The Picture Journal

Sacha Dhawan

You recently appeared in the newest series of Sherlock. If you could have possessed Sherlock’s powers of logic/ detection for one day of your life, when would you have called upon it? I had just come back to the UK from being on an 8 month tour of a play. I was still stuck in that monotonous routine; my comfort blanket, which meant my performance ability had become a little ‘rusty’. My first audition back was a workshop for a very high-profile physical theatre company. Upon entering the audition room I wish my logic/ detection kicked in at that very…

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Rory Fleck Byrne

What’s your favorite word or expression that isn’t part of the English language? “Il y a du pain sur la planche. It’s French for ‘there’s a lot to do’ – it literally means there is bread on the table. If from now on you could only play characters that have already been performed, or ones that do not exist/ haven’t been performed yet – which do you play? Haven’t been performed/ do not exist yet. What was the last thing you learned about yourself? I don’t think I want to tell you that 😉 What is a tradition you love…

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Inside Look: George Blagden

We spoke to actor George Blagden about his role as Presley in the Shoreditch Town Hall production of The Pitchfork Disney. What was the most challenging aspect of the play as you read it, that surprised you in how well it unfolded live? The language. When you read Philip’s work for the first time, your imagination takes you to a million different places of where this sort of story-telling could work effectively. If you didn’t have the luxury of having Phil there (which we did!), you could interpret his writing in lots of different ways, and different productions of this…

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Eoin Macken

Name three different skills or facts you learned from any three roles – regardless of how useful they are. Horse riding – excellent for adventure holidays and pretending that you can converse with animals. (Merlin) Actors will let you photograph them but only if you pester them into submission. (Resident Evil) I do not have the skill set to be a real doctor. (The Night Shift) Would you rather be able to read and write in any language except for English, or speak fluently in any language except for English? French. I used to speak it quite well, but now it’s…

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Inside Look: Arinzé Kene

We spoke to actor Arinzé Kene about his role as Same Cooke in the Donmar Warehouse production of One Night In Miami. Cooke was a ground-breaking artist beyond just a creative capacity in that he crossed genres (at risk of losing his gospel career) and took control of his music management. How much do you think these chapters of his life would influence his role in the civil rights movement, or vice-versa? There were several differing views at the time on what the best methods to combat racial injustice were. Some saw peaceful protest as an ideal route while other…

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Ronan Raftery

What do you think would be the most inconvenient phobia for you to develop at this stage of your life? A fear of interviews. Which cinematic villain or antagonist have you always felt the most empathy for? Beetlejuice, he just wants the house to himself! I usually empathize with the bad guy. Good movies rarely have a villain with no redeemable characteristics or moments where they question everything, however briefly. I’m thinking of Charlize Theron in Monster or Jack Nicholson in The Shining, Darth Vader etc. Moments when the armour cracks and we catch a glimpse of the person that…

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Samuel Barnett

In the theme of your new series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – since everyone will be asking you about the mysteries you’ve solved – what is a historically significant or famed mystery that you find completely uninteresting… or, likely possesses the least intriguing solution? An enduring mystery lies around Shakespeare. Did he really write all of those plays…?!?! Yep. He did. Mystery solved. What moment in your life did you feel the most like a tourist? I visited the giant bronze Buddha at a monastery on Lantau island. All the monks there were silent and dressed in their orange…

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