I'm curious - how does the selection process go as far as actors who get to choose are concerned?

how do Actors select the next play to work on... ? (when I say Actor, I mean male or female)

William Petersen in 'Dublin Carol'
at Trinity Rep (Providence RI)

I realize a majority of actors or directors do not have the luxury of really selecting their projects... but even if you are not in that position, there probably still is some level of selection in what to audition for.

Let's say you are in the position to select your next project, your time is yours and the money is of no real consideration... you made your fame and fortune in tv and movies, you did not waste your hard earned Dollars, Pounds or even Euro's on dodgy investments, the wrong fellow humans, castles, cars or drugs. You can choose to work or you can choose not to, or even retire... yet as I've been told by people who should know, acting is in your blood... an actor often keeps working, but if in this luxury position, he can do so on his own terms (must be nice, I'm jealous!).

I wonder, what makes a project interesting?

Rhys-Ifans in 'Protest Song' at The Shed
(NT) London

Is it the play itself? the challenging character available to give life to? is it the chance to work with other actors or a director already committed? or, if the project is in the early stages a chance to be involved with the selection of co-stars, director or other disciplines in the creative team?

Here's a 1981 article dealing with this same question... I imagine the situation has changed some, I think now even less plays are written with a specific actor in mind... more and more actors make their fame and fortune in tv or movies and venture (back) out to the stage, either because that is their first love, or because they have listened to their fellow actors waxing about how stage work is so different they want to experience it at least once (I haven't researched this, but I imagine that last category either falls in love or only does it once, as stage work definitely takes a different kind of dedication to the trade than tv or movie work).

a few quotes that jumped out for me (entire article included at the end of this post)

Krister Henriksson in 'Dr Glas' ,
Wyndham's Theatre, London

In the first place, say actors and producers, there just aren't that many wonderful new plays around - even for a star. And wonderful new plays suited to a particular actor's particular talents are even scarcer.

True, but I wonder if our actor who has the luxury of choice, would choose to take a risk on a new play or would choose to play that classic character he always wanted to play? The offerings of brilliant new plays might be as scarce as it was then, the library of wonderful plays that were produced before just keeps growing.

''I'm always amazed when a critic says, 'why would so-and-so pick to do this play?' '' she says.''That statement should be cut from every critic's review. It makes the assumption that actors are reading wonderful plays all the time, and that out of six, they reached out and took the wrong one. It's difficult for actors like Gerry (Page) or Julie (Harris) or G.C. (Scott) to be attacked on that level, as though they hadn't used their heads. My main reason and theirs is that we want to come back to the stage - it's what keeps you alive. ''You get to the point where you have nothing and you just want to go back to work.

Right, if you are looking for new work... on the other hand though there are a lot of wonderful plays out there that were produced before, that you can have some idea of on what might work or what not... Not that that is a guarantee for a perfect hand in picking a play... so many other things factor in, set design, sound, direction... for some plays even the sign of the time might work for or against it.

Fiona Shaw, Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan
in 'John Gabriel Borkman' at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin

To me the most important thing for our actor should be if he thinks he will have a good time working on the project, would the character push his buttons? make him flex his acting muscles, make him want to pull out all the stops to do it justice? does the story speak to him? of course our actor still would want the play to be a succes, draw in the audience because after all a lot of people make their living off the theater that will put up this play. But he is lucky enough to be able to wait until the right balance comes along.

William Petersen in 'Blackbird' (Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago)

There used to be a following of theater people who went to see great actors - certainly all the plays the Lunts were in were not of equal caliber. But in this town today, there are no actors with followings. If the play doesn't work, it doesn't matter who's in it.

there still is a following!

Daniel Radcliffe in 'Equus'
NOT Harry Potter

admittedly there are not enough to fill a theater no matter what. I see a few fellow followers at some plays, we go for certain actors, directors, playwrights or specific plays.

I think these days 'the followers' can be roughly divided into 2 categories, 1) the single focussed ones who are a fan of a Celebrity in another trade and follow him or her to the the theater - case in point, the Daniel Radcliffe/Harry Potter fans who flocked to "Equus" who may have left the theater in shock for not having seen Harry Potter but DR in a very different role... or the William Petersen/Grissom fans who overran the town of Providence RI when he took a break from the (then) hugely successful CSI to do a play.

William Petersen in 'Dublin Carol'
at Trinity Rep, Providence RI
NOT Grissom

Where DR took to West End and Broadway, where the celeb fans were easily absorbed, WP found a small theater in a small town where all the celeb fans pretty much stood out.

.
And 2) there is the category of followers who fell in love with the theater at some point in their lives and will go to any play if it has certain cast members in it - usually following a number of actors who have proven themselves to have captivating stage presence, but will also go to great lengths to see plays by a certain playwright or director or sometimes even a venue or a production company (the Michael Grandage Company comes to mind), who keep an eye out on Fringe Festivals to see the new gems before they get discovered by the rest of the world... yes, we are not a club of millions, but we are here!

For the theater community, I'd say both categories are good, it would be a bonus if the Celeb fans who may find themselves in a theater for the first time following their celeb, like it enough to come back for other plays. I remember Timothy Dalton once saying during the press run for his first James Bond movie where he got criticized for doing a Bond movie while he was a 'serious' stage actor, 'wasn't he afraid now that people would come to the theater to see James Bond and not whatever Shakespeare character he was playing at the time?' his reply: of course it was a different thing to do, but if going to see his movie made a few of those people go to the theater, even if it was to see James Bond he would be happy... those people would NOT get to see James Bond (like many CSI fans were aiming to see Grissom at Triniy Rep in Providence RI), but they might see something they liked and come back for more...if not, at least a few more tickets were sold for that play, if they came back, more tickets! win win.

Judi Dench in 'Peter and Alice'
Michael Grandage Company, London

Celebs will draw people to the theater, I'm undecided on the whole issue of stunt casting, but at least it gets people to the theater... and more people, means more money and more money in theater world means more chances for other productions, for other actors and other playwrights.

The 2nd categorie of followers are not so many that they make much of a difference as far as 'butts in seats' are concerned, but they are more vocal about their passion... they take to social media, blogs and in that small way contribute to the theater buzz.

Clearly most actors in these days of movies and television do not appear in the theater for money. Instead, many stars including Colleen Dewhurst, Ruth Gordon, Jason Robards, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, and Geraldine Page have used Hollywood as a means of financing their stage careers. By making the occasional picture - often a picture chosen with an eye toward making substantial money - they can be more selective when it comes to choosing shows.

very true, and I am grateful that this is happening...  keep funding the theater opportunities Hollywood!

There are a few directors such as Harold Prince and Mike Nichols whose reputation alone is enough to win over a reluctant actor. ''Actors will frequently go with Hal on faith,'' says Mr. Prince's casting director Joanna Merlin. ''Sometimes we won't have a final draft and the score's not completed, but they're willing to take a chance because they know his work.''
What's more often the case is that an actor develops a special working relationship with a particular director or producer, and feelings of loyalty and trust persist.

My money is on the joy in collaboration being #1 consideration for our actor, with the Character on offer a close second. I'm thinking not even collaborating with friends or heroes will make up for a character that is a wrong fit. Of course the message of a play can also be so powerful our actor would want to work on it no matter the rest of the cast or creative team. It seems to be rare though to make a choice solely on the message of the play.

to illustrate, from a recent interview (2014)
(Bill Nighy, Carey Mulligan, Matthew Beard: interview The stars of David Hare's Skylight in the West End talk to Sarah Crompton about theatre, ideals - and cooking on stage)

SaraCrompton: So what’s the bit that pulls you back? 

BillNighy: I don’t know, I’ve been trying to work it out. [He half-laughs] It’s more than usually possible that I won’t do a play again. But Skylight is one of the great plays in the English language. I was lucky enough to be a part of it at one point in its life, and it’s a timely thing to deliver it again in the modern world. We haven’t attempted to contemporise it or anything. It’s set firmly when it was written, in the Nineties, and to see how it resonates now is quite extraordinary. 

When you are in something that you’re proud of and it’s funny and it’s a good night out and all of those things, there’s nothing quite like it. The rewards are proportionate to the amount of alarm and distress it causes you.

Bill Nighy in 'Skylight' at Wyndham's Theatre, London

WHAT MAKES AN ACTOR CHOOSE A CERTAIN ROLE?

New York Times

Published: February 8, 1981

REGEN KAKUTANI By MICHIKO KAKUTANI

The theater has always been a whimsical business, and in no respect do things seem more whimsical than in casting. Why, for instance, is Richard Burton turning his back on King Lear, a role he's always wanted to play, just to tour the provinces in ''Camelot,'' a show he did 20 years ago?

Skylight - London june 2014

by David Hare, performed at Wyndham's Theater, june 2014, cast Bill Nighy, Carey Mulligan and Matthew Beard

To keep it in Social Media terms 

OMG!

I had been looking forward to seeing this play very much.... the play itself was something I was on the lookout for if opportunity arose, but after casting was announced in february, including mr Bill Nighy I knew I'd pull out all stops to be in London sometime during it's run.

Of course timing was terrible, I'd just arranged for a London trip in May to coincide with the RAW wine fair  which was May 18-19 this year,  and Skylight was to open previews on June 6th.

It took some arranging and fixing to make this extra trip happening... work and private stuff aligned eventually, ticket narrowly secured and boy was it worth it!

Previews started June 6th, I got to see the June 11th Preview, the play already looked solid with one more week of previews to go. The house was packed, still in previews and already they had to sell some standing room only tickets.

The play was brilliant, penned in 1995 it could have been written this year, so much did it reflect society of today. I've never seen a production of this play before, so I don't know if it's usually like this, but there was a lot of humor instilled, especially by mr Nighy in Tom Sergeant's character. That man is bloody brilliant, he could have played this part on body language alone, and still got his points across.

Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan

kudos to the set designer Bob Crowley

Carey Mulligan and Matthew Beard

Yes, I know he uses the same style, mimicry if you will, in his work a lot, but it works, it works on screen and it definitely works on stage.

The entire cast (of three) performed admirably, Nighy and Mulligan were believable as the odd couple... lovers who have practically nothing in common.

Mulligan's Kyra was at times too preaching, too full of her own righteousness and an over the top do-good teacher out to help those less fortunate while suffering in silence... but it worked most of the time. Nighy's Tom was brilliant, a conservative, not listening at all to any argument from Kyra, full of his own justifications, and yet getting the sympathy of the audience most of the time. I think it's Bill Nighy's intrinsic sympathetic way, enforced by Carey Mulligan's portrayal of Kyra's often rigid self-righteousness.

Bill Nighy (Tom Sergeant) and Carey Mulligan (Kyra Hollis)
Skylight june 2014 © John Haynes 

In this play, they are actually cooking on stage, it smelled great. This scene connected to it was so good! What a great actor can do with a little lump of Parmesan cheese...

I had a FANTASTIC theater evening, and (pretty rare for me) after the play waited at stage door to have my program signed... the entire cast was great, and could not be nicer to the fans waiting outside, mr Nighy, a true gentleman was late out the door due to green-room guests, must have been tired but took all the time in the world to sign programs, have pictures taken and chat a little with the people waiting for him. 

One of the reasons I love previews is I get to see the play before the critics do, which gives me no choice but to make up my mind completely on my own observations... I generally try to do so of course, but it's hard to avoid reviews entirely.

Walked out of the theater thinking this was a true winner. For once the professional critics agreed with me.

review blurbs:

"Thrillingly revived by Stephen Daldry in a knockout production."
Charles Spencer for The Daily Telegraph

"How has it stood the test of time? Remarkably well is the answer to judge from this splendid revival..."
Paul Taylor for The Independent

"Everything about this production is finely judged, even down to the way the passage of time is denoted through the lights going on and off in the windows of Bob Crowley's tower-block set."
Michael Billington for The Guardian

"Skylight packs real emotional punch and is often at its funniest when most angry. Nighy is a study in nimble charisma, relishing Hare’s diatribes about the charlatans who clog up the modern world, and Mulligan is admirably measured — yet erupts startlingly during the play’s most explosive moment."
Henry Hitchings for The Evening Standard

Nighy, who’s so cool he’s like a rock ’n’ roll star

"David Hare told me it had taken ten years to assemble the production, which will run at Wyndham’s Theatre from June 6 for just 11 weeks."

just because of that kind of dedication... copying this article entirely on this blog...

(From the Daily Mail online)

BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Why Bill Nighy chose Carey Mulligan over cappuccino 

By BAZ BAMIGBOYE

PUBLISHED: 23:57 GMT, 13 February 2014 | UPDATED: 23:57 GMT, 13 February 2014

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2558966/BAZ-BAMIGBOYE-Why-Bill-Nighy-chose-Carey-Mulligan-cappuccino.html#ixzz35yNsljF3 

Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy are to play former lovers in a West End revival of David Hare’s Skylight, directed by Stephen Daldry.

This looks set to be classy theatre at its best. The play concerns Kyra Hollis, a teacher living a thread- bare existence in North-West London, who is briefly reunited with Tom Sergeant, her much older ex, a restaurant entrepreneur. They were once united, but are now divided on just about every issue: class, politics, sex, privacy and money.

Matthew Beard, who played opposite Carey in the films When  Did You Last See  Your Father? and An Education, plays her lover’s son.

Co-stars: Carey Mulligan, pictured left, and Bill Nighy, pictured right, are set to play former lovers in a West End revival of David Hare's Skylight 

David Hare told me it had taken ten years to assemble the production, which will run at Wyndham’s Theatre from June 6 for just 11 weeks.

Nighy, who’s so cool he’s like a rock ’n’ roll star, played Tom in an earlier revival, and he and Hare have long been eager to give it another go. 

All manner of producers came after the rights and offered their own suggestions about who would play the leads. But Hare refused all overtures, arguing that it was difficult to find actors of the calibre of Michael Gambon  (the original Tom) and Nighy to be in the play. 

‘It’s too important to me to have it messed up,’ he said. He added that plenty of actresses had suggested themselves to play Kyra, but none were suitable. 

Several years ago, Nicole Kidman wanted to do a film version, but  Hare said no again, because he believes that screen versions of plays don’t work.

He got as far as discussing dates with Kate Winslet. ‘She would have been perfect,’ he said. ‘But she could only do four weeks because she wanted to be with her children.’

The playwright saw Carey play Nina in The Seagull and believed then that she would make a formidable Kyra. ‘She’s incredible on stage,’ he said, and went on to laud her powerful supporting performance on screen, opposite Oscar Isaac, in the much underrated Coen brothers’ gem Inside Llewyn Davis.

Several big-name directors were after Skylight, too. Hare said ‘one jealous director’ heard about Daldry’s involvement and hissed: ‘Tell him to check his brakes.’

Nighy, who was in London on a short break from filming The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2 with Judi Dench and Maggie Smith in India, said that his decision to do Skylight a second time ‘is an odd thing’. 

‘I could be sitting on a film set with people bringing me cappuccinos,’ he said. ‘But this is a role that I like and a play that I love.’

He called Skylight ‘funny, accessible and romantic’, adding that he enjoyed how it delved into aspects of civic responsibility. 

That’s one of the reasons I like it, too.

Nighy labelled himself ‘reckless’ for staying away from the stage for so long. He last trod the boards in Hare’s The Vertical Hour on Broadway nine years ago, and said he’d love to do Skylight in New York, if everybody was agreeable.

It’s hard to say when a Broadway transfer could happen, because Daldry, Mulligan and Nighy have pretty full dance cards.

Carey is rehearsing Sarah Gavron’s film Suffragette with Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Marie Duff and Brendan Gleeson, with filming due to start in ten days. Then she goes directly to work on Skylight.

I’m very excited to see her play Bathsheba Everdene in Thomas Vinterberg’s film of Far From The Madding Crowd, expected to be out in the autumn. ‘I have been looking for a play to do for such a long time,’ Carey exclaimed when we met. ‘And now I have found it.’

Skylight will be her official West End stage debut, because she did The Seagull at the Royal Court and on Broadway.

Playing Catch Up

It's been way too long since I posted here, so sorry to all that visited since my last post.

I will try to do better... It's been quite a busy time... had some invasive surgery which set my travel plans back a bit, but I'm back on track. Since my last post I've been on a few trips, I'm listing the plays I've seen here as a reminder to myself and will get back to them one by one.

In December 2013 London was the target, saw some beautiful things there:

The Next Room or the Vibrator Play (St James)

12 Angry Men (Garrick)

Mojo (Harold Pinter Theater)

Henry V (Noel Coward)

and Protest Song (NT shed)

Protest Song - Rhys Ifans

Caught Coriolanus in the NT Live broadcast in between trips

Next up was a combination trip to Chicago and Los Angeles in March 2014, wonderful stuff:

Chicago:

Gypsy (CST)

Seminar (theater Wit)

The How and the Why (Timeline)

Russian Transport (Steppenwolf)

Buzzer (Goodman)

LA:

Slowgirl (Geffen)

A Steady Rain (Odyssee)

The Pianist of Willesden Lane (Geffen)

Vanya Sonia Masha & Spike (Mark Taper Forum)

Daytrip to the Ruhrfestspiele in Germany, they do great work at that festival, many visiting companies, this time they included a Beckett combination of Eh Joe (with Michael Gambon) and I'll Go On (with Barry McGovern).... pinnacle of Beckett right there in a little theater in Marl.

I'll Go On - Barry McGovern

Back to London in May, the main reason I for this trip was to attend the RAW wine festival (organic wines, all the good stuff without the headaches!) but while there, why not catch some great work?!

King Lear (NT)

Handbagged (Vaudeville)

Good People(Noel Coward)

Other Desert Cities (Old Vic)

Let the Right One In (Apollo)

and last but not least, back to London again to attend a conference for work... perfect combination of work and pleasure:

Skylight (Wyndhams)

Fathers and Sons (Donmar)

Clarence Darrow (Old Vic)

There it is, many plays to catch up on in reviews in this Blog... real life has to go on as well, paychecks need to be earned to do more traveling, so it will probably be a while before I do get caught up.