Despite having type 1 diabetes, James Norton has explained how he stays on stage.
The actor will appear on stage in A Little Life, a play based on Hanya Yanagihara’s 2015 novel of the same name.
The long novel will be converted into a 3.5 hour live performance, conveying an enormously powerful and devastating story of brotherly love and the boundaries of human endurance.
Happy Valley’s James will portray Jude, and he discussed how he’ll cope with the long play with his condition on The Graham Norton Show on Friday.
‘It is three and a half hours long. In the Dutch production, which went from Amsterdam to Edinburgh, and had a little run in New York, that was four hours, but the amazing producers made this only three and a half,’ he began.
‘I have on interval, but the book is 800 pages, so there’s a lot to get through.’
‘For you, you’re diabetic, so is that difficult to be on stage for that length of time?’, chat show host Graham quizzed.
‘The added component is that I don’t leave the stage for a couple of hours and I am a type 1 diabetic, so I have juice, and I can’t bring it up because it’s got branding on it!
‘But I have sweet things which I’ll have to have scattered around the stage just in case I go hypoglycaemic.’
Type 1 diabetes causes the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood to become too high.
According to the NHS, the condition occurs when the body cannot produce enough of a hormone called insulin, which controls blood glucose.
Hypoglycaemia, or a ‘hypo’, is where the level of sugar in the blood drops too low, which can be dangerous if it’s not treated quickly.
However, it tends to be easily treated by the individual, hence why James plans on having sweet items nearby in case of an emergency mid-show.
But, he’s keen to not let the condition prevent him from doing what he loves, admitting it’s just an ‘added thing to navigate.’
‘For all the type 1 diabetics out there, it does not stop you from doing long, four-hour plays,’ he said with a chuckle.
‘Type 1 diabetics watching this are going, “Oh. I thought that was the perk?”,’ added comic Graham.
James will take to the stage alongside Luke Thompson, Omari Douglas, Zach Wyatt, and more at the Harold Pinter Theatre for a Strictly limited season, starting on March 25, 2023.
The Graham Norton Show airs Fridays on BBC One.