Up next in 10
Travel Back in Time with the Cast of LOVE, LOVE LOVE on Opening Night!
Nov 5, 2022
Roundabout Theatre Company presents the new play Love, Love Love, directed byMichael Mayer, which opened officially last night, October 19, 2016 at theLaura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. This is a limited engagement Off-Broadway through December 18, 2016.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
0:02
Roundabout Theatre Company continues their season with Mike Bartlett's play Love, Love, Love
0:06
directed by Michael Mayer, and we caught up with the company on opening nights. Well, first of all, I want to welcome you for your New York stage debut
0:13
How does it feel? It feels great, actually. It's nice to come with a play which is so kind of buoyant
0:18
It's been like a tonic for me. I'm normally playing kind of miserable anxiety on stage
0:22
so this is a very different role for me. But, yeah, the audiences are fantastic, and they stand up at the end
0:27
and they're very engaged with the play, which is a British play, so it's kind of refreshing and surprising
0:33
How did this all come about for you to do this play here at Roundabout? It was really accidental
0:37
I'd returned from Berlin back to New York, and I live here now. And I've been interested in my age, and I said, look, I really want to do something different
0:44
something different to what I usually do. I'd love to be able to work here. I've always loved The Roundabout
0:49
And he said, well, as it happens, I've got this script on my desk, made the call
0:54
and then here we are. It's really, we have a wonderful group of friends and family here
0:58
So we're in good hands tonight in the audience, so it just, we're in good hands tonight in the audience. So it just, it feels a relief to kind of be over this mark right now
1:06
And now to be open. Yeah, it's nice. Yeah. What has it been like working on this show
1:11
You have Michael Mayer, one of the greatest directors, Mike Bartlett. What was it like in the rehearsal room It was very we had an amazing group There was a lot of love And there was there were no problems There were no problem children in this play
1:26
And Mike, both mics are so extraordinary. I've known Michael Mayer since I'm 19 years old
1:32
And Mike Bartlett, I've only been a fan of his writing from Cock to King Charles III, so I just feel very, very lucky
1:39
to get to work with him and work with him on this play with this character
1:44
with this character. It's just such a gift. It is opening night. How do you feel
1:48
I love this play, and I love this company, and I'm delighted to be back at the roundabout, so it's like it ticks all
1:56
the boxes for me. It was a terrific night. I'm very happy. So tell me when you first read the play, what went through your mind
2:02
why you wanted to direct it? Well, when I first read it, it struck me
2:06
that I hadn't read anything that had this form to it before
2:09
So I love the themes of generation, dissonance, and of economics and the way the culture moves forward for some people
2:21
and moves backward for others. I loved the sound of it, the rhythm of it
2:27
It struck me right away the way the words were organized on the page
2:31
I knew right away that it was going to be something that would engage me. And then when I went further into it as I kept reading I thought oh wow I actually really really am engaged by the story And the way that it functions was so different
2:45
from anything I'd read before. Collaborating with your director, Michael Mayer. He's brilliant. He's a genius
2:51
He's got a real sense of music, and I think for my stuff, that's brilliant
2:55
because it's all about rhythm, and rhythm leads to dramatic intention, and that's exactly what the actors are playing
3:01
So the fact he understands that, and he's very funny. as well, which is also important
3:07
It's been fantastic, very nice guy. Working with Michael, he's one of the most trusting
3:12
inventive, sensitive directors I've ever gotten to work with. And this company is outstanding
3:18
I've been really fortunate to work with such hardworking actors who really love the craft of acting
3:25
and that that's the most important thing to them. I'm not saying that that doesn't happen often
3:32
Like, you know, obviously actors want to work, but there's a certain style of technique that all the actors in this company have
3:39
which is they're always exploring, they're always learning more, they're always trying to find something else out about their character, about a scene
3:46
And it's been really fantastic to work on these beautiful words that Michael's written for us, well, not for us, but like for the world
3:54
and with such a great group of people Michael has written this structured in a way It very rhythmic The timing is very important So we sort of work from a place of starting
4:05
by drilling the rhythm into our bones, so we knew exactly what that rhythm was
4:10
because without it, the show doesn't really work. And then as we've gone on and through the preview process
4:15
we're sort of fleshing out, finding the flesh and blood of the whole room
4:18
I love this play. I love this cast. It's so fun to do. Normally I feel really anxious and nervous
4:24
but I feel really happy today. This is such a dynamite company
4:28
and you're working with Michael Mayer. What was it like creating this whole world
4:32
with him in the rehearsal room? It was so fun. It was like putting a puzzle together every day
4:36
The play is really technical. The language is really technical, so we worked in a really technical way
4:41
kind of almost like an outside-in approach. And I feel like really great about how we worked
4:47
and I loved working with Michael. I wanted to work with him for a really long time, so I left at the chance
4:51
So when you took your bow tonight, do you remember what you were thinking? I remember thinking, oh, they're taking pictures of me
4:59
I don't have a shirt on
#Events & Listings
#Movies
#Performing Arts
#Drama Films
#Romance Films
#Broadway & Musical Theater