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| Cynthia Erivo |
STOP PRESS:
AS THIS INTERVIEW IS PUBLISHED, CYNTHIA ERIVO HAS JUST PERFORMED AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE IN FRONT OF HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN!
READ ON, AND LEARN ABOUT HER INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OVER THE LAST 12 MONTHS
This time last year Cynthia Erivo was a hard working actress, recently out of playing Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act’s UK tour. Fast forward 12 months and as 2014 dawns she has been nominated for two of the country’s most celebrated theatre awards, is amongst the headliners at next week’s What’s On Stage (WOS) Awards ceremony and is shortly to open at the Palladium in the Simon Cowell / Harry Hill X-Factor comedy musical I Can’t Sing.
So, what has happened in the past 12 months? Three words: The
Color Purple. In a production staged with beautiful simplicity, for two months,
eight times a week, this perfectly poised, gorgeous young actress held the
audience at London's Menier Chocolate Factory in the
palm of her hand as she told the story of how Celie the story's heroine, triumphed over incredible odds to
make an inspirational success of a tragic life. Audiences sobbed
and such was the intensity of her delivery that a standing ovation half way
through the second act became a regular feature of the run. Nominated for that
performance in both the Evening Standard and the WOS awards it has been a
truly remarkable year for the RADA graduate.
Taking time out from I Can't Sing's gruelling
rehearsal schedule, we meet for tapas on a blustery night in Waterloo where
over green tea and calamari, Erivo tells me of her whirlwind year.
JB: Tell me how The Color Purple came
together for you.
CE: Celie is a role that I have dreamed of playing since I
was ten. It is one of the most rounded roles ever written for a black female in
either in theatre or in film and I love the grit that’s in her character. I was already off the page with my
audition pieces so working with director John Doyle was both challenging yet relaxed and I felt as the recalls went by, that at each step he was getting to know more of me and how I
work. At the time I was appearing in Craig Adam’s new musical Lift, at the Soho Theatre and I was so lucky to
go straight from that show into The Color Purple.
JB: Celie is told by her abusive husband, venomously: “…..You’re poor, you’re black,
you’re ugly, you’re a woman….” – Aside from the fact that you are not an ugly
woman, how did you tackle the challenge of the role?
CE: I started out from the belief that Celie’s ugliness came from within, from her own sense of low self
worth, that it was more to do with her not recognising
her own beauty, rather than a promotion of her being ugly. We experimented
with wigs and make-up to portray both that ugliness and also her
ageing, but eventually, working with John, I chose to portray these challenges
through how she carried herself. I thought a lot about Celie’s gait and how that would evolve both with her emancipation
and also her ageing.
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| Erivo in The Color Purple |
JB: At what stage into the show’s life did you and the company realise that you had created
something special?
CE: We were blessed with a standing ovation right from the
start. But very early on, fear kicked in and I found myself
thinking “I don’t want to lose this
feeling”, so in each performance I would focus upon the concentration and above
all the consistency that playing Celie demanded.
I was so proud that the show attracted an unconventional
audience that would have people shouting at me “You go girl!” as Celie finds
her resolve. Back in Shakespeare’s day the audience
would shout at the actors and it was just so
rewarding to have reached out and made such a strong connection. I could look
around the theatre [the Menier only seats around 200] and see and hear people
sobbing, passing tissues. When I came out into the foyer each night there would
be women with make-up running, bankers, my sister “who never cries at anything”
simply in tears.
JB: Your friend and colleague Sophia Nomvete (also nominated
by WOS for Best Supporting Actress in the show) has described you as being an
incredibly supportive team player, who notwithstanding all your responsibility
on stage, is still a big kid in the dressing room. Apparently you would bring
in healthy food and snacks each day, but then promptly graze on other people’s crisps and chocolate!
CE: She’s not wrong I do focus hard on fitness and
healthy eating, but I just can’t resist
Haribo and I've a real weakness for Marks and Spencer’s Percy Pigs!
JB: Halfway through the run of The Color Purple, New York
composer Scott Alan flew into London for a one night concert at the O2. The gig
featured a star-studded lineup but for many the highlight was you singing
Anything Worth Holding Onto, Scott’s
scorchingly autobiographical song about the pain of depression. Alan has told me how difficult it was to rehearse that
number, saying that it only actually all came together on the night, in
performance. Is that true?
CE: I guess it is. There is a part of me that can sometimes
only truly explore a song when I am singing to an audience. I need to be
telling the story to really be able to express myself. The day of that
concert was crazy with morning sound checks at the O2, then back to the Sunday matinee of The Color Purple and finally back to Greenwich for the concert. But I knew that night, as
I cried whilst I sang, that I had truly given Scott’s song the connection it deserved.
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| Erivo singing Anything Worth Holding Onto at the O2 |
JB: Speaking of you, Scott said “she is one of the
great vocalists of our time…a songwriter’s dream and it is an honour writing for her”
CE: Wow, is that what he said? I have no words, I am so
touched by his generosity!
JB: The two award nominations are both predominantly celebrity driven and have pitched you against competition from much larger shows that played at
the National Theatre and the West End, in venues
that in one night could seat the same number of people that it would take the
Menier a week of full houses to achieve. For smaller
off West End shows, the awards ceremonies are often
an un-level playing field, so to have achieved a “podium finish” twice in one
year is an incredible achievement. The Color Purple was refreshingly free of
all gimmicks, earning its plaudits entirely through the outstanding work of its
acting company and for many of
the people lucky enough to have seen it, those
awards belong to you.
That’s kind of you to say.
Yes, the Menier is a small house of course, but I was simply so thrilled just
to have been nominated for the role. It has been an immense honour.
JB: And so to I Cant Sing. Tell me about the leap from
performing in one of the most harrowing musicals, to a show that is expected to
be one of the year’s funniest.
CE: There’s loads that I can’t say about I Can’t Sing of
course and I don’t want to spoil any
surprises, but it has been an amazing learning process. The show has been
written by Harry Hill and Steve Brown, two of the funniest guys around and it
has been incredibly technical for me, as well as being a combination of great
fun and phenomenally hard work. I am not a quintessentially funny comedy
actress, so I have really enjoyed discovering my comedy timing.
JB: And what of your fellow cast members?
CE: I am learning so much from them. Nigel Harman of course
has already mastered comedy in musical theatre with his Lord Farquad in Shrek
and he is wonderful to work with. It is a large and above all very talented and
experienced cast that I am so proud to be a part of.
JB: And looking beyond London’s musical theatre, what inspires you and what would you like
to see on your horizon?
CE: For inspiration, I was blown away by Adrian Lester’s Othello at the National Theatre last year. That was the
first time I had set foot in the Olivier auditorium. I was there on my own,
which is often the best way to enjoy theatre and I had never experienced a
theatre as large as that stage, yet one that could also allow you to become so
wrapped up in a production. Adrian is also a friend of mine and I am very proud
of the interest that he has taken in my work to date too.
As for the future? Well immediately that is I Can’t Sing of course and I have great expectations for the show.
But looking even further ahead, if there was a TV series for me, well that
would be just ideal!
I Can’t Sing previews at
the London Palladium from 27th February, before opening on 26th
March
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