Interview: Christopher Finnegan-Wright (The Growth House)

On Friday 16th May, The Growth House—a fearless, working-class theatre company—brings its unapologetically bold production, BIG STRONG MAN, to Hullabaloo, Darlington. A riotous blend of cabaret, improv, and physical theatre, the show tackles one of the most urgent issues of our time: men’s mental health.

Created by co-founder Christopher Finnegan-Wright and a team of dynamic Northern performers, BIG STRONG MAN fuses high-energy entertainment with deep social resonance. Designed as both a party and a protest, it invites audiences into an interactive, electrifying space where laughter meets vulnerability, and raw honesty takes centre stage.

Rooted in response to the disproportionately high rates of suicide among working-class men, The Growth House’s flagship production challenges outdated perceptions, pushing boundaries with unfiltered Northern storytelling. As mentees of Wise Children and Associate Artists at Cast in Doncaster, the company continues to redefine socially driven theatre with its 12-venue tour in 2025.

We catch up with Christopher to find out more…

Can you briefly tell us about how The Growth House came together? 
The Growth House came out of a shared frustration with how theatre often overlooks working-class voices — especially those from the North. We started as mates making scrappy work on our own terms, with no blueprint and zero budget. Over time, that urgency and DIY spirit grew into something bigger. We wanted to build a space where Northern stories weren’t just welcome — they were front and centre.

How does being based in the North influence the stories The Growth House tells, and what do you think it adds to the UK’s wider theatre scene? 
Being Northern isn’t just where we’re from — it’s how we speak, how we laugh, how we see the world. Our work is rooted in Northern grit, humour, and heart. There’s a raw honesty and working-class pride that comes through when you’re telling stories for and about your own. In the wider UK theatre scene, we’re adding voices that are too often missing: loud, proud, and unapologetic in the best way.

What inspired the creation of Big Strong Man? 
Big Strong Man was born from a mix of intrigue and action — intrigue around the shifting ideas of masculinity and mental health, and a need to break the silence, particularly in working-class communities. We were watching our mates, dads, and brothers suffer in silence. We wanted to create a space where those stories could be told — and where healing could begin through honesty, authenticity and comedy.

Big Strong Man is described as both a party and a protest. What was the creative process behind blending high-energy cabaret with such a deeply personal and urgent social issue? 
We didn’t want to make a sad lecture. If you showed some of the traditional theatre about this subject to the men we grew up around, they’d have told you to jog on. We wanted a space where men could be vulnerable and still feel powerful. Cabaret let us break the rules — it’s cheeky, chaotic, and full of surprises, just like real-life masculinity. We used that form to disarm people, offer food for thought, and then deliver something meaningful about the structures behind the male mental health and suicide crisis in the UK.

How do you balance humour with the gravity of discussing men’s mental health? 
Humour isn’t the opposite of pain — it’s often how we survive it. Especially in working-class culture, banter and belly laughs are part of how we connect. We use comedy to open people up, to build trust, and then slip the deeper stuff in when it matters most. It’s about giving people permission to feel, without making them feel exposed.

The show tackles men’s mental health, particularly among working-class men. What kinds of conversations do you hope to spark? 
We want men to leave the show feeling seen — and a bit braver about opening up. Conversations around suicide, toxic masculinity, and patriarchy are deeply complex and often misused by people more concerned with profits than people. We want audiences to make up their own minds and confront the systems that profit from our fear and silence. And beyond that, we hope it gets people talking in the pub, in the group chat, at home with their dads or sons. If it sparks even one real conversation in a space where silence has lingered, it’s done its job.

Audience participation plays a big role in Big Strong Man. Can you tell us more about that? 
The audience is part of the gang from the moment they walk in. They’re not just watching — they’re actively shaping the show. By making them central to the action, the barriers drop. We’ve had men share things they’ve never said out loud before. A mother who lost her son told us she thought she’d never smile again — but said we gave that back to her. We know not everyone wants to be put on the spot, so we always respect people’s boundaries. But we’re constantly amazed at how invested audiences become and how much they care about the choices they make throughout the show.

The Growth House champions unapologetically Northern, working-class stories. How has this perspective shaped Big Strong Man, and why is it important to tell these stories in today’s theatre landscape? 
There’s a myth that working-class men don’t talk — but we’ve found that when you give them a reason and a safe space, they absolutely do. Big Strong Man is about telling our truth, in our language, with our culture. It’s theatre that’s not afraid to swear, or wrap its arm around you and ask if you need a cuppa. These stories have been missing from our stages for far too long.

As mentees of Emma Rice’s Wise Children and Associate Artists at Cast in Doncaster, how have these relationships influenced your artistic approach and this production? 
Emma and Wise Children are teaching us to be fearless — to lead with joy and trust our instincts. They’ve encouraged us to dream big, which kicked us into a higher gear we didn’t think we were allowed to reach. Cast gave us the space and support to take up room in a way we hadn’t before. Both relationships have pushed us to be more ambitious, more honest, and more unapologetically ourselves.

Theatre has long been a vehicle for social change. What makes Big Strong Man unique in the way it challenges societal norms around masculinity and mental health? 
It doesn’t look or sound like ‘issue-based theatre.’ It’s not neat. It’s loud, raw, funny, and real — just like the lads it’s about. We’re not lecturing; we’re living it. And we’re bringing that energy into rooms where these conversations don’t usually happen. It’s protest with laughter and grief, spontaneity and power ballads.

Following this tour, what’s next? 
We’ve got big dreams. We want to grow Big Strong Man, and hopefully bring it to the rest of the UK and beyond. We’re already working on our next show, Mega Dens — an immersive performance for hard of hearing and neurodivergent children and their families. And we’ve started dreaming up our third major

production. You can trust it’ll be massive, and it’ll make it impossible for the industry to ignore us. We’ve got more stories to tell — bold, boundary-pushing performances that challenge and celebrate in equal measure.