INTERVIEW: David Tennant on Shakespeare In New York & Broadchurch 3



David Tennant has spoken to Dana Varinsky of Time Out New York about his American stage debut and the upcoming shoot for the third and final series of Broadchurch. David gave the interview late last year during the launch of Marvel's Jessica Jones. He will be bringing his award-winning performance of Shakespeare's Richard II to the stage of the Harvey Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Great Cycle of Kings. The quartet of plays, which also includes Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V will be performed in cycle from 24th March till 1st May 2016 by a company that also includes Anthony Sher, Alex Hassell, Jane Lapotaire and Julian Glover. 

Read some quotes from David's interview here:


David on Richard II:
"He’s far from a heroic king, yet he achieves this kind of heroic status by the end through the power of his rhetoric and his wit. I suppose there are more famous kings in Shakespeare’s plays, but Richard II had always particularly appealed to me. He’s a bit unknowable and surprising."

David on performing Shakespeare:
"There are 400 years between us and these words; they don’t necessarily instantly connect. There’s a process of translation that you have to do, both literally and emotionally. But there’s a point hopefully, as you’re rehearsing, where it shifts from the words driving you to you’re in charge of them. And there’s something joyous about that, because of course they’re the most brilliant words and they can fly in so many different unexpected directions. To have that vocabulary and that poetry at your command is wonderfully invigorating."

David on the Cycle’s relevance to modern politics:
"I think these plays live on because that they have something to tell us about the way that we as human beings continue to get things wrong and continue to fail to govern ourselves effectively, and continue to allow vanity to get in the way of what should be a selfless act: the act of governance…the plays in this cycle have lots to tell us about the frailty of our leaders."

David on the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s death:
"With it being the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, you want to find ways of presenting his work that are particularly epic and special. I think presenting these four plays in sequence is that. You get to see the sweep of his genius. You get to see the extraordinary characters he creates, these individuals that are so recognizable even though they’re kings and knights and queens and in many ways quite remote from our modern domestic existences. They all seem absolutely human and they all seem to be us."

David on Broadchurch 3:
"As soon as I've done Richard II, I’ll be starting Broadchurch Season 3, which is about all I can tell you. I know nothing! I have no script. It’s always been the way we’ve made Broadchurch—the actors have been kept relatively in the dark. When you play a policeman who’s investigating a crime, it’s quite useful to have the information fed to you one episode at a time so you’re not playing the ending. I’m presuming it’s about a crime and that I’ll be investigating it, but to be honest I don’t actually know. "

Click here to read the full interview on the Time Out New York website

Find out more about the RSC King & Country cycle here.

Broadchurch Season 3 is expected to debut on ITV in the UK early in 2017.


Comments