Priyanga Burford: ‘I fell in love with theatre watching Ian Charleson play Hamlet’
Priyanga Burford is about to star alongside Cate Blanchett in Thomas Ostermeier’s production of The Seagull at the Barbican. She tells Fergus Morgan about collaborating with the German director, her early theatre memories and venturing into film-making
The rehearsal room for German director Thomas Ostermeier’s upcoming staging of Chekhov’s The Seagull at the Barbican is full of famous names: Cate Blanchett, Tom Burke, Emma Corrin, Tanya Reynolds, Jason Watkins, Paul Bazely, Paul Higgins, and, preparing for her second Ostermeier production in as many years, Priyanga Burford.
“It really is quite an extraordinary group of people,” says Burford. “You have people such as Jason Watkins playing what would traditionally be seen as a small role, but it doesn’t feel small when it is in the hands of someone like that. That is true across the board.”
Last year, Burford starred alongside Matt Smith in Ostermeier’s West End production of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, picking up an Olivier award nomination for her performance. One of her tasks during the show was to marshal a live audience discussion about modern politics. It was, she says, a thrilling experience.
“My favourite thing was when the audience started talking to each other,” Burford says. “Someone in the balcony would have an argument with someone in the stalls. It was great. One night, someone who used to be the director of public health for England got involved. Noel Gallagher was there the same night, actually. He didn’t say anything.”
“People weren’t always happy about that bit of the show,” Burford adds. “Ibsen purists didn’t like it. I did, though. It felt new and engaged. That is the kind of work I want.”
Burford moved around a lot in her youth, spending time in Hull, Bristol, Glasgow and Guildford. She fell in love with theatre on a school trip, trained at LAMDA, then began her career in the late 1990s – she was Hippolyta in Richard Jones’ controversial Royal Shakespeare Company production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – before acting took a back seat while she raised her family.
Since returning 10 years ago, Burford has earned acclaim in The Effect at the Crucible in Sheffield, Consent at the National Theatre and The Winter’s Tale at Shakespeare’s Globe. On screen, meanwhile, she is familiar as various authority figures: a scientist in the latest James Bond, a banking boss in the series Industry and, memorably, a member of a parliamentary panel interrogating Peter Capaldi’s Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It. “I think that is something I just give out naturally,” says Burford. “My character in The Seagull is not like that at all. It has been a nice departure to play a hot mess for once.”
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Related to this article
What production made you fall in love with theatre?
Hamlet at the National Theatre. Ian Charleson had just taken over from Daniel Day-Lewis. It was a school trip for English A-level students. There was a spare place for me. I thought it would be unbelievably boring, but it was absolutely incredible.
What are you finding inspiring at the moment?
I saw The Importance of Being Earnest at the National recently and loved it. It was like a shot in the arm in drab, grey January. It is exactly what we all need at the moment.
What do you wish you could change about the performing arts industry?
I wish there was more access to the arts in education. The arts are the only way we will develop the healthy, agile imaginations we need to meet the problems of the world.
What is the worst thing that has happened to you on stage?
I once corpsed so badly that I couldn’t continue. I genuinely can’t remember the show. I just have a snapshot in my memory of looking out at the audience from the stage, with a terrible feeling in my stomach and a hot feeling in my face.
What is the best thing that has happened to you on stage?
I was in a production of The Effect at the Sheffield Crucible. Often, during the show, people were so affected by what was happening on stage that they would spontaneously speak or make a little noise. That was an amazing feeling.
What role do you really want to play?
I would be interested in any of those big, complicated, difficult classical roles, but I love working with new writing, too. My last time at the National was with Nina Raine’s play Consent, and the process of shaping a role for the first time was really enjoyable.
What projects are you involved in at the moment?
I am in The Seagull at the Barbican until early April, playing Polina. I think The Seagull is one of the greatest plays ever written. We are using a brilliant, sensitive version of it by Duncan Macmillan. I love Thomas’ approach, too. It feels truly experimental and creatively free. Thomas is really collaborative. He is not a dictatorial auteur at all.
I have also just made my second short film, which should be out next month. It is called The Beholder, and it is about an actress that refuses to go on stage on press night. I’m also adapting my first short film, which was about Mary Shelley, into a feature-length script. Getting into film-making was a lockdown thing, and I really love it. It can be tiring, though. I had a 16-day week last year, where I did eight shows of An Enemy of the People, shot my film on the Sunday, did eight more shows the following week, then shot on the Sunday again. Then, it was the Olivier Awards that evening.
The Seagull is at the Barbican, London, from February 26 to April 5. For more information click here
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