Denise Gough The award-winning Clare
Award-winning Irish actress Denise Gough can’t say much about her upcoming role in the Game of Thrones prequel, but she can talk to Michael Doherty about starring opposite Keira Knightley in Colette
actress has a key role in Colette and has been cast in the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel. Michael Doherty caught up with her
It was a moment that changed everything for Denise Gough. The Irish actress had worked solidly since graduating from drama school in London in 2003. There had been TV jobs ( Casualty, The Bill, Silent Witness) and some movie roles ( The Kid, Robin Hood), but the theatre was home for the woman from Clare. By 2014, however, a year she would later describe as ‘Siberia’, work had dried up, money was running low and the actress contemplated taking a job as a cleaner. Then came the opportunity to audition for the lead role of addict Emma in People, Places and Things for Britain’s National Theatre. The rest is history. In the role, Gough won plaudits on both sides of the Atlantic and the first of two Olivier Awards (the other is for Angels in America). Not only were leading stage roles now on the agenda, but prestigious movie parts started rolling in too, beginning with Missy in the period drama, Colette, opposite Keira Knightley.
“It was a good role but also a big deal for me as an actress,” says the Irish star. “I had never really done anything on the big screen before so for the director [Wash Westmoreland] to take a chance on me was a big deal. It was an amazing introduction to film for me. Missy was at the forefront of what could be called the butch lesbian movement or the trans movement. I wanted to be careful that I wasn’t taking the role away from a trans actor but Wash assured me that he had opened up the whole process so that everybody could audition. To be part of something that is speaking of the moment is really important to me. If you get lucky enough to work in this business and especially if you’re at the stage that I find myself, where you’re treated so well and paid so well, then make work that says something. Don’t do crap!”
If Missy was an unknown quantity, the French novelist Colette herself was also a mystery. “I knew nothing about her!” she says. “I grew up in the West of Ireland: they weren’t going to teach me about Colette. I mean, they wouldn’t even let me watch Home and Away!
I didn’t learn about those women in school; far too saucy!” So she wasn’t reading La Vagabonde in bed at night with the torch? “No, I was too busy listening to Theresa Lowe’s love songs on a really tinny radio! I really didn’t know anything about Colette, but then interesting females tend to get written out of history anyway. I was given a crash course by our director, who has been obsessing with this script for about 20 years.”
Given her director’s obsession with the material, I wonder if she felt extra pressure taking on the role. “Yes, there was pressure,” she replies, “but you see, I’ve been around a long time and I’ve cut my teeth for 15 years doing about three plays a year during some pretty lean years. It doesn’t behove me to doubt myself as an actress. Before the big break of People, Places and Things, I had been taught by some of the greatest people on stage; the likes of the Cusacks and Ciarán Hinds. I remember Ciarán telling me once, ‘We’re like tradespeople, like carpenters. We keep practising. The more we do it, the better we get at it.’ I know I can do a good job because I’ve been doing it for a long time and I’ve earned the right to say that now. When you’ve worked as long and as hard as I have, all I want to do is enjoy
I didn’t learn about those women in school; far too saucy!
everything that I get.”
Of course, having a shelf-full of gongs, including the two Olivier Awards, must do wonders for one’s confidence? “The confidence was already there!” she laughs. “Before I did People, Places and Things,
I had finally realised that I was good at what I do. I had stopped begging. I had stopped waiting for people to pick me. Even at that audition, I did not beg for the job, when I would have done two years previously, because I was desperate. Something happened in that year and a half off work when I became my own cheerleader. The confidence I now have is that I keep getting good parts and working with great people. I genuinely don’t care about awards. I only care about good work.”
A quick flick through Gough’s CV confirms that the actress has never been one to sign up for conventional roles. Typical of her output is her most high-profile role to date, playing the eponymous lead in Conor McPherson’s highly regarded mini-series, Paula. “Well, I was never suited to be ‘the girlfriend’ or ‘the wife’,’’ she explains, “but those roles never really came my way anyway. They aren’t attracted to me. The wild and crazies are attracted to me, and long may that continue!”
Despite the acclaim of peers and critics, Denise Gough is relatively unknown when it comes to the general public. That’s about to change now that she is making big movies and even more so since landing a role in the prequel to the most popular TV show in the world. “Yes, I’ve signed up for the Game of Thrones prequel,” she explains. “That will take up one half of the year, and then I’ll do a play for the other half, which will be amazing! I actually wasn’t that interested when they first approached me. Like a lot of people, Game of Thrones went by me because I didn’t think women were treated well in it, there weren’t many people of colour and I thought, this just isn’t my thing. But then I was told that Jane Goldman was involved and I love her. We had a long chat about all sorts of amazing things and I read the pilot script and thought, oh, this is different. Then I heard that Sheila Atim was cast and I was like, I would literally just walk around after that woman. She is amazing. I’m very excited looking at the cast list. It’s so representational and I’m very happy about it.”
Before she goes, I remind her of an interview some years back with Meryl Streep when the legendary star sang the praises of the Clare actress, following her performance in Marina Carr’s By The Bog of Cats. “Yes, and this leads to a great story!” she laughs. “After the show that night I came bounding into the green room and there was Meryl Streep sitting on the sofa in tears, because the ending of that play was so sad. She got up and walked towards me telling me how wonderful I was. I flung my arms around here and gushed, ‘Oh my God, it’s so nice to meet you. Thanks so much!’ When I pulled my arms away, her earring had gotten caught in my woollen jumper. I had ripped it out of her ear, so there was me and Meryl Streep on our knees looking for her earring; and then I’m trying to stick it back in her ear! I was 24 years of age and so nervous, even though Meryl kept saying, ‘It’s fine, don’t worry about it’. When I finally managed to get it back in her ear, I turned around just in time to see Jim Carrey standing up from the other sofa and saying, ‘Nicely done’. Oh my God. I had to leave. I couldn’t actually stay and talk to them any more. Obviously, I like to maim those people I hope to work with one day!” Colette is in cinemas nationwide