A: If I were asked to be in a stunning new play, I'd be
delighted. The next best thing is a stunning new translation of an old one
- such as Richard Greenberg's treatment of Dance of Death. I'm
hoping that audiences at the Broadhurst Theatre will feel that August
Strindberg is as advanced, outrageous, perceptive and funny as he was 100
years back. Preserve me from Museum Theatre. As for non-classics on film, Apt
Pupil and Gods
and Monsters were both adapted from living writers - Stephen King
and Christopher Bram.
Q: Whose idea was this Dance of Death on Broadway?
A: Gerry Schoenfeld, president of the Shubert Organisation, asked
Sean Mathias to consider directing a Broadway revival of Dance of Death
two or more years ago. So to him the thanks and ever thanks. Sean
recruited Helen Mirren and me. The Shuberts have other producers backing
the 17-week run.
Ian McKellen, Sean Mathias, and Gerald Schoenfeld, on opening night Photo by Anita and Steve Shevett
Q: Have you worked with Helen Mirren or others involved before?
A: Not with Helen, whom I have admired from afar since she sang
rock in David Hare's Teeth 'n' Smiles at the Royal Court Theatre in
London.
Sean Mathias and I were living together in 1981, my year in Amadeus
- another Shubert production also at the Broadhurst. So this is a
sentimental engagement for me. He directed me as Max in Bent
at the Royal National Theatre and on film
as Max's Uncle Freddie. I was in his first West End play Cowardice".
And he directed me and Antony Sher as Vanya
and Astrov at the National.
Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen in Dance of Death
Photo by Joan Marcus
Q: What appeals to you about acting on Broadway?
A: Acting on Broadway, you feel uniquely part of the city around
you: a city whose principal self-image is fixed somewhere between chorus
girl and leading man. Unlike capital cities, New York has no national
responsibilities. There is no head of state to distract from Broadway's
pre-eminence as it reflects the city back to itself. So New York
embraces visiting performers who honour a community which honours the
arts. I am feeling once more very happy to be part of the heart of
Broadway.
Q: What do you think of Richard Greenberg's translation/adaption?
A: This is not an adaptation and the structure of the original is
intact with minimal cuts in the dialogue. I don't know Swedish, so I can
only compare this new translation with previous ones. Greenberg's is,
without doubt, the most speakable, retaining a grammatical formality which
suits a play written 100 years ago. But it has such a confident tone, the
thoughts and feelings sound shockingly immediate. There are echoes of Noel
Coward in the barbed exchanges between Edgar and his wife Alice — and of
Samuel Beckett too in the despair which underpins the wit.
Q: Does Edgar's character require you to acquire new skills?
A: Here I am playing another soldier but with the exception of a
particularly nasty outburst, there is no violence, so I haven't had to
learn a fight as I did for Richard
III, Iago, and the rest of them. But
there is a dance that Strindberg describes as "some kind of Hungarian
dance, clashing his spurs" accompanied by his wife Alice on the piano
with "The Entry of the Boyars". Santo Loquasto's set is raked
rather sinisterly but I've worked on steeper inclines.
Q: Almost all of the shows on Broadway are big musicals or comedies;
how does Dance of Death fit in?
A: George Bernard Shaw has been playing on 42nd Street this
summer and Ibsen and Chekov are back in town, so why shouldn't Strindberg
play opposite Mel Brooks on 44th? That's always been the Broadway way —
entertainment comes in many shades from light to dark and the same
audiences enjoy both. Since the birth of modern theatre in ancient Greece,
satyr plays and tragedies have happily co-habited. Shakespeare who knew a
thing or two about keeping an audience happy, worked with the greatest
clowns of his day. It doesn't feel like trespassing to be doing a world
classic amongst the musical and dance theatre that dominates Broadway. It
feels more like coming home.
The Broadhurst Theatre Photo by Keith Stern
From: Martin O'Reilly
Q: Is there really no hope of the production coming to London UK? If
you and Ms Mirren cannot sell Strindberg to the West End who can?!
A: I sympathise with the feeling that stage productions should
not be the province of just one theatre, which is why I try to tour as
much as possible - a traditional pastime for rogues and vagabonds. But
this play was only ever intended for Broadway and wasn't seen outside New York beforehand, although some locals here assume, considering the
director and casting, that it originated in London!
To now re-mount Dance of Death in the West End, once it
closes here on 13 January is a possibility and both the producer and
director would like it do so. But there is many a slip - like availability
of the crucial personnel and of an appropriate theatre. I should certainly
enjoy bringing Captain Edgar home, as it were. Watch this site!
