The National Theatre’s current production of The Grapes of Wrath is far from the stripped-back, minimalist fare that is, at the moment, de rigueur for London theatre. Twenty-seven actors take to the National’s Lyttelton stage, which has been transformed into the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s. One of those actors, Natey Jones, is taking on the role of Jim Casy, an ex-preacher who travels with the Joad family to the promised land of California.

It’s a role that has seen Jones’ face appearing on banners outside the National Theatre and on posters throughout London. But if you had met him only a few years ago it would have been under very different circumstances. He’d probably have been wearing a shirt and tie and talking to you about your legal rights. Jones studied law at university, put off by the instability of the acting profession, and had what he terms a “regular job” for several years before finally taking the leap into acting full-time. “I got to a point where I didn’t think I could live with the ‘what ifs’,” Jones tells us at the National Theatre just as rehearsals for The Grapes of Wrath were beginning. “I choose not to have any regrets. I felt I was denying myself the opportunity to fail.”

Growing up in a household where self-expression was wholly encouraged (his mother met his father when she was a dancer and he was a steel pan player), Jones remembers acting being a major part of his childhood. “I would act, I’d do school plays and other amateur things,” he recalls. “It’s always been something that has allowed me to communicate my feelings and thoughts.” Even up to secondary school he would star in school productions until he started to feel slightly too cool for it all.

Then the turn to law happened. Jones makes a sound excuse for not immediately jumping into a career in acting in his late teens. “Acting is an unreliable profession, right? For many people it’s just a dream. It’s something that you’d love to do one day but then, as you get older, you settle into different roles. Studying law felt like a responsible career path.” Jones’ apprehension about entering the industry is valid. Talk to any young actor today and they’ll tell you how difficult it is to stay afloat in the profession now. You could be the face of a hit television show or on a West End stage, but when the job ends it’s back to serving pints behind a bar or waiting tables. Thankfully, it’s all managed to work out for Jones.

When John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath he famously said, “I’ve done my damndest to rip a reader’s nerves to rags, I don’t want him satisfied.” It’s been over eighty years since Steinbeck’s novel was published but its story of migrant workers packing up their lives and travelling across the American prairies in the hope of a new life still feels startlingly relevant. “I think it’s a tragedy that it’s still so present,” Jones says as we discuss the work’s parallels with today. “It is a tale of people being othered, of capitalism and who benefits from it. But a beautiful thing about art is you can see this play and you can have empathy for people in similar situations that may not be in America in the 1930s. It could be the current day when we talk about migrants and who we have a responsibility to look after.”

Jones’ character, Jim Casy, is an ex-preacher. At the beginning of the play he meets Tom Joad (Harry Treadaway) who has just been released from prison and the two set off together on their journey. Casy is a constantly questioning character. Whereas many of the play’s characters put their misfortune down to God’s will, Casy questions if their hard times aren’t simply the product of greed and capitalism. He is a radical thinker for his era, a role that Jones finds deeply fascinating. “He’s questioning his faith, and maybe questioning how his faith applies in the world he lives in. But he’s changing from someone who preaches the gospel to someone who is more interested in, let’s say, socialism, or unionism. He wants to bring people together.”

Jones admits that he is drawn more to working on the stage than working for the screen (“I think as a child, whenever I thought of acting, I thought of the theatre”), but many of us first discovered Natey via his role as Travis in Dionne Edwards’ Pretty Red Dress. Undoubtedly his breakout part, the tender role saw Natey playing a character who explores new dimensions of himself by secretly trying on his partner’s shimmery red dress. Jones recalls the role with a smile – “It had everything I could ask for in a character. It was a beautiful experience. The way that I speak about stage and my love for stage, I felt that experience in playing Travis. I almost approached it as I would a theatre piece.”

Thanks to Pretty Red Dress and now, The Grapes of Wrath, Jones has found himself regularly being referred to as a ‘rising star’. It’s a title that sits oddly with him. “It’s basically just people saying, “Oh, we’re aware of you now. Like, we may not have been aware of you before, but now, yeah, we’re aware of you.” Perhaps the term is crass, but when you watch Natey Jones in action, both on-screen and on the stage, it feels like you’re watching an actor truly destined for big things.

The Grapes of Wrath at National Theatre runs until 14th September 2024.