The world of Dickens gets a different kind of twist in this hysterical comedy currently playing to its last performances in the West End. Guillermo Nazara chats with its lead actor to discuss his experiences throughout the run, and learn more about this show dealing with the affairs of a great house.
How has it been to be starring in such a hilarious comedy in the heart of the West End?
It’s absolutely brilliant. We’re very lucky because we’ve got a lovely cast and everyone is great to come into work every day. It’s not exactly a chore – it’s good fun. And having a different guest star come in every week means that it’s fresh, as it’s quite a long run within 15 weeks. But actually, having someone different every week does make the next experience new every single week, since each different Narrator brings a new energy into the building. It’s a real treat to get to work alongside some very famous comedians, which is also fortunate. So yeah, it’s brilliant. We’re having an awesome time.
Is it challenging to bring such a famous radio show to the stage, with probably so many viewers having great expectations (no pun intended)?
Well, I think if people have been fans of the radio show, and come to see the production, it’s already an added bonus for us, because they know the sort of feel of the comedy and its material. It’s very wacky, zany and ludicrous. A bit like Monty Python. And so, sometimes people don’t know the content at all. They come in and they see it fresh. So it can sometimes take a few minutes to get your head around the comedic language of the play. Whereas if you’ve known the radio show, you absolutely know what you’re signing yourself up for. But in terms of taking your time from the radio series, I think the great thing was that we were able to take a lot of the vibe of the comedy from the radio series, but we’ve been able to add layers on to it. As you’ve seen, it’s a very physical show: there’s quite a lot of visual comedy (slapstick and other visual elements) that obviously just weren’t possible on the radio show. But I believe they actually add additional layers of hilarity to the material. So I’d like to think we’re very much honoring its radio counterpart and all the wonderful, wonderful things about it, but also contributing with some extra theatrical visual elements.
Moving onto those new layers, as an actor, would you say it requires the same level of complexity as with any other genre when building a character for a slapstick comedy?
Absolutely. It’s very much about regardless of it being a comedy or a drama, it’s about finding the truth in them and in the material. We’re not sending up the content at all – these characters have to very much believe that this is their world. And this is the experiences that they’re going through. So we very much tried to play the truth of the moment and the truth of the emotion. It just so happens that the circumstances that we’re in are extremely wacky, but in terms of how we do then approach the role, it has to be approached with utmost sincerity and utmost truth. So that you react accordingly to the circumstances that have been put upon you by the by the narrative of the play. So yes, we spent a lot of time in rehearsal discussing character and honesty. And hopefully that is reflected in in the performances. I think the only difference is that sometimes, because we are finding things so funny and things are so silly, we do occasionally break character -because it’s quite hard not to laugh sometimes.
This play is basically a parody on all things Victorian. Did you do some kind of researching when preparing for this role?
I think the great thing about the play is that some people think you need to know a lot about the works of Dickens or about the Victorian era to understand the jokes. But actually, you really, really don’t. I believe we all have, in the back of our minds, an idea of what Victorian England – like we’ve all seen BBC dramas. But why the play is so clever is that it has references to various Dickensian storylines and characters. But if you don’t know those characters or their storylines, it really doesn’t matter. Because the play essentially just pokes fun at all of our preconceptions of what Victorian times are like – we’re all wearing those costumes and things. For example, he goes to a nasty boarding school and the boarding school is called St. Bastard’s – there’s no need to know in depth material about Dickens in Victorian England, but just have a sort of rough idea, which we all do even subconsciously.
As you mentioned before, you have a different celebrity guest star every week to play the Narrator, which makes the experience fresh. But does it also influence your performance in particular?
Absolutely. It is definitely different every week and every guest narrator is putting their own stamp on the material. They meet with the writer and change the scripts, so that it’s according to their humor, their character and personality – they all put their own spin on things. For example, we had Tom Allen the other week. For the first seven or eight minutes of the play, he would just go out and do stand up comedy and welcome the audience and have a bit of a chat with them, which is different every night. Last week we had Jack Dee, who was more into sticking with the script. I also have that scene where I meet my older self. And that is absolutely different every week, we rewrite according to what this celebrity wants to do. And there’s a fair bit of sort of improvisation in there.
Since this is such a physical show, have there been any fun bloopers you would like to share?
Oh, there’s loads! Almost everyday! Some of the best ones: when the sourdough sword is meant to get snapped in two, sometimes there’s too much glue on it and it doesn’t snap quite well. When Mark Pickering, who plays the Judge, does his wig changes to play all the different characters in the jury, quite often he misses his hand with the wigs. There’s lots I think quite often because the show is so anarchic, and the audience are sometimes encouraged to get involved. We have to be quite reactive, and improvise a fair few sections of the show, which is good fun. Part of the fun of being in this show is that there’s always something that goes wrong.
If you had to give me one single reason to see Bleak Expectations, which one would it be?
I would say escapism, because it’s so very silly and so much fun. You’re not coming to think about the world. You’re just going to have a good time.
Bleak Expectations plays at London’s Criterion Theatre until 13 August. Tickets are available on the following link.