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"This is an absolutely absurd thing to do for a living"
But then it’s not every day you get to lead a cast of 50 in an epic production at the National Theatre that plans to make use of every ounce of the Olivier’s stage and every piece of stage jiggery-pokery available to it. This is the treatment needed to stage Ibsen’s once-nine hour piece with 75 speaking parts, which has been ‘condensed’ – if that’s the right word – into a sub-four hour production by dramaturg Ben Power. “I don’t really think it could go on in any other theatre,” says Scott.
It’s the role of a lifetime for the 34-year-old Irishman, and one which perhaps heralds a change of gear. Scott has been a part of the London stage for some years, first making Theatreland take notice with his 2005 Olivier Award for A Girl In A Car With A Man at the Royal Court. He made his National Theatre debut in 2005 with Brian Friel’s Aristocrats, headed to Broadway for the US premiere of David Hare play The Vertical Hour in 2006 and, last year, won plaudits for his performances in Cock at the Royal Court and Design For Living at the Old Vic. Now, his biggest stage role to date comes in a year when Scott’s screen profile is set to be boosted by his appearance in two eagerly awaited dramas: as Moriarty in Sherlock and in new 1950s-set British drama The Hour. “It’s a hectic time,” he says simply. “I’ve been busy.”
2011年06月09日 14点06分
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"I heard that it’s Hitler’s favourite play"
As a Catholic-raised Dubliner who has “a lot of scepticism about organised religion”, the themes of the play have inevitably provoked thoughts about his own country’s troubled history. “I really do believe in forgiveness and all that kind of stuff. I think that’s why everybody in Ireland – and I think a lot of people in England as well – were very moved by the recent State visit to Ireland from the Queen. I thought that was really extraordinary and very important. I suppose because I love London and I also love Dublin, I was sort of amazed by how affected I was by it and how important I thought it was that there was this sense of forgiveness, on both sides.”
It is somewhat unusual to find Scott in an 1896 Ibsen drama; the actor’s main body of work has come in new pieces, such as one-man play Sea Wall, written especially for him by playwright Simon Stephens – “when I think of it, the complete opposite to this” – and Mike Bartlett’s Cock at the Royal Court, of which the Evening Standard wrote: “It’s Andrew Scott who impresses most… He combines sweary viciousness with a kind of hapless vulnerability.”
However Power’s new adaptation – which readers fearing the lengthy running time will be relieved to hear “really motors along” – coupled with the fact Ibsen’s play has never before been performed in English, leads Scott to say “I sort of feel that I’m embarking on a new play even though it’s an old play. I love working on new plays. I’ve worked a lot at the [Royal] Court and I love that feeling of being in a new play. And the fact that nobody has seen this play in London is really exciting.”
2011年06月09日 15点06分
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If it fulfils its ambitions, Emperor And Galilean may ingrain Scott’s name firmly on the theatrical map just as his forthcoming role in Sherlock raises his profile on television. In fact, his herculean schedule shows no sign of abating; he begins filming for the second series of Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat’s award-winning drama the day after his press night at the National.
Scott appeared as Sherlock’s pernicious nemesis Moriarty in the final of three initial episodes last year and will enjoy a more substantial appearance this series. So, I plunge in, do you get to kill Sherlock at Reichenbach Falls? “I can’t [tell you]!” he laughs, resisting my subtle probing. “Somebody will come out and shoot me in the face!”
2011年06月09日 15点06分
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After dropping out of an academic theatre studies degree he began his stage career at the Abbey theatre in Dublin, and it was there that he got the grounding that has enabled him to build a steady career based on the type of work he enjoys. “I think you have to go ‘what’s of value to me?’” he says of measuring success, “and what was of value to me so far has been learning how to act. I was very lucky to work with really brilliant people early on, really good writers and really good directors, and that’s addictive. Then your ear for good scripts improves. It means that you don’t have that profile but I wouldn’t swap that for a million years because I feel it’s afforded me a lot of time. So when your profile does increase a little bit you actually have a sense of your own self and what you’re good at, and actually you can be braver. At the time I didn’t worry too much about what way Moriarty would be perceived and it being a famous character, whereas maybe if I was 23 I would be like ‘oh my God this is such a pressure’.”
It is why he doesn’t see this current glut of work as any kind of watershed in his career. “I’ve kind of been quite lucky in a sense in that I’ve never felt like I was failing, if you know what I mean.”
Nevertheless, he doesn’t deny that being in a hit telly show, or winning an Olivier Award, as he did in 2005, does open up opportunities. “So much of this industry is about having a calling card. I think what most actors want is an opportunity. Most actors don’t mind not getting a job but they do mind not getting an audition. I think things like being in a TV programme that people watch, or winning awards or getting good reviews, that encourages the people who employ actors to go, ‘right, well I’ll give him a shot’.”
Scott, it is clear, has several calling cards up his sleeve right now, which hopefully means we may see a lot more of the actor in the future, both on screen and on stage. That is, if Emperor And Galilean doesn’t drain the life out of him. He grins. “I’ll definitely have a holiday after this.”
CB
2011年06月09日 15点06分
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level 8
是啊,哈哈,你也看了Lynn的贴啊。签很漂亮啊,而且是Gandolf!
2011年06月09日 16点06分
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我自动脑补Scott说这些时是游泳池边的“调皮”表情……还真给力啊
2011年06月10日 12点06分
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