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| Claudia Winkleman interviews Douglas Henshall and Ben Miles - The Arts Show - First broadcsat BBC Radio 2 - June 9th 2011 Harold Pinter’s modern classic tale of infidelity, Betrayal is back in the West End stage with Jerusalem’s Ian Rickson directing. This new revival boasts Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Miles and Douglas Henshall, as three sides of a very tangled love triangle. I’m delighted to say that Ben and Douglas are here with me now. Thank you so much for coming in. Douglas and Ben: My pleasure Douglas is that the dream call? Is that we’re putting Betrayal on, do you want to come down and do it? Douglas: Yeah, No it was perfect. I was sitting twiddling my thumbs in America thinking ‘Why did I bother coming all the way out here to do this?’ Then I got sent this and I thought ‘Excellent. I’ll go home and do something proper.’ I don’t know what I was thinking. Douglas: No I want to be in the rain in June. Douglas: Yes! In the theatre. It’s not a problem. Were you very aware of the play? Douglas: No, I’d never read it, which was a great pleasure for me. It’s really nice to get surprises like that so I didn’t have any of the weight of thinking ‘Oh lord. All the people who have played that before.’ So, I didn’t know anything about it. I just read it and I thought it was Christmas. Ben. You play Robert, who is the husband of Emma played by Kristin. Ben:That’s right. For anyone who doesn’t know the play, which I’ve seen but nine hundred years ago. Can you tell us a bit about the plot if you like? Well without giving it away. I know that sounds ridiculous, but a little. Ben: Robert, as you said, is married to Emma, the best man at their wedding who happens to be Robert’s best friend, the character Jerry, who Dougie plays and the narrative of the play kind of goes backwards. It starts at the latest part to the story and you see what has kind of happened to bring us to that point at the beginning of the play, if you see what I mean and there has been a great infidelity, a great betrayal if you like. But there are in fact many betrayals on many levels between me and people. So, it’s a tough one to give a basic narrative of, ‘cos it’s very complex and it all happens backwards. That’s what’s so brilliant. Ben: If that hasn’t put you off, I don’t know what will. No, but when you watch it, it’s Back to the Future about someone being unfaithful, there aren’t many of us yet. Ben:We need a Delorean in it. Everything needs a DeLorean Douglas:In the end then everything’s alright. The bottom line is everything needs a DeLorean. How do you make that chemistry, the three of you must work together so brilliantly, but the two of you must work so brilliantly together and with Kristin I should imagine. Am I right? Douglas: Table tennis. Table tennis has been the making of the three of us. Is that what you’ve done? Douglas: Yes. Oh, i didn’t know if that was a special theatrical term. (They laugh) Some people believe in squash. But a few table tennis. Douglas: Not really. That’s what we do every day, ping pong ‘cos the play is really intense and rehearsals were really intense ‘cos there was only three of us anyone time, but Ben had the great idea of getting a table tennis table in the rehearsal room and that’s what we did, so there was lot of swearing and shouting and managed to get rid of a lot of the tension that way. That’s a very good way to do it. Pinter is said to have based that play on his extra-marital affair with Joan Bakewell. When you were trying to flesh out your characters, if you like, where did you go for inspiration and help. Did you look at his life? Ben: We did. We were very lucky that we looked into it in depth and we were also very lucky that our director Ian Rickson knew Harold very well in the last stages of his life, so he was able to fill us in a great deal on his background and his history of his affair with Joan. He was fascinating to study. Is that what makes the play still so fascinating today, not that we’re all unfaithful, let’s not say that, just because it’s also about being true to yourself and all kinds of other things, do you think that’s what makes it still so popular.? Douglas: I think it’s really hard being an adult sometimes ‘cos I think when you’re in your twenties or your thirties you’re supposed to kind of make mistakes really, but you’re also supposed to learn from them, but things don’t....I don’t know...situations keep coming up where you keep getting a chance to make a mess of your life. These people have kind of grasped that particular metal and I think that’s what people see ‘ Thank god, they’re doing it, so we don’t have to.’ Yes. You’re both incredibly well-known of course for doing television 'Primeval', 'Coupling', is it lovely not to be doing telly. I mean that it the nicest possible way ,’cos I’ve asked that to people before ,cos people adore being on stage and not being in charge obviously, the director has a say, you can’t say ‘I’m wearing a hat leave me alone’ for example, but you do it every night and you get immediate feedback. Do you enjoy that aspect of it? Douglas: No, absolutely. Television is like being in a band and going into a recording studio to make an album and the stage is like when you get to play live in front of people, much better fun. Yeah. That’s a brilliant way. I’ve done this job for years and no one’s ever said it like that. Douglas: No. Well, that’s how it feels you know. You get to television you get to do it over and over again until you finally get it right and theatre’s a bit different. Ben: I was going to say it’s much more exciting. It’s exciting in a different way. Like you say you get a response when you finish and you get a chance to do the whole thing in one go. It’s very different. They’re like different jobs, but it’s thrilling, it’s really thrilling to do, especially this play. Were you very nervous both of you and did you help each other during that or were you quite competive ‘I’m fine. Are you fine?’ ‘Yeah. See you after ping pong yeah fine.’Whatever. ' Ben: I mean yeah nervous always, always every night. You know you’ve got to be nervous or else it’s not alive. Do you know know I mean? If you kind of go into going ‘that’s fine’, it’s kind of a bit of a dead night. Nerves can be good that’s my point. And you’ve got to just ride them as it were. How difficult is it as actors to act in reverse? If that’s not a weird question. Douglas: No, not really. It’s awful. Is it awful Douglas is it? Douglas: Yeah it is ‘cos normally in a play you get some momentum of what your character’s journey is through the evening, for how many hours you are on stage, but in this you’ve got to shed kind of things, any kind of emotion you’ve got to try an dump it at the end of every scene because that doesn’t exist in the next one. Ben: There’s one bit, there’s one sequence in the play that goes forward. There’s one year in the play. Douglas: Ah yeah. You must have loved that. Ben: Oh it’s so nice. You go ‘Oh I can do this and in the next scene I can remember that’. It’s a very nice feeling, kind of going forwards for a bit. But also it is odd and it is awful, but it’s quite novel doing a scene and then you’re backstage going ‘right I don’t know that now and I haven’t done that.’ Yes. We haven’t had that argument. Ben: I haven’t done that have I? Who am I? Who is this? So it’s quite stimulating in a way. It makes it very alive to play and I think the audience pick up on that. I think it’s very exciting to witness. Final question, Ian Rickson, who is of course the director stormed everyone with Jerusalem, how’s it been working with him? Ben: Amazing. Is it ? Douglas: He’s fab Ben: He’s fantastic. Good answer. I don’t know what I would have done if you has said ‘awful'.Thank you so much for coming. |
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