Theo Van Gogh’s 2003 film about a journalist interviewing a soap opera actress gains a new modern currency as Interview is adapted for the stage.
The 90 minute two hander now teams political commentator Pierre (Robert Sean Leonard) with social media star Katya (Paten Hughes), as he is reluctantly sent to do a character profile in her home.
After a solo introductory bit from Pierre, set in front of the stage curtain in almost a confessional post, we see Katya’s apartment (designed by Derek McLane).
Brick walls double as screens for social media video and posts. An old-style bathtub stands in front of a bookcase, with all the books the same colour. There’s a kitchenette, a couch, a chair. Clever lighting by Jackie Shemesh offers a silent commentary and tone.
In Teunkie Van Der Sluijs’s adaptation, our preconceptions of influencers and print journalists are subverted. Who is the story here? And what is that story really about?
Pierre’s political acumen stretches to the potential impeachment of the Vice President, but he’s not in Washington on the night the news might break. He’s jaded, cynical, weary, and any fire he had has long gone.
For Katya, a life as commodity has made her media savvy and emotionally tough. At first Interview is classic cat and mouse, with each participant playing predator or prey. But it is clear only one will get the upper hand.
Secrets and lies, pressure and power, ethics and morals, gender supremacy and image curation are all explored as Leonard’s middle-aged, traumatised and crumpled Pierre locks horns with Hughes’s young, complex and confident Katya (thigh high boots and all).
As each play their roles they ramp up the physical and emotional intensity. I recently rewatched the American remake of Van Gogh’s film (made in 2007 by Steve Buscemi) and knew basic bones of plot, but this play is much closer to the Dutch original.
An unsettling sound design (by Ata Güner) and busy video design (by idontloveyouanymore) including live filming, offer a sense of tension, unpredictability and artifice to Interview.
The actors are initially placed far apart, emphasising the gulf between them, only coming together at moments of swapping confidences or toying with each other. Katya, the consummate pro at playing a part; Pierre, the one who seeks to share the truth.
Christina Fulcher’s movement and intimacy direction must be mentioned as a key component of why this production works. You feel each movement means something and adds to the puzzle.
Interview has come to life on the stage. We watch it head on (I wondered briefly how this would work in the round) but still feel close enough to react to the smallest moment.
Interview is a compelling piece of theatre surely set to kick off discussion about numbers, reach, engagement, cancellation – and where people fit within an online melting pot that is quick to boil over.
4 stars.
Interview is at Riverside Studios until 27 Sep with tickets here.
Photo credit: Helen Murray