Documentary helps actor conquer fear

Few performances are as daunting as the oneperson play.

That’s why Jake Gyllenhaal had to find a way to conquer that fear when he took on the role of Abe in the second half of “Sea Wall/A Life.”

“Before I did it, I was terrified,” Gyllenhaal said of “A Life,” after the play’s Broadway opening. Tom Sturridge stars in “Sea Wall,” the other half of the pair of one-act monologues.

Gyllenhaal admits that nervousness extended to the rehearsal room. But then he found confidence in an unlikely place. The story of Alex Honnold’s 3,000-foot (914-metre) climb of the El Capitan rock formation at Yosemite National Park.

“I was sort of quaking in my boots thinking about it. Then I saw ‘Free Solo,’ that documentary about the free climber Alex Honnold that won the Academy Award. Amazing, amazing documentary, and I thought to myself, if he can do that without any rope I can do a monologue. And then that was it,” Gyllenhaal said. From then on, it was smooth sailing. It was a little different for Sturridge. “I feel like weirdly — like before I walk on stage I feel fear. But I feel safest on the stage,” Sturridge said.

Both actors say the lack of an onstage partner to play off of can add to the stress; there isn’t a safety net if you blow a line. But Sturridge uses the audience.

“Normally when you’re on stage you’re pretending to be in a room and pretending like you’re in Russia and 1920s and you’re pretending the audience don’t exist. But with this, I’m having a conversation with real people who are different every night. And if I blow a line, then we just change the conversation,” Sturridge said.

“Sea Wall/A Life,” a pair of plays written by Nick Payne and Simon Stephens, respectively are tragic comedies that deal with love and loss.

Gyllenhaal says the emotional value shifts with each audience.