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[title]I learned to swim, hung out with my friends and even got my heart broken at a disco, all on Kensington High Street. It’s the street where I started performing as a child and the place that got the ball rolling in my career. I ended up being part of the Christmas concert at our local church, then was asked to do a solo when I was about six. This street has been in and around my life for as long as I can remember.
Similar to the way I’ve grown up, the street has also changed. I remember a quiet alleyway that was next to Gap, where I used to work. Sometimes I would sit there and have lunch, and one day I put an apple sticker on a pipe. That sticker stayed there for about 12 years: I would walk past and always see it. Then, one day, I passed by and it had been completely covered up. The building had been remodelled. It was definitely needed, but I remember feeling like it was a monumental day when the sticker finally disappeared. At the time I was applying to drama school, so it was a significant moment to walk back and see that the sticker had gone after my career had finally taken off.
You can catch Rupert Young on stage in ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ at the Noël Coward Theatre.