that those things haven't changed that much."
Multiple Roles and Theatrical Return
In the production, Barrett plays multiple characters, including a nun and a stripper from Mexico. "I think what we're doing in the play is definitely lighter," he laughs. "I've always wanted to do a thousand characters in one show. I was offered The 39 Steps, but I was offered at the same time as Holby, so I did Holby obviously instead. But I've always wanted to do [this] where you come on, and you don't have time to think. You come on as one person, you go off, change, and come back as another."
The play also stars Jack Ashton, known for Call the Midwife, as the titular Man in Havana, James Wormold.
Life After Holby City
Barrett admitted he never took a break during his 12-year stint on Holby City, which ended in March 2022. "It [Holby] was a family. I mean, it was so emotional when it finished. That last day was it was unbelievable and it was hard...But also, I never had a break in 12 years. Everyone else used to have breaks, but I just kept going. So I did 12 years without a break. I mean, we had breaks at Christmas, etc. But I did 12 years without a break. So by the time I finished, I just collapsed and slept for like three months," he laughed.
After a six-month hiatus, he returned to work, primarily in theatre. "I've done a lot of theatre, which I wanted to get back into because I hadn't done it for 14 years. So I got back into it, and I'm lucky I do bits of filming as well, so it's been lovely. I've been very lucky," he said.
Tour Details
Our Man From Havana is on tour around the UK until September 5, with tickets available from the Bill Kenwright Limited website.
