We introduce you Harry Lawtey, the actor from the Lena Dunham’s HBO and BBC Two drama, INDUSTRY. After his studies at Sylvia Young Theatre School and Drama Centre London, Harry got his first big role on screen with INDUSTRY but the actor has been building a solid and good career with participation in ITV’s Marcella, Netflix’s The Letter for the King, and film City of Tiny Lights. We asked Harry what is connecting him easily nowadays and he gave us a beautiful answer.
starring Harry Lawtey at Pinacle PR UK photographer Edward Cook fashion Lukas Blasberg grooming Charlie Cullenusing Chanel at Gary Represents
words by HARRY LAWTEY
“I definitely feel connected when I’m with my best friends. It’s something I’ve missed so much this past year in lockdown. My friends are the most brilliant people, and it’s a lovely feeling when you don’t have to try amongst others – they just know who you are. I FaceTimed them a lot during lockdown to replace seeing everyone in person. I think we’re all way past that phase where we did Zoom quizzes so now we all just check in on each other to chat. We like to recommend different things like new stuff we’ve read or watched and we just try to find ways of engaging with each other, so you can move your head into a different place other than your own four walls. We’re all London based, so we’d normally be making the most of that. It can be pretty difficult to get by in London sometimes, so I think you’ve got to try and go for it when you can. We watch live music, go to the theatre, enjoy all the parks a visit the museums too. There’s always something going on. I met most of my friends at drama school or college so we all bonded over shared interests, which helps. Acting is a great way of getting to know people really quickly, I suppose because it’s so personal. But I’ve also got friends from way back when I was a kid too, those friendships you just know you’re always going to keep.
We just try to keep connected by just doing things that make us all happy. Things that make us laugh. Making good memories, I guess. I also feel really connected at work – in a play or on set. It’s something about being part of something that is larger than yourself.
Relying on the people around you to come together and make something that wasn’t there before. I think it’s the team element, it’s one of the reasons I’ve always loved sport. That feeling of relying on someone, and having others rely on you. Knowing you have to be at your best when it counts. It’s invigorating. And on a film set especially – there’s a hundred people who all have different skills and expertise, but we’re all bringing it to the table right now, to help create this thing together. It’s proper collaboration. With sport, I normally go to the football with my Dad and brother and I feel close to them at those moments. My Dad took me and my brother to the football pretty much as soon as we could walk and it’s always been a shared language for the three of us – something we were brought up to care about. It feels inherent, and part of your identity like it’s a little legacy that you can hold on to, and then pass on. Some of the most special times I’ve shared with my family have been at a football ground. Even with strangers, sport breaks down so many barriers for people who might otherwise have very little in common. It’s a really democratizing thing. Football is in so many ways about community. Its tribalism – but in a good sense. I think football is a lot more profound than people sometimes realise. If you’re lucky you can be connected in a city and the country.
When I find myself in one for too long I want to go back to the other. I suppose they both make the other feel richer. Take a big city like London – the people are the key to that. There’s so many individual lives all bunched up together, crossing over one another while we try to make an imprint somehow. At times it feels like a fight for space, and that can become a bit claustrophobic – but it’s also part of what makes it tick. There’s influence all around you. Wherever you look. I think you can plug into that. It moves you onwards. Southbank makes me feel like that, without a doubt. You can’t go there and not feel lucky to be a Londoner. However there is something about the fresh air of the country though. Once you’ve been in a city for a while you realise how clean and quiet country air can be. The smell and sound of it – it all comes back to you. It’s a bit odd, but I always get a special feeling when you see a really old and impressive tree. One with giant roots that you can tell has been there for generations. It always feels like the world is moving at such a pace, even in this past year. Everything is changing so quickly. It can be a nice reminder to see that some things just stand still, and watch it all happen. “
You must be logged in to post a comment.