 In person, Mark Rylance can be as unpredictable as he is on stage. Our conversation should mostly be about his latest role, the 19th century maverick doctor Ignaz Semmelweis. In Stephen Brown's new play, first seen at Bristol Old Vic, the real life eponymous flawed hero pioneers the practice of handwashing in hospital, saving countless lives.It is a tale well-suited to our pandemic times. But as Mark and I sit in a cosy room in the Harold Pinter Theatre, we cover such wide-ranging subjects as Extinction Rebellion (he admires most of them but not those who alienate the people they are trying to change);how Mark lost all hope that he could be a movie actor when Michael Stuhlbarg pipped Mark to the starring role in the Coen brothers' film A Serious Man; and about Kevin Spacey, A-list actor currently in court over sexual offences. The Spacey digression is my fault.Rather clumsily I am comparing Mark with Spacey because although the actors are very different, both are – or in Spacey's case were before his career nosedived – talents that could be described as unique. I want to know whether these qualities are innate or carefully cultivated. 'Everyone's got a particular vibration,' explains Mark a little gnomically. 'Why can you immediately hear it's Mozart; how do you know it is the Rolling Stones even before Mick Jagger is singing; why can you immediately see that the painting you are looking at is a Rembrandt?' Dr Semmelweis will be Mark Rylance's first West End production since reprising Rooster in Jerusalem (Picture: Simon Annand) Fair enough. But like Mark, these are artists at the very top of their field. Below them others may do good or even excellent work but most are replaceable by one of their peers. That is not the case with Mark. Take his Oscar-winning turn in Spielberg's movie Bridge Of Spies, his brilliant gender-swapped Olivia in the 2012 Shakespeare's Globe produ){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
In person, Mark Rylance can be as unpredictable as he is on stage. Our conversation should mostly be about his latest role, the 19th century maverick doctor Ignaz Semmelweis.
In Stephen Brown’s new play, first seen at Bristol Old Vic, the real life eponymous flawed hero pioneers the practice of handwashing in hospital, saving countless lives.It is a tale well-suited to our pandemic times.
But as Mark and I sit in a cosy room in the Harold Pinter Theatre, we cover such wide-ranging subjects as Extinction Rebellion (he admires most of them but not those who alienate the people they are trying to change);how Mark lost all hope that he could be a movie actor when Michael Stuhlbarg pipped Mark to the starring role in the Coen brothers’ film A Serious Man; and about Kevin Spacey, A-list actor currently in court over sexual offences.
The Spacey digression is my fault.Rather clumsily I am comparing Mark with Spacey because although the actors are very different, both are – or in Spacey’s case were before his career nosedived – talents that could be described as unique.