The Picture Journal

Inside Look: Emily Berrington

We spoke to actress Emily Berrington about her role as Young Woman in the Almeida Theatre production of Machinal. An actor’s role, much like the character’s they play, is oftentimes defined by the choices they make and the chances they take. What sort of challenge does it present playing a character that is limited in their agency? One of the most interesting aspects of rehearsing Machinal was searching for how a character who is in many ways so limited is still actively trying to survive and thrive. Just because she isn’t successful at it doesn’t mean the Young Woman isn’t…

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Inside Look: Maisie Richardson-Sellers

We spoke to actress Maisie Richardson-Sellers about her role as Laurie in the Trafalgar Studios production of 3 Women. Consistently there seems to be this interplay between generations, parents don’t understand and once you get older eventually the kids don’t. Even as society take efforts to be more understanding and open minded, this cyclical contradictory thinking remains. What do you think makes this generational thinking so fixed? I think that a lot of misunderstanding between generations has to do with the fact that societal expectations, trends and needs evolve so quickly, and therefore generations can easily feel alienated from those…

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Inside Look: John McCrea

We spoke to actor John McCrea about his role as Jamie New in the Sheffield Theatres production of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. You’ve mentioned in interviews that you perceived yourself lacking a certain breadth of experience as is typical for a West End lead. When can it help to enter into something where your enthusiasm, or commitment exceeds experience? Did it help you at any point for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie? I always knew I could portray the character well, I felt as if I knew him inside-out, so I guess that fuelled me to take a risk and push…

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Inside Look: Charlotte Hamblin

We spoke to actress Charlotte Hamblin about her role as Miss Julie in the Jermyn Street Theatre production of Miss Julie. Miss Julie represents one of the early expressions of ‘naturalism’, which could be described in part as a movement that presents characters who are helpless to their primal urges and heredity. Was this concept a point of reference at all for your interpretation of your character? Did you consciously embrace or distance yourself from it in a way that altered your usual preparations? It completely depends what part I’m playing as to whether I research and reference the roots…

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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…

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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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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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