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[title]You most likely know Carlos Sanson Jr. from his lead role as Santi in the hit Stan series Bump, but his chat with Time Out Melbourne took place not from the sidelines of a film set, but a boxing camp in the Philippines.
“It’s how I like to start my year, just go away and train,” says Sanson Jr., who has been boxing competitively for the past couple of years.
To say 2023 was a good year for Carlos Sanson Jr. would be an understatement. Season four of Bump delighted fans when it came out on Boxing Day, but the Sydney-born actor was also seen in popstar drama Paper Dolls and started filming Ladies in Black alongside Gemma Ward and Miranda Otto. To top it all off, the Casting Guild of Australia named him a rising star of 2023, something he says was “really special”.
“It’s a real nudge in the right direction, to just keep doing what I’m doing,” he reflects.
With such a busy schedule, it’s no wonder that Sanson Jr. likes to take a moment to lay some groundwork. He’s currently preparing to play the role of Gareth in The Dictionary of Lost Words, a stage adaptation of the New York Times best-selling book of the same name by Australian author Pip Williams. He’ll be acting alongside Brenna Harding in the lead role and both actors will join an established ensemble cast for the play’s Melbourne season.
The sweeping historical tale from Sydney Theatre Company and State Theatre Company South Australia takes place at the height of the women’s suffrage movement and the dawn of World War I. Williams’ story follows the fictional life of Esme Nicoll, who hides under the sorting table as her father discerns what words should stay in the first-ever Oxford English Dictionary, and which should go.
So, with the world of the screen at his feet, why was Sanson Jr. so keen to get on stage for the Melbourne season of The Dictionary of Lost Words?
I was dying to go back to where I first fell in love with acting
“It’s a really beautiful heartfelt story about love, and the pains and the beauty that come with it,” says Sanson Jr.
“Our protagonist is Esme Nicoll and it [the play] follows her all the way from when she’s little to older. We follow her as she navigates her place in a man’s world and collects forgotten words that would maybe not have been collected by men.”
Aside from helping highlight an important part of history, Sanson Jr. is also heavily drawn to the medium of theatre itself. “To be perfectly honest with you, I’m so excited to get back on the stage,” he says.
“After having done film and TV for a few years, I was dying to go back to where I first fell in love with acting – which was high school plays.”
Although Sanson enjoyed theatre during his school days and performed in Porpoise Pool at Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre last year, The Dictionary of Lost Words will be his mainstage theatrical debut.
According to Sanson Jr., it was the instant feedback and adrenaline-pumping immediacy of live theatre that drew him back. “It really scares me, theatre really freaks me out. I think that’s part of why I love it,” he says.
Sanson Jr. jokes that he loves theatre so much that he’d be happy to embody an inanimate object if it meant feeling the thrill of live performance. “I could be playing a tree onstage and I’d be excited,” he laughs.
“You have to be on 100 per cent of the time. It feels like walking a tightrope when you’re in a scene in theatre and you can’t really afford to fall off. If you do, there’s no stopping and turning back. You just gotta climb back on the tightrope and keep pushing forward.”
I could be playing a tree onstage and I’d be excited
Sanson Jr. takes the prospect of joining an “already well rehearsed and amazing show” seriously. “I’m stepping into something that’s already been a hit, so it’s been an interesting rehearsal process for me,” he says.
“It’s been studying the actual play, watching it a lot, then just fucking trying to learn my lines back to front. You don’t get another shot and I really don’t want to be the new guy that comes into a well-oiled machine and fucks it up.”
As for the future, Sanson Jr. is about to produce his first short film with some mates before seeing where the rest of the year takes him. “Life of an actor,” he says. In the meantime, he’s looking forward to living in Melbourne for the first time and re-experiencing his favourite local snack, the spinach and cheese triangles from A1 Bakery.
The Dictionary of Lost Words is taking over Arts Centre Melbourne’s Playhouse from February 17 until March 17.