Laurie Kynaston began researching his role in The Son by speaking to his own mother.
The actor plays a schoolboy whose divorced parents struggle to help him deal with collapsing mental health.
He said: “My mum is a nurse in an all-girls school and she works with teenage girls who are going through this kind of thing. She was also a midwife for a while and a children’s nurse... and she’s amazing with these things. I asked her a lot of questions about what are the trends you see in these young people.”
The cast also spoke to a divorce mediator and child mental health expert to prepare for the roles and Kynaston said he was proud to be “putting on a piece that makes people talk about that stuff”.
He said the cast were approached by audience members wanting to share their own experiences, adding: “It’s just great that the play is resonating so well with them.”
The Son is running at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End until November 2.
