TERROR TACTICS
ANTHONY BOYLE on the growing threat from America’s fascist new president
DRAMA The Plot Against America Tuesday, Sky Atlantic HD, 9pm & 10.10pm
TROUBLE IS BREWING on the streets of New Jersey as fascist politician Charles Lindbergh enters the White House in the dystopian drama The Plot Against America.
Yet one member of the Jewish community who won’t be around to witness the anti-semitic upheaval is Alvin Levin, after he quit his job, joined the Canadian army, and set sail for Europe to fight Hitler.
Anthony Boyle, who won an Olivier Award for his performance as Scorpius Malfoy in West End play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, stars as the young soldier in this series, which takes place in an alternative 1940s America.
‘Alvin is a wayward kid,’ Boyle tells Tv&satellite Week. ‘He has a strong moral compass and he takes it upon himself to pick up a gun and fight. His uncle Herman is just as outraged by Lindbergh’s rise, but while he thinks that the Jewish community should go by the book, Alvin realises you need teeth to back that up.
‘He sees his uncle sitting by the radio complaining, but he wants to do something. He’s an idealist and thinks he’s going to kill Hitler and be a hero, but as F Scott Fitzgerald said: “Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.”’
LOYALTIES
In the first of this week’s two episodes, Alvin goes on a mission behind enemy lines. Meanwhile, Herman’s sister-in-law Evelyn (Winona Ryder) is being swept off her feet by Lindbergh supporter Rabbi Bengelsdorf (John Turturro).
‘David Simon and Ed Burns are such fantastic writers,’ explains Boyle, 26. ‘The detail they bring is amazing, down to the brand of cigarettes the soldiers would have smoked back in 1940 and how they would have smoked them.’
After going to New York to star in the Broadway version of JK Rowling’s stage sequel in 2018, Boyle was perfectly positioned when the writers came calling.
‘I got the role about a month before we started filming,’ he says. ‘I threw myself into Jewish culture as much as I could, because I didn’t want to get it wrong, so I started hanging out with Jewish professors and went to a number of Passovers.
‘I also stayed in the accent for the whole shoot because that helped a lot. The crew were shocked on the last day when I broke into Irish!’