Theatre
Interview
The cast of Just For One Day: “There’s a power and a feeling that comes with music and that is what brings us together”
The cast of the new musical at the Shaftesbury Theatre reflect on the legacy of Live Aid for its 40th anniversary
On 13 July 2025, the cast and creative team of Just For One Day will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Live Aid at the Shaftesbury Theatre with special gala performance. The chance to recognise the anniversary in this way is a hugely meaningful one for everyone involved – despite the fact that half the cast weren’t even born when the original concert happened.
“The world is in a crazy state in particular at the moment,” says cast member Kelly Agbowu, “and it’s hopefully gearing us up to just come together and say, “Let’s do something about it.” Because, you know, we can. That’s what people felt all those years ago, I imagine. You hear it from people who were there – they’ll always have that story, and they’ll remember that day for the rest of their lives.”
A celebration of the global impact of Live Aid, the unifying joy it provided, and the people who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring it to life, Just For One Day arrives on the West End with a big legacy to uphold. Passion for what it represents is in abundance amongst its cast, who are grateful for the opportunity to be part of a show that gives back – a percentage of all ticket sales go to the Band Aid Trust, directly connecting Just For One Day to the very same fundraising efforts that inspired Live Aid in the first place.
As the show opens at the Shaftesbury Theatre, we chat to the cast about what it’s been like to work with Bob Geldof and continue the story of the world’s greatest concert.
How does it feel to be picking up the torch and representing Band Aid for the next generation?
Tim Mahendran (Harvey Goldsmith): That responsibility is quite vast, but it’s a pleasure. It’s a joy. You get a lot of people talking about their memories of it and that’s amazing. We’re creating this nostalgia for a lot of people, but also we’re raising money at the same time, and we’re keeping that momentum – like you said, picking up the torch for what Bob, Harvey, Midge, John… what they all achieved 40 years ago. I think it’s really exciting.
Has that feeling of responsibility been there from the early workshops?
Julie Atherton (Margaret Thatcher): Absolutely. Oh, there were so many tears. I think there was five workshops, and Bob’s speeches, he just monologues for ages, and you want him to carry on. All the little updates that he gives us – on Christmas Eve he goes “I’m gonna have to go because we’re on the brink of starvation again in Ethiopia,” and we’re just thinking, “How is this still a thing? How is it still happening?” To hear all the stories has been so emotional.
Has it been intimidating playing a real person, especially someone closely involved with this project?
Tim Mahendran: It was at the start. Before I got the job, I spoke to Luke Sheppard, the director, and he was like, “Look, I need you to get on a Zoom with Harvey Goldsmith. He’s got to meet you.” I rang my dad, and he was like, “Wow!” And I was like, “Oh, God, this is quite important.” I got on the Zoom, and then basically, you know, he’s an absolute gent. He really is. He just spent 45 minutes telling me the story of how it all started and what it means to them and why they started it. He’s given me little gems, little nuggets of information of what it was like, how they felt at this point or at this point. It’s an absolute honor to be playing him.
Craige Els (Bob Geldof): It was terrifying when I got the call about the first workshop. They were three weeks into the workshop, and they needed a Bob and Luke said, “Look, I’ll be honest, Bob’s in the room, we’ve got a week, and then I’m gonna show it to everybody.” But actually, once I got past the terrifying thing, it was so helpful to have him in the room, because I could watch how he moved. I could listen to his voice more, rather than just the YouTube footage of back then. We would go after drinks, and he would tell me stories, and I could get to know the man, rather than just the icon. That was really helpful for me as an actor.
Craige, I hear you’ve been working on your Bob Geldof impression since childhood?
Craige Els: Spitting Image used to be a big program on the TV when I was a kid and there was always a Bob Geldof character swearing. I used to do to make my Nan laugh, I told Bob, and of course he tells that story at every opportunity now.
What’s it been like getting to know Bob as a person?
Craige Els: I had an opinion of who Bob Geldof is, because he can be quite outspoken, he can be quite sort of forthright with his opinion, shall we say. But actually, he’s this huge family man with this massive heart. There’s nothing more important to him than the people in his life and the people around him. He’s had this incredible life. That warmth and that heart is obviously what made him decide he had to do something in the first place. Then the other side of Bob is this grit, this determination, this metal and wherewithal to get stuff done. He’s a very, very inspirational man, and I feel very honored to play him.
Kelly Agbowu (Marsha): He always walks in so unassuming. He’s so passionate about the cause. He’s been – he came over to Canada when we were there and I think he’ll be even more around as we rehearse and open in London at the Shaftesbury.
Julie, you must have had a slightly different experience preparing to play Margaret Thatcher…
Julie Atherton: Very different. It’s been hilarious. The very first day, I didn’t even know what the workshop was about. It was called LA we didn’t know anything about it. I walked into the room, and Luke came up to me and said, “Will you do me a favor? Would you play Margaret Thatcher?” And I was like, “As if you ask a northerner that! But okay.” Then we just sat down and read the script, and I had about 30 seconds to prepare, and I remembered the Spitting Image version of Margaret Thatcher. That was in my head, and it just kind of stuck from there. Obviously, I’ve developed it since and listened to her voice and stuff, but I’ve made it my own. It’s definitely a ridiculous version of her. It’s not a carbon copy, because she does sing and rap and dance, which is absolutely ridiculous.
Have you all been encouraged in general to develop your own versions of those characters rather than do direct impressions?
Julie Atherton: Absolutely. That’d be pointless, because you may as well just put the live a concert on press play.
Do you have a favourite song from the show?
Tim Mahendran: It’s got to be ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ actually, because I think it’s the most complex and beautiful song that’s ever been written. A lot of people doubted it, and it’s now become one of the biggest songs in history. In the show, as soon as that intro starts, everybody’s cheering. I don’t think many other songs have such an iconic intro.
Julie Atherton: ‘Message in a Bottle’ and the end of Act One is just incredible. When we did that in the workshop, I took the job from then. I was like, “Yes, if I get to sing that every night, absolutely.” It’s such a good version. Matthew Brind’s arrangements are something else.
Kelly Agbowu: With ‘Message in a Bottle’, at the end we sing “I’ll send an SOS to the world.” We sing that, and we’re facing the audience, and it’s so powerful. Sometimes with the songs in the show, the actual words aren’t being adapted to tell the story. They don’t drive the story on like in a conventional musical. But sometimes it’s the feeling when you’re singing that gives you that same purpose and feeling.
Craige Els: I do love doing ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’, just because it’s lifted from the concert. It’s a real moment that the world remembers so well and meant so much to him. I love it when you can see the responses on the audience’s faces. It’s hard to pick a favor from this catalogue. I do love ‘Blowing in the Wind’. It’s performed so beautifully by Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky in our company. It’s got such poignancy. It was cool for a while, and it sort of disappeared, and in this show, thanks to Matt Brind’s orchestrations and the performance, it’s just got this electrifying, spine-tingling relevance again.
So many of the songs in this show still manage to feel so current.
Tim Mahendran: Because they are timeless classics. I grew up listening to the music because my mum and dad loved that sort of rock music. But even these days, like when we were in Canada, there was this mum and a young daughter, and the young daughter was probably about eight or nine, maybe. They were sat two rows back, so we could see them, and that eight or nine year old girl sang along to every single song. I thought, “I don’t even know every word!”
How did your family react to you being involved in this project?
Tim Mahendran: Oh, they were so excited. When they were doing workshops for the show, I was never involved, because I was working. Luke, the director, he’s a really, really close friend of mine, and like a mentor to me. He gave me my first job out of college – I trust him so much. He rang me and was like, “Look, I think you’d be right for this. Would you be interested?” I rang my parents, and they were like, “That is mega.” My parents flew out to Canada to watch the show. They’re retired, so they’re sort of traveling the world anyway. But they saw the excuse and were like, “Okay, we’ll come,” and they loved it.
Kelly Agbowu: When I said “Just For One Day”, they said, “Oh, it’s only on for one day?” But when I said, “No, Live Aid as a musical!” My mum’s like, “Oh yeah, we had it on the telly!” They just about had a telly then. They were so excited, and I can’t wait for them to see it.
Julie Atherton: My family are so excited, actually, because usually my family, as much as they support me, they don’t really love it. They don’t love the theater at all. They come along and they just sit there, like, “Oh, very nice,” and afterwards they never quite say what you want them to say. They’re never really that interested. But this they’re so excited about, because, of course, it’s their era, really. It’s quite special for my sister, because she got married on that day. I was a bridesmaid – I was only little – and all her friends were furious she had her wedding on that day, so they’d go home between the church and the ceremony to turn the VHS over to carry on recording. A lot of her friends have come to see the show and have been like, “Finally we get to see it!”
Craige Els: Everyone that I know that’s come to see it, particularly those of a certain age who remember it, who were there or watched it on the TV, have been really moved. I’ve spoken to so many friends afterwards in the bar, when I’m just relieved to have done the show and not messed it up, and I’m like, “Did you enjoy it?” Most of them are kind of in tears, and they’re going, “We didn’t know what to expect, but we didn’t know it was going to be that.” It’s brilliant to see even those people close to you so moved. It’s a very special show.
Have you learned anything about the story of Live Aid that’s surprised you?
Julie Atherton: It surprises you just how horrific some of it is really, because Bob is very graphic, and I think it’s important to be that graphic. I think we’re so desensitized to stuff, but also stuff is hidden from us. Just tell us graphically. Sometimes you think, “Well, there’s a time and a place,” but is there really? Why are we waiting for a certain time and a place to find out what’s actually happening? There were moments in Canada where he would stand on the stage and say some graphic things about what’s happening, and it was our opening night, and it was slightly awkward but also, of course, you have to say this, because we need to know where the money is going and why we’re still raising money.
Kelly Agbowu: It’s nice to be reminded that the character I play represents a lot of the people behind the scenes and how much work it would have taken to put that show on. We take it for granted now with the technology that we have nowadays, but a couple of years ago, we didn’t have any of that. To pull that off in that short amount of time, that’s what’s probably surprised me the most, because you get a glimpse of that – you get to see a representation of some of the people that would have worked behind the scenes.
Why do you think Live Aid is such an important story to pass on?
Tim Mahendran: What the Band Aid Trust has achieved is something that all of us can only dream of. We do our bit –we’ll throw some change in a bucket – but they’ve raised hundreds of millions of pounds for this charity and for these people. And we’re doing a show about that! I don’t think it gets better. You’ve got that story, then you’ve got the best music ever written. I can’t think of a better situation.
Julie Atherton: It’s so important, especially what’s happening at the moment in the world. It’s so important that we feel we can band together. Because I think a lot of the time we feel we can’t, but if we do band together, we can make a change.
Kelly Agbowu: You don’t solve hunger and peace with a song. But there’s a power and a feeling that comes with music, and that is what brings us together. We feel that, and that hopefully gives us the impetus to take the baton on and get sh*t done.
Craige Els: As Bob says so eloquently, they decided to make a difference because they thought something was unacceptable, and simply by bringing people together, they made that change. That message, the change can still be made, is so important. Because, as you know, the world isn’t fixed. We’ve still got problems all over the place. The world will probably never be completely fixed, but if we keep trying, then change can be made. That’s what this day did. That’s the story we get to tell every day, and hopefully future generations will take it up. It’s also what gives the show relevance today as well. People can watch from a nostalgic point of view, but they can also watch it and go, “That’s inspirational. I want to research that a bit more.” It feels like people are going to be talking about Live Aid in another 100 years.
Just For One Day: The Live Aid Musical is now playing at the Shaftesbury Theatre – find tickets here
