| Roger Allam is one of our
most versatile leading actors. Anyone
who can be as effective as the vengeful
Inspector Javert in Les Misérables
as he was as camp Captain Terry Dennis
in Privates on Parade (for which he won
an Olivier award) has an impressive range.
Now he is co-starring with Gillian (X
Files) Anderson in What The Night Is For
at the Comedy. Theatrenow went to meet
him. |
| You're playing a very heterosexual
lover in What the Night is For - quite
a contrast to your last West End role.
"It certainly is. And it's
always a good idea to play different types
of role, but there wasn't anything planned
about the contrast; it just turned out
that way." |
How is the current play going?
"Very well - we're getting good
audiences, and there's a crowd outside
the stage door each night, though
I think you'll find there are more
of Gillian's fans than mine! |
| "One thing I'm enjoying is that I'm
playing an 'unknown', in that its a fictional
creation, a person who only exists through
Michael's [Weller] writing and my performance
- no-one has any expectations of what
the character is or should be. That's
quite a contract with having played Hitler
at the National." |
| You got rave reviews for that, and
a lot of the press attention was on how
you made him seem almost likeable - quite
charming. That was certainly different
from how he's normally portrayed.
"You have to remember that Hitler
was appearing in a played called Speer
- the person we saw on stage was Hitler
as the hero-worshipping Speer saw him,
and the demon behind the facade only appeared
to Speer in a dream sequence. Had it been
a play called Hitler and I'd played him
as quite a charming chap then that would
have been a very different matter..." |
What The Night is For, unlike
a history play like Speer, is about
a fictional couple and their relationship.
Judging by the press release it's
quite sexual? "It
certainly deals with sexual attraction,
but you won't find us giving gymnastic
impersonations of the sex act on stage!
It's about former lovers who, now
in their 40s, had an affair some ten
years earlier. The play is essentially
about a spiritual search for a soul
mate. |
| "Michael Weller cottoned on to the
fact that people often have second thoughts
or regrets about old flames, and now,
via the internet, its a lot easier to
track such people down and see if you
can rekindle something or if you've both
moved on too much. |
| "Being in this play is fascinating
for me in a purely practical way, in that
I haven't been in a two-hander before,
and it's an interesting dynamic." |
You're acting with a television
star, and you've made comments about
screen stars in past interviews. Do
you still regret the fact that theatre
itself is throwing up less stars,
and seems to take them from film and
television? "I'm
greatly enjoying working with Gillian,
who's a great actress, but I do still
regret that these days people don't
become stars just through theatre,
in the way that they might have done
in the past. |
| "People come out of drama schools
today and they're keen on a television
series or whatever. I spent ten very happy
years with the RSC from the early 1980s.
These days the idea of a long-term commitment
to a theatre company is the last thing
a drama school graduate wants, whereas
it was something that had always been
an ambition of mine. |
| "And when they are established, actors
no longer seem prepared to commit to a
West end run. Contracts used to include
the phrase 'for run of play' but that's
almost unheard of now - three months is
the most that many people want to spend
in a West End show." |
| Do you have any particular ambitions?
Any new plays in the drawer that you'd
love to star in? "No!
Nothing's lined up at the moment, and
when it comes to reading new plays I think
I'm a very bad judge of writing. I really
need to see a play on the stage to fully
appreciate it: otherwise it's just a question
of luck. I think we're in a winner with
What the Night is For, and although backstage
is like a building site at the moment
the stage and auditorium of the Comedy
is lovely - its a great theatre to perform
in, and I think that if actors enjoy a
theatre that's always reflected, for the
better, in their performances. But you'll
have to decide for yourself on press night!" |
