CULTURE CLUB
MIRIAM BALANESCU CREEPS BACKSTAGE AT THE CAMBRIDGE ARTS THEATRE TO SPEAK TO HILTON MCRAE IN THE DANCE OF DEATH BACKSTAGE Tying the Knot
13-18 June
cting alongside one’s real-life partner is not uncommon, from Emily Blunt and John Krasinski,
to Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz – even the Cambridge Arts Theatre recently saw couple Patrick Duffy and Linda Purl take to the stage. This month, another married pair play a fictional husband and wife at the venue – although their make-believe counterparts are trapped in a match made in hell, rather than heaven. Screen and stage legends Lindsay Duncan and Hilton McRae perform together in The Dance of Death between 13-18 June, for the first time since 1987. “My wife was offered the role of Alice and she said to the director, ‘I’ll do it if you get my husband to play the guy,’” says Hilton. With a wealth of experience on screen, stage and in musicals, the Return of the Jedi star found this play, adapted from August Strindberg by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, far removed from what he’d done before. Written in 1900, it follows a married couple’s gruelling relationship, as they approach a major wedding anniversary – but an outsider’s arrival on the scene kick-starts a storm. “It’s the most incredibly challenging work. Lindsay just said this morning, ‘this is the most difficult play I’ve ever done’,” Hilton says. “Both of them go off on almost surreal tangents.” Hilton’s track record with West End musicals came in surprisingly handy. “I have to do an awful kind of terrifying
MIND BEHIND THE CURTAIN The play is adapted by renowned British playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz, whose work includes the Oscar and Bafta award-winning film Ida and television’s Secret Diary of a Call Girl
male character Kurt in Strindberg’s original script. In a nod to the pandemic, she arrives on the island where Edgar and Alice live to open a quarantine station. The gender switch posed challenges. “Somehow she has to find ways to side with me, despite my bullying and misogyny,” Hilton explains. While dark, The Dance of Death is cut through with humour. “We haven’t tested it in front of an audience, but we laugh a lot,” says Hilton. “It’s very funny, but terrifying at the same time.” Backstage, Lindsay and Hilton have been giving director Mehmet Ergen trouble. “We really dig deep to get to the truth,” he says. “We might be quite difficult to work with.” A discomforting watch, the play may unsettle the audience – but hopefully confront them with important questions. “People will reflect on their own relationships – and I’m sure they’d be very happy to have a glass of wine immediately afterwards,” says Hilton. “If we do find ourselves in the bar later, I’m certain someone will come up and say, ‘What was that all about?’ And I’ll be able to answer: ‘I have absolutely no idea.’”
Hilton’s character is quite a nasty piece of work – although he isn’t straightforward in the least. “Both Edgar and his wife are cannibalistic,” he says. “They feed off people. So, when some poor person arrives in the house, they’re eaten alive. “Edgar is a bombastic, probably misogynistic, yet a
terribly kind, terribly sensitive bully. He’s angry, weak and febrile. You couldn’t put him in a box,” Hilton insists. Working with his real-life wife, Lindsay, made the process easier: “There is a sort of shorthand between us. When we see each other’s work, we’ll
dance,” he says, while the acting style harks back to Shakespearean drama. “The language is quite heightened.
WE REALLY DIG DEEP TO GET TO THE TRUTH
One tries to make it as conversational as one can, but it does lead to a heightened reality – a form of surrealism.” Honouring the Arcola Theatre’s 20th anniversary, the production was delayed by Covid-19. “It’s a pretty radical piece,” Hilton says. “It’s fairly extraordinary on the relationships between men and women. Strindberg was married three times, unhappily. His wives had even more unhappy times with him.”
come back afterwards, open a bottle of wine and I’ll say, ‘it would be better if you did this’, and she’ll say, ‘it would be best if you did that’. We have a strong working relationship.” The duo is joined by Emily Bruni playing Katrin, a female version of the
18 JUNE 2022 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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