Interview with Melanie La Barrie, The Book Thief in Concert
Conducted by Emmie for Theatre and Tonic.
This month, the stage adaptation of The Book Thief returns to the stage in a concert production at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Based on Markus Zusak’s internationally acclaimed novel, the musical adaptation made its debut in Leicester back in 2022 ahead of a small UK tour. The Book Thief tells the unforgettable story of a young girl named Liesel Meminger, who finds solace in stealing books and sharing them with others. Narrated by Death, the novel explores themes of loss, love, and the power of words during a time of war. As Liesel forms relationships with her foster family and a Jewish man hiding in their basement, she learns about both the cruelty and beauty of humanity.
Taking on the role of Death in this staged concert production is acclaimed actor Melanie La Barrie, who is currently performing in Mary Page Marlowe at the Old Vic and recently performed in the West End production of Hadestown. We caught up with her to find out more about this role.
Melanie La Barrie cast of The Book Thief in rehearsal. Photo by Pamela Raith
What was it about The Book Thief that made you want to be involved with this concert production in the West End?
Well, there were really just two names that stood out to me. I hadn’t even read the script when I said yes. It was Tom Jackson Greaves and Jodi Picoult. I saw those names at the top of the email and I said to my agent, ‘Whatever happens, I’m doing this.’ I’ve known Tom for several years now. I’ve worked with him before, both as a choreographer and a director, so I know his work and I trust him implicitly. That was very important to me. And Jodi — she’s one of my absolute favourite authors in the whole world. Honestly, I’m having a moment in my life right now where I’m getting to meet all my heroes. I’m currently working with Susan Sarandon in Mary Page Marlowe at the moment and Noma Dumiswini recently came to see the show.
How do you interpret Death as a character in The Book Thief — is it a sympathetic narrator, a neutral observer, or something else?
One of the things that Tom and I were really keen on, and it’s what I kept coming back to when I started thinking about the character, is that death is always around us. We don’t really think about it or notice it until it touches us directly. So I really liked the idea of playing Death as an ‘everyperson’ - someone who’s just always there, quietly moving in and out, largely unnoticed.
There’s this great book by Selina Godden called Mrs Death, Mrs Death, where she conceptualises Death as an old Black woman, which I found incredibly powerful. We also explored what would happen to an entity that experienced and contained the living experience. We wanted somebody who was very much on the inside of it, experiencing the joys, experiencing the struggles, experiencing the lifetimes that these people have gone through and how that would affect death itself.
Are there any particular moments or songs in the score that you feel especially connected to and why?
Well, one of the really exciting things we're doing , and one of the reasons this production is happening now, is to explore the character of Death more deeply, particularly how Death experiences the story. So there’s actually some new music in the show. Some songs have never been heard before... and I think that’s all I’m going to say about that for now!
How does it feel to be working on a show like The Book Thief in current times?
I think it’s so important that artists reflect on difficult thoughts. It's our responsibility to hold space for the difficult emotions of humanity. It is my responsibility as an artist to show difficult things and to show us going through them and surviving difficult things. That’s why The Book Thief matters so much, because it has many epic themes, but at the end of the day, it is about being able to challenge the difficult things that human beings make for ourselves and make for each other. The Book Thief is also about the significance of kindness and how that can be our greatest armour and weapon against the challenges.
It is also about persistence, and as artists, we have to do work like The Book Thief to portray that. There are so many other great artists who have shown you that the greatest resistance you can have is to persist, is to keep on. to keep going and to just remain present, alive and pushing in our lifetime.
Looking forward, The Book Thief has been staged before. Do you think it deserves to be fully staged in the West End, and how do you think those audiences will engage with it?
Yes, it does deserve to be in the West End. The producers have been working on this show for a very long time, which is exactly the perfect amount of time to be working on a musical. I believe The Book Thief is in its most vivid form right now. It’s really sparkly, powerful, ripe and ready!
I think The Book Thief is a necessary musical and it deserves a West End run because we should be creating necessary and entertaining art for audiences.
The Book Thief: A Concert Production plays at the Prince of Wales Theatre on the 19 & 26 October 2025.
