A Look at Acting Interview with actor Matthew Rhys
Ted Sod, Roundabout’s Education Dramaturg, sat down with actor Matthew Rhys to discuss Look Back in Anger and his role as the iconic Jimmy Porter.
Ted Sod: Why did you choose to play the role of Jimmy Porter? Matthew Rhys: Look Back in Anger was instrumental in me choosing to be an actor. I’ve been slightly obsessed with this play since I was a very young boy when I saw Richard Burton in the fi lm version. Consequently, it’s always been an enormous ambition of mine to play the part.
TS: Jimmy seems to be a character who wasn’t seen on British stages prior to 1956. MR: Obviously, I wasn’t around when it premiered, but we are all privy to the play’s impact. There are people I’ve worked with who remember seeing Jimmy on stage for the fi rst time and certainly felt the impact it had at that time. Sometimes, when the play is revived, the pressing question becomes “how relevant is it?” There are still great elements of the play that are incredibly relevant, I think. And that’s why the play means so much to me; I can relate to Jimmy so easily.
TS: Is it premature at this point in your process for you to tell us who Jimmy Porter is? MR: I can give you a sense of what I think of him now. He is an incredibly passionate and intellectual young man who’s confi ned by many aspects of society. To me, he seems a man that’s imprisoned by varying incarcerations. He’s incarcerated in every sense; he’s like a caged tiger on so many different levels. The small attic room he lives in physicalizes the fact that there’s a class system in place that restricts him. He’s incredibly frustrated by the job he has, because he’s so over-qualifi ed. He’s obviously a working class man who had the intellect to go to university, but he feels confi ned for many reasons. On another level, there’s this great insecurity that goes hand-in-hand with his relationship with Alison. He is desperately in need of her and wants her, and when their relationship has fallen apart, the presence of his friend Cliff doesn’t allow him to say how he feels. Cliff is a reminder that he has to share everything. Cliff’s presence in the fl at reminds him that he’s not succeeding as he should. Although he loves Cliff and he’s incredibly loyal to him, there are elements of Cliff that frustrate him enormously and because of his presence, he can’t really be who he wants to be with Alison. All of these things are conspiring against Jimmy. It snowballs towards these outbursts and monologues that come from this pressure cooker he is in.
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TS: How much of Jimmy’s emotional life is infl uenced by the death of his father? MR: An enormous amount. On a schoolboy, psychoanalytical level, I think so much is defi ned by the early years, and when he goes into the monologue about his father’s death, it’s an instrumental moment for the audience. You understand where his anger comes from and his sense of the injustice of it. You understand very quickly where his seething violence comes from.
TS: You’re Welsh, correct? MR: I am, yes.
TS: What kind of preparation will it take to become Jimmy? MR: I think I know a number of Jimmys, or indeed, I know a number of people who have very strong elements of Jimmy. I think the approach to his actions will be interesting because of the references to the family he has, to his education, and the other references that are
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