Toby Stephens: “There should be a moratorium on Chekhov and Shakespeare”
24/01/2016 - 06:51:44
Toby Stephens, a star of the stage and big and small screen, has called for a moratorium on theatrical productions of Chekhov and Shakespeare plays until someone comes up with a new way to do them.
Stephens, who is the son of acting legends Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Robert Stephens, said he is waiting for someone to write a new play and offer him a part because the popular choices are too similar.
He said: “I have got this very, very close friend of mine who’s a great director and I’ve worked with him a lot and we sit down and we try and brainstorm something to do and everything we come up with has just been done to death.
“I’m just waiting for somebody to write a new play and offer me a part in it because with Chekhov, Shakespeare, they should put a moratorium on all these plays.
“Just say just leave them alone and stop doing them for like 20 years and let’s come back to them when we can do something new with them.
“Cut to, what are you doing now? Macbeth,” he joked.
Stephens will next be seen on screen when he resumes his role of gay pirate Captain Flint in the third series of Black Sails, a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island.
It comes hot on the heels of his role as a retired army captain in the BBC’s hit adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel And Then There Were None and Stephens says his swashbuckling role in the big budget American drama gives him completely different challenges.
He said: “I’ve never had anything that’s as violent as this character. But then I’ve never had something as intimate as kissing another man.
“The fact that he’s gay, it’s such an amazing journey. They told me that right at the beginning before I even signed the contract, they said this is his backstory, and I thought it is such a great character because you’re presenting somebody who is this control freak but also this really violent guy who does these terrible things.”
Black Sails returns to Amazon Instant Video on January 24.
24/01/2016 - 06:51:44
Toby Stephens, a star of the stage and big and small screen, has called for a moratorium on theatrical productions of Chekhov and Shakespeare plays until someone comes up with a new way to do them.
Stephens, who is the son of acting legends Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Robert Stephens, said he is waiting for someone to write a new play and offer him a part because the popular choices are too similar.
He said: “I have got this very, very close friend of mine who’s a great director and I’ve worked with him a lot and we sit down and we try and brainstorm something to do and everything we come up with has just been done to death.
“I’m just waiting for somebody to write a new play and offer me a part in it because with Chekhov, Shakespeare, they should put a moratorium on all these plays.
“Just say just leave them alone and stop doing them for like 20 years and let’s come back to them when we can do something new with them.
“Cut to, what are you doing now? Macbeth,” he joked.
Stephens will next be seen on screen when he resumes his role of gay pirate Captain Flint in the third series of Black Sails, a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island.
It comes hot on the heels of his role as a retired army captain in the BBC’s hit adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel And Then There Were None and Stephens says his swashbuckling role in the big budget American drama gives him completely different challenges.
He said: “I’ve never had anything that’s as violent as this character. But then I’ve never had something as intimate as kissing another man.
“The fact that he’s gay, it’s such an amazing journey. They told me that right at the beginning before I even signed the contract, they said this is his backstory, and I thought it is such a great character because you’re presenting somebody who is this control freak but also this really violent guy who does these terrible things.”
Black Sails returns to Amazon Instant Video on January 24.
