Stage Door Jonny

In the second half of Jonny’s chat with Elliot Levey, Elliot makes the case for why good actors submit; how directors reveal themselves through notes and acting that isn’t “mirror-kissing”; the moment Elliot regretted in the theatre and the horrible play that prompted him to nearly leave it mid performance via a fire exit; spending a decade at the National Theatre, how plays stay fresh and why Saturday night shows often smell of farts; what pisses him off about the theatre, the joy of Simon Russell Beale in a tiny part, the many delights of Polonius and a sudden Proustian recall of Jonny at the very beginning of his career. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonny’s guest is the two time Olivier award winner and Loveliest Man in British Equity, Elliot Levey. In his dressing room at the Harold Pinter theatre before his award-winning performance in Mark Rosenblatt’s Giant, Jonny and Elliot begin by lifting the lid on podcasting’s dirty secret and Elliot’s generous superfan. They break down Giant, a play about Roald Dahl’s antisemitism at the time of the real-world horror of the war in Gaza, how Elliot’s view of the play and his character shifts with each days headlines and the catharsis of drama in a moral maze; there’s a delightfully unexpected visit from Rachel Stirling, a memory of working with her mother, Dame Dianna Rigg, and the delivery of a bottle of in-character rosé; Elliot’s memory of being in a play that addressed the aftermath of horror on the night of terrorist attacks on London, why theatre isn’t binary, in praise of being boring, an equally delightful visit from John Lithgow (and an insight into how Jonny seduces future guests) and Elliot’s theory that all supremely talented people are also supremely nice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second half of Jonny’s chat with Mark Strong, his guest describes feeling hated during Ivo van Hove’s A View From the Bridge; the strong conviction he had about the playing of Eddie Carbone; becoming a movie actor (not star), what he learnt from the camera and taking it back to the stage; working with Ivo before he became the global theatrical influencer he is now, his mischief,and how he fought the great director over what turned out to be strokes of genius; his sheer terror before he started performing View and the joy of conquering fear; creating “the right to be looked at”; building a character through the body; what he needs from a director and what he doesn’t; his “rant” about the business; two aging actors talk about innovations in sound; his worries about Macbeth and Jonny’s theory of the murderous king’s intrinsic sweetness; what pisses him off about the theatre and what he still wants from it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonny is joined this week by the actor who is the current toast of Broadway for his portrayal of Oedipus in Robert Icke’s updating of the great tragedy, Mark Strong. They start off by talking about Simon Russell Beale, original inspiration for SDJ and the way talent is sometimes undecodable. Being told what Mark’s “thing” was at drama school, the attraction of charm, his very unusual origin story, the importance of Steven Berkoff and fronting a punk band in making him a performer; the difference between being an artist and an artisan, working with the late Helen McCrory and Ian McKellen, a debate about Al Pacino- and uncontrollable crying as Oedipus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a second half lightly underscored by the Wagner seeping in from Glyndebourne’s Parsifal, Jonny hears how the doyenne of modern lighting designers spent her formative years in the creative ferment of Theatre de Complicité, the tough love from another designer that propelled her, what makes an experience on a show great for her, the two types of directors, splitting up with Katie Mitchell, what makes light walk into a room, the change in the aesthetic she championed in the modern theatre, why she’s retiring, her relationship with fear, bothering Nathan Lane, missing her kid’s birthdays, why she’s never wanted to be a cinematographer, the fundamental change in the culture and what she wants for young artists today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.