20 Questions With…Ed Stoppard
Actor Ed Stoppard’s London stage credits include Wit in the West End, The Road to Ruin and Saint’s Day at Richmond’s Orange Tree Theatre, and Age, Sex, Location at the Riverside Studios.
At Chichester Festival Theatre, Stoppard has starred in productions of The Merchant of Venice and The Seagull, while elsewhere his credits include The Magistrate, Rhinoceros and If I Should Die.
On television, Stoppard has appeared in Empire, Murder in Mind, Queen of Swords, The Somme, The Brontes and Relic Hunter, while hisfilm credits include The Pianist, The Little Vampire, The Fiance and Chapter Five.
Following a regional tour last autumn, Stoppard is now in the West End taking the title role in Stephen Unwin’s English Touring Theatre production of Hamlet.
Date & place of birth
Born 16 September 1974 in London.
Lives now in
East Dulwich in London. I’ve been there about two years, with my wife and daughter who’s two-and-a-quarter.
Training
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).
What made you first decide to become an actor?
I think at some point during their lives most actors come to the realisation that acting is the only thing that will get them out of bed. Very few actors become actors because they want to end up on Celebrity Big Brother. Most actors do it because it’s the only thing they can do, it’s sort of as simple as that. We all enjoy doing it so much. I think a lot of us get a taste for it when we’re at school. It is great fun, and the idea of earning a living doing something which you class as great fun is very appealing. The fact my father (Tom Stoppard) is a playwright may have exposed me to theatre and acting in general more than a child whose father wasn’t a playwright, but then again maybe it didn’t. I didn’t go to the theatre two times a week throughout my childhood or anything.
First big break
I suppose The Pianist, really. I don’t quite know what constitutes a big break these days. I don’t live in Los Angeles, but The Pianist was certainly an important piece of work in terms of profile to an extent but also in terms of experience. Playing Konstantin in The Seagull a few years ago was important for me as an actor. It was a sort of milestone to play a character of that complexity and celebrity I suppose in some respects. And then Hamlet.
Career highlights to date
The Seagull, definitely. Konstantin is one of those well-known characters for young actors to play. And then subsequently playing Hamlet. This is one of the biggest roles. It’s a limitless character. You’re never going to get to the point where there can’t be another interpretation – although apparently Simon Russell Beale went to see Alex Jennings play the role and at the end turned to his friend and said “He’s cracked it”. But really this is not one of those characters where you can say “Oh right, yes, there it is, there’s the definitive Hamlet”. He’s such a complex character. You do have to make him your Hamlet rather than your interpretation of someone else’s. Nobody wants to come and watch me play Hamlet as a copy of Simon Russell Beale or Burton or whoever, but that’s acting. Even the most chameleon-like actors bring part of themselves to the role to a certain extent. Gary Oldman said in an interview he has to know what’s in the character’s fridge. I know exactly what he means. It sounds strange, but if you really understand a character, then you do know what you imagine would be in their fridge and other details as small as that. Joy Division and Animal, these movies I did last year, were also really good. More often than not, you do a job and you have to pinch yourself because you’re having such a good time. When acting is good it’s great, and when it’s bad it’s awful. When you’re working and doing something you’re interested in, you can’t believe it. You think, “Jesus, I’m being paid what can sometimes be quite substantial amounts of money to do something that I’d frankly do for nothing”. So most jobs I do, I thoroughly enjoy. I like stage and screen equally because they’re different disciplines, and I do like to move between the two if I can. I’m not in a position where I can flick through 20 offers and pick the one I want. You do whatever you’re asked to do generally. But I like doing both so I wouldn’t like to exclusively be a film actor or a stage actor.
Favourite co-stars
Um, well Anita Dobson is lovely. And (the late) Sheila Gish. Both intelligent generous people, and talented as well. Even talented arse-holes are attractive in some respects, but those two are very kind and generous people. It makes a difference. Some people in this profession thrive off animosity but I don’t, and I’m glad to say I’ve never really had to work with someone who does – no actors anyway. Occasionally, you’ll find someone who works on a divide-and-conquer principle, but it’s not much fun for everyone else.
Favourite directors
I enjoyed working with Roman Polanski. It was difficult, it wasn’t like a love affair, but he is an amazing director and an amazing person to work for. He’s very inspirational. I think lots of actors, as we generate ideas – whether it’s one of your scenes or another character’s scenes – you think, “I wouldn’t have done it like that, I’d have done it like this”. Now, if that’s the first step to becoming a director, then I suppose most actors want to be directors. But I think you have to be a certain kind of character to be a director. Some actors like to be told exactly where to stand, and others like to be more proactive.
Favourite playwrights
Harold Pinter. I’ve seen lots of Pinter. I did a rehearsed reading of The Room at the Royal Court a few weeks ago. It really made me realise for the first time up close and personal why he is so revered. Would I ever follow in my father’s footsteps to become a playwright? No, I don’t know about that. I don’t think so.
What roles would you most like to play still?
I’d like to do more Pinter. If anyone wants to offer me a role in a Pinter play, I’ll take it.
What was the first thing you saw on stage that made a big impact on you? And the last?
I remember going to see a play of my dad’s called On the Razzle. I must have been about six or something. There is something really magical about theatre at its best. You sort of revert to being a child again. You can get lost in having a tea party with teddy bears. I mean, how the fuck can you sit down and have a tea party with teddy bears? But actually, a child can do it and it’s not a chore for my daughter, it’s a natural state to be in… I sometimes have to join in with the tea parties! But theatre’s like that. When theatre’s at its best, the lights go down and you’re peering through this window into this world. My memory of On the Razzle is absolutely that, it’s this feeling of being drawn into this story that’s being played just for me with these bright lights and wonderful characters. I have to admit I have not been to the theatre in possibly the longest time in my life. I had a week off when we were touring Hamlet and I went to see Stephen Dillane’s one-man Macbeth at the Almeida and it was pretty staggering. I didn’t like all of it, but some of it was just mind-blowing. Someone said to me “yeah, but is it better than seeing an entire cast do Macbeth?” The answer is sort of yes and no. The beauty of it is that you had this amazing actor for all the smaller roles like Malcolm and Macduff and roles you would never usually see an actor of his calibre doing, and his Macbeth itself was fantastic. Macbeth is a role I might like to play. My preference is for the more tortured characters in Shakespeare. I don’t see myself as an Orlando in As You Like It and those young romantic leads – going back to what Gary Oldman said – I don’t know what would be in their fridge. I don’t really want to know what they keep in their fridge, that’s the problem. I don’t care so much about what makes them tick.
You’ve mentioned Macbeth quiet a lot. Are you superstitious at all?
Yes, I am a bit. If we were in the theatre now, I’d be saying Maccers or something, not calling it by its full name. I’m like the nuclear physicist Niels Bohr. He used to have a horseshoe over his door and a friend of his said “surely you don’t believe it” and he said “no but apparently it works whether you believe it or not”. I’m sort of like that with superstition. I don’t believe in it, but I still think it’s worth being careful.
What would you advise the government – or the industry – to secure the future of British theatre?
Give us more money! You need to secure the future audience so give incentives to schools. We get a lot of school audiences in because Hamlet is on the syllabus, and for the most part they really do respond to it, and you wonder how often they go to the theatre. For all the explosions in technology with CGI and so on that Hollywood can throw up, live performance is something different. We need to encourage children to go to the theatre. I don’t know how we would do that. Possibly with cattle prods. But we need to get them in because more often than not, get kids in and they’ll think that wasn’t bad. They’re surprised at how much they enjoyed it. These are the people who in a few years’ time will think on a Friday night, “shall I blow £50 on a strip show or shall I go and buy a ticket in the West End?” And hopefully some of them might chose the theatre occasionally.
Favourite holiday destinations
My family’s about to increase so our new favourite holiday destination is probably going to become Centre Parks or something! My in-laws live in New York so we go and visit them. They have a house on Long Island and it’s beautiful. It’s this sweep of sand going miles and miles and miles. It’s wonderful.
Favourite after show haunts
The bus that takes me back to East Dulwich. I always just go home. On the press night, I hung around for half an hour. But I have a young family and I’ve got to get up in the morning and play and stuff – tea parties!
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
My mother said: “Don’t find a job that pays you well and then try to like it. Choose what you want to do and then find someone who’ll pay you to do it.” Which is a sort if mantra for actors everywhere. We all found what we wanted to do when we were far too young to think about careers, and as we grew up and got to the age where we had to start fending for ourselves, we found to our delight that, with a bit of luck, we can earn a living doing what we have done for fun for the last however many years.
Why did you want to accept your part in this production of Hamlet? Is the Prince of Denmark a role you’ve always wanted to play?
I thought I was ready to have a go at it really. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have thought I was really capable of doing it properly. I’d have had a go, but it was a bit beyond my reach I think. I’m not saying necessarily now that it’s well within my grasp, but I’m more capable as a person really to play a role like Hamlet than I was in the past.
How do you think Hamlet is relevant to modern audiences?
Wasted youth. And to an extent, procrastination. We’d all like to be men of action, but the vast majority of us just aren’t. Somehow we live in a world where morality is something our parents had to worry about. Wasted youth is relevant today because society tells young people they should be aspiring to be on Big Brother or own the latest mobile phone or shag Paris Hilton. I mean, come on, what kind of aspirations are those? It really pisses me off and it’s only to sell products that kids are told this. But yes, I think most people waste their youth, as Hamlet does.
How has the production changed since it started on tour?
It’s got more detail. Essentially, it’s the same. I mean, if you saw it once on tour you wouldn’t notice the difference, but for us there is more depth and new thought processes have been found. Some scenes have changes, the nunnery scene’s a bit different, but really it’s just sort of tighter and has more detail. I really like the soliloquies. I like that contact with the audience and engaging with them directly. If they’re not engaging with me enough, I really pick people out and focus and make sure I am telling them the story. There is a contract between the actors and the audience, and it has to be fulfilled by both parties. There’s no point just paying your money and sitting back to watch the play waiting to go to the bar. You have to engage with the story and that’s when you get the most out of theatre.
What are you plans for the future?
Well, I’m going to be a father again so will take some time off for a while. Other than that I don’t have any plans at the moment.
– Ed Stoppard was speaking to Caroline Ansdell
Hamlet opened on 23 September 2005 at Oxford Playhouse and toured until 26 November 2005 before opening in the West End’s New Ambassadors theatre on 20 February 2006 (previews from 13 February).
