Strong sheds blood for his Broadway hit
AT THE end of the acclaimed Young Vic production of A View From The Bridge, now playing on Broadway, the cast are drenched in gallons of fake blood.
This is Arthur Miller, re-imagined by director Ivo Van Hove with Mark Strong, Nicola Walker and Phoebe Fox repeating the roles they played at the Young Vic (and Wyndham’s, where it transferred for a West End run).
‘A woman came up to me and barked: “What’s in the blood?” ’ Strong told me backstage at New York’s Lyceum Theatre.
‘She said: “You don’t know what’s in the blood. You’re covered in it every night. Go see a dermatologist!,” ’ Strong related, copying that rat-a-tat-way some New Yorkers speak.
I’m happy to report his skin’s fine, even though he and his cast mates get covered in the gloop.
Strong said he was hesitant when American producer Scott Rudin said he wanted to bring the all-American classic to New York.
‘In the UK, it’s an exotic play. But over here the audience knows where it’s located!’
And yet the play about a married dock worker, infatuated with his teenage niece, who explodes when two relatives from Italy come to the U.S. illegally, has touched a chord here, in part because of the furious debate about Syrian refugees. Strong, Walker and Fox have been joined by Russell Tovey, who adds yet another powerful level to the drama. And Strong’s performance is simply magnificent.
The play’s here until February. Then Strong will film Kingsman 2 for director Matthew Vaughn, followed by a movie called Miss Sloane, in which he and Jessica Chastain play gun lobbyists.