Richard Armitage recently spoke with the Telegraph about a variety of topics. Photo credit: Dan Burn Forti, The Telegraph.
Fresh from a rehearsal for the current production of The Crucible at London’s Old Vic, actor Richard Armitage recently spoke with the Telegraph. The interview ranged over several topics, including The Crucible and Armitage’s career path.
The Old Vic’s production of The Crucible by renowned American playwright Arthur Miller opened on June 21, 2014, and runs through September 13. Armitage is playing the lead role of John Proctor, whose affair with young woman leads to terrifying and disastrous consequences. The actor says that he has been waiting for this role all his life. “It’s such an epic role,” Armitage admits. “It feels as big as Lear to me in terms of what that man goes through.”
The play is situated in the time of the Salem Witch Trials in 17th century America and is viewed as an allegory of McCarthyism in the 1950s. However, Armitage feels that the play remains pertinent today remarking, “It’s ultimately a timeless play, I think… It has lines that feel relevant in 1692, relevant in the Fifties, relevant today and relevant tomorrow, in 10 years, in 20 years, while we’re still destroying each other in the way that we do, in that insidious human way.”
Armitage describes his career to date as a slow, 20-year climb. Photo credit: Dan Burn Forti, The Telegraph.
Armitage remains unwilling to share his personal life with the press and continues to be baffled with being identified as “sexy”. “I still don’t get it,” the actor confessed. In the past, Armitage has described himself as being shy, but not any more. “I mean… if I’m very, very honest, I’m a big guy. I think I’m at times quite a frightening person… I think I’m quite uncompromising. I can’t bear bullsh*t, and in a way the shyness is me protecting other people from that. I can feel that there’s an intimidation that can happen if I own my full height, and speak at my full volume. So I’ve learned over the years to just tone it all down a bit.”
The actor characterized his career so far as “a slow climb. I started late, and it’s taken 20 years”. He goes on to talk about his choice to focus on television and film work in order to build a name for himself. His return to the theatre is very important for him. “That’s why it’s interesting coming back now and getting into a rehearsal room and going, ‘This is why I did it. I’d forgotten.’ I’m having a really amazing epiphany doing this, and I think I’ll be a different actor when I come out of it.”
You can read the Telegraph’s complete interview here. The Crucible runs through September 13, 2014. Ticket information is available at the Old Vic’s website.
Here are some recent Middle-earth News stories about Richard Armitage:
First Look at Richard Armitage in ‘The Crucible’
Richard Armitage ‘Thorin Thursday’ Interview, Part 3
