RUSSELL TOVEY - No.1317

GaydarRadio: Check out our #review of #SexWithaStranger, on now at #TrafalgarStudios & starring a #topless @russelltovey!

russelltovey: @GaydarRadio thanks @GaydarRadio :-) x

Theatre: Sex With A Stranger by Gaydar Radio

Best known for his lo-fi sitcom, Him & Her, writer Stefan Golaszewski has reunited with the Him in question, Russell Tovey, for Sex With a Stranger, an understated and unconventional look at the most conventional of things: a relationship staggering towards its death.

The relationship in question belongs to a straight couple in their 20s, with gay pin-up Tovey playing Adam and Naomi Sheldon as his bookish girlfriend, Ruth. (Anyone searching for gay characters in this show will be disappointed, but be reassured that a topless Tovey should be enough to turn you topsy-turvy).

The action begins at the end, with Adam heading home after a night’s clubbing. The trouble is that he’s left Ruth at home for the night and has picked up the altogether less intellectual, but much sexier, Grace (Jaime Winstone). After succumbing to a tidal wave of lust in the club, we join the pair waiting for the N73 bus, suddenly confronted with an awkward journey home and rumbling stomachs.

Golaszewski’s scenes are short and sharp, and his dialogue is beautifully observed in its everyday tedium. But beneath the hilarious discussions about kebab meat and taxis making you feel famous, his characters wrestle with insecurity. In particular the show’s later scenes, which depict a pre-infidelity Adam preparing to go out, with even simple enquiries, like Ruth’s "Who are you texting?", loaded with angst masquerading as casual interest.

The whole evening brims with impeccably performed naturalistic touches like this, whether it’s a conversation that’s suddenly halted thanks to a police siren or Grace’s panicked rummaging through her handbag for her Oyster Card. But it’s the show’s silences that are most powerful. Adam’s blank-faced boredom as he listens to Ruth playing in a classical concert, or the cavernous silence that follows Ruth’s attention-seeking moan, "I could do with shedding a few pounds myself" manage to be capture all the loneliness of being in a relationship that’s lost its sparkle.

The show’s barely there set tests each actors’ skill and all three excel. Tovey plays the slobbering sex-starved straight man to perfection, while Winstone is both spunky and vulnerable as the nervous party girl. But Naomi Sheldon provides the night’s finest performance as Ruth – a woman who has fallen in love with a man who shares none of her passions and barely hides a merciless contempt for her insecurities. With impressive naturalism, she is simultaneously needy, frightened, loving and depressingly naive, not least when she says to Adam, "Bet you wish you could stay in and watch Mad Men." Despite their relationship, Ruth and Adam could easily be strangers the title speaks of. For many, the thought of a comedy drama about 20-somethings shagging each other might sound as original as the missionary position, but this talented cast perform Golaszewski’s razor-sharp dialogue to perfection, making Sex With a Stranger is a one night stand you won’t regret.

Sex With a Stranger, by Stefan Golaszewski
Trafalgar Studios 2
14 Whitehall
London SW1A 2DY

IdeasTap: Fans of @bbccomedy's hit show Him & Her should take a shufty at our  @IdeasMag Q & A interview with the actor @RussellTovey:

Q&A: Russell Tovey

Russell Tovey began acting aged 11 and has worked continually ever since. His big break came as Rudge in The History Boys (on stage and screen) and roles in Doctor Who, Sherlock, Being Human and Him & Her followed. He talks agents, drama school and going for the right roles…

You didn’t go to drama school. For young actors do you think training is important?

I feel like I’ve missed out on the fact that I haven’t got loads of mates from drama school in the business, but it was all kind of kicking off for me around that time. If I hadn’t been in work I would have absolutely done drama school. I feel like it’s the route to doing it properly and so I’m absolutely all for it.

The History Boys was huge for you. How did you use that hype to push forward your career?

My agent wasn’t about quick fame or quick bucks, it was about maintaining a good trajectory upwards and doing good work. I think quite a few agents are kind of “Go for the lead, go for the lead! And if you don’t get it we’re not really interested and we’re going to go quiet on you”. I’m 30 now, I’ve been with [my agent] since I was 19 and I couldn’t be happier. I have such great friendships/professional relationships with the whole team. I think it’s really important – you can’t do it without an agent.

You work regularly on TV. Does your process change for the small screen?

Doing plays, you’re rehearsing for three or four weeks; you’re messing around so you can try it a thousand different ways and really explore it. With TV you may have a tiny bit of rehearsal but your instinct is what has to go out there and then it’s the director’s job to kind of hone you down. You also have to understand the technical side of what you’re doing. With TV it’s harder to lose yourself in the moment than it is on stage. On stage there’s a whole flowing story, so you’re going through the moments as your character does. Whereas TV is so broken up and bitty, technically keeping hold of that kind of thing is a lot tougher.

You are now in a position to be able to choose work, but initially, do you think performers should be so discerning?

I’ve been quite privileged, so it looked like I made decisions and chose the right things but a few of them were a fluke! I mean, I had every faith in them but I also just wanted to act and play good parts. When I went up for Him & Her, I absolutely wanted it so much and there are a lot of people who just didn’t understand what it was. I heard that people didn’t want to go up for it because the girls didn’t want to be seen having a poo on camera! For me, that’s the most gratified I’ve ever felt with any show that I’ve done, because now people are really responding well to it. You’ve just got to trust yourself, keep working, being good and getting out there. You can never just rest on your laurels.

If you were an emerging artist, what would you spend £30k on?

I’d spend the money on the year post-grad at LAMDA because courses are expensive, so I would use it to further my education and knowledge. Or maybe just blow it all and go and find yourself on a massive tour of the world and come back skint but with more life experience! You’d want them to use the money to make themselves better artists in whatever way they can.

Russell is currently appearing in Sex with a Stranger at Trafalgar Studios 2, London, until 25 February 2012.

russelltovey: RT @amyloutweets: @russelltovey Can I get a RT please? Spare front row centre ticket for Sex with a Stranger on Saturday evening, in need of a good home.

HConquer: @russelltovey Do you tweet people? I want to know if me tweeting you is pointless or not :)

russelltovey: @HConquer pointless ;-) x

exposureFASHION: Lovely to meet the very dapper @russelltovey today ..enjoy your gifts and hope to see you again soon !

russelltovey: @exposureFASHION you are a dream team x thank you!

Above & below: Russell Tovey as Henry Knight in Sherlock

A BIT OF A MISS TORI

russelltovey: RT @WhatTheFFacts: The way you sneeze is genetic, which means it passes on from generation to generation.

tmxghost: @bbcbeinghuman a quick pic from last week's ep...@russelltovey 

 

TimRC1: @russelltovey Hi matey. I know you are bombarded with messages but make my gloomy Sunday night a little less gloomy and say howdy.

russelltovey: @TimRC1 howdy x

russelltovey: This hangover is shockingly bad...Watching a friend's play (which they are great in) but on interval and want to curl up in a ball and cry x

miss_tori86: @russelltovey i love u and ur hang over.. u little beaut.. didn't even get to flash u.. missed seeing ur face.. but THANK U. Soon? Please? x

russelltovey: @miss_tori86 You are brilliant!!!! Congratulations!!! Sorry run off I am so rough.. Your voice cured me for a couple of hours tho x

Jessiekavanaghx: still can’t believe i met and even served @russelltovey food at my work last summer!!! XX