Inside Look: Christian Cooke

We spoke to actor Christian Cooke about his role as Pony William in the Donmar Warehouse production of Knives in Hens. Knives in Hens is set in a rugged ‘pre-industrial’ time and place far removed from contemporary life. What was the nature of the conversations with the director and fellow cast regarding how these characters exist, or even your own thought process? A lot of the early work we did was physical. Lots of movements work to really get inside the bodies of these people and consider how they move. They are people of the land who were put to work…

Katie Leung

Who do you know who has the ‘best’ voice – and qualify what your standards are for them being ‘best’ Sara Kestelman who I worked with recently in a production at Hampstead Theatre has a magnificent voice which resonated effortlessly in the space on stage, piercing through the soul without the need for volume/ shouting. She also happens to be an incredible actress. What was the last habit that you took up and the last one that you’ve given up? Taken up menthols. Given up coffee. If the last three places you read about or watched became a travel itinerary,…

Millie Brady

What book/ movie/ TV show do you think you’ve recommended more than any other? Philomena, The Help and Big Little Lies probably are my most recent big 3 for recommendations. What are you happy that happened while you were alive and at an age where you could/ can understand and remember? Being taught to read is a personal memory that’s so important to me and one I remember vividly. On a wider scale, I’m happy to have been able to witness the outcry from women across the world for equal rights and see everyone come together for the Women’s Marches.…

Sophie Rundle

Is there anything you’ve been happy or nonplussed to lose or miss out on? I did one of those 1 week intensive driving courses and didn’t pass my test. In hindsight I think its a good thing, I was nowhere near ready. I shouldn’t be allowed in charge of a moving vehicle. If you could commission any painter in sculptor in history for a project, who would you pick and what would you have them render? I’d love to have my portrait done like those great oil paintings of formidable looking women that hang in National Trust properties. I’d like…

Poppy Corby-Tuech

What’s your favorite film character entrance or introduction of all time? The goat is gone, the glass of water is shaking, the kids are panicking, Jeff Goldblum is being Jeff Goldblum and the idiotic lawyer p**s off to the bathroom (“When you gotta go you gotta go”), only to be devoured moments later – trousers around his ankles – by the glorious T-Rex. What an entrance. In fact, that toilet scene in Jurassic Park inspired me to write a song when I was ten called Man on the Bog; a tragic retelling of this story as seen from the T-Rex’s…

Anders Hayward

What was the most interesting location you filmed at for Gap Year? It’s hard to pick just one place, because everywhere we shot was different, but I really did love Kathmandu. It was just a completely bonkers place with everything happening at a million miles per hour. Buildings being rebuilt, motorbikes and cars everywhere. Also just the people were so lovely and positive. It really felt like a properly old place filled with a lot of history. Out of your favorite films, which do you think would be the best and worst choice to screen for a date? One of…

Anna Brewster

Do you still consider a particular place ‘home’? To be honest no, I travel so much so it’s rare for me to be in one place for more than a couple of weeks. I split my time between London and Paris and I love both cities for different reasons, but I find it hard to stay in one place for too long. I think the place I feel most at home is with my family, that’s where you can truly relax and feel safe and I guess that’s the definition of ‘home’. If you could send a 2 x 2…