Author(s):
Jill Fergus
With her extraordinary talent—not to mention her two Oscars—it’s hard to believe that Cate Blanchett has not yet conquered the Great White Way. But that just changed, as the 47-year-old Australian-born actress makes her much-anticipated Broadway debut in “The Present,” the Sydney Theatre Company’s adaptation (by playwright Andrew Upton, Blanchett’s husband and frequent collaborator) of Anton Chekhov’s first, little-known drama, “Platonov.”
Although audiences know Blanchett from such celebrated films as “Elizabeth,” “Carol” and “The Lord of the Rings,” she is equally at home on the stage. She and her husband served as co-artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company, presenting numerous critically acclaimed works during their tenure such as “A Streetcar Named Desire,” and she has performed in New York City at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (“Streetcar,” “Hedda Gabler”) and City Center (“The Maids,” “Uncle Vanya”).
In “The Present,” set in the mid-1990s in Russia, Blanchett plays the independent-minded widow Anna Petrovna over the course of her weekend birthday celebration. As one would expect with a Chekhov work, it provides plenty of emotional reworks— not to mention copious amounts of vodka. The play opens Jan. 8 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
How does it feel to be making your Broadway debut?
Wonderful ... [especially] with this group of people—it’s very much an ensemble piece. That’s pretty indicative of the work that Andrew and I helped make during our time running the Sydney Theatre Company, and now that we’ve left the company, it feels like a wonderful, sort of, conclusion to our time there. I hope people like it.
What drew you to the role of Anna?
Petrovna is very elusive and hidden from herself. There’s a Chekhovian female type ... they’re a bit like the weather, their moods shift: They’re unpredictable and slightly dangerous—to themselves as much as to the people around them. And because she married very young, she married an elderly general, she’s been accused of being a gold digger. Now she’s a widow and getting on in years, she’s thinking: Do I actually become a gold digger and marry for convenience or do I follow my heart? When we think about time left rather than time spent, at that point in your life ... that’s sort of the juncture of where she’s at.
You’ve appeared with fellow Australian Richard Roxburgh in “Uncle Vanya” and you’re both making your Broadway debut in “The Present. ” What’s it like working with him?
If I had to be stranded with one actor, it would be Richard. Every night with him feels different. He’s perfect for Chekhov because he’s a leading man, but he’s also a wonderful, exquisite, sad clown. People who’ve been performing together off and on for a long period, like Richard and I—it adds a richness to the work.
The run time is almost three hours: That’s quite a mental workout.
It’s one thing when you are playing a role and you never leave the stage: You have to get on the train and stay on the train. It’s another challenge when you’re offstage and you then have to re-enter. Entrances are one of the hardest things as an actor on the stage. I’m not on the stage the whole time, and that’s been a challenge because you have to keep a certain energy. When it’s not working, it’s hard; but when it is working—I mean Chekhov’s excruciating, he’s so exposing ... there’s nowhere to hide [but] I love it.
Is it different performing in front of a live audience than on a film set?
Oh, God, yeah. For me, my relationship with a crew on a film set is vital, because they’re your first port of call. You get an energetic sense of things through your relationship with the crew. What I love about the theater is you learn so much from an audience. You want to guide an audience, but you also have to be guided: It’s a conversation. That is what you don’t have with your audience in film and that’s what I miss ... you know, 'Oh, we lost them there tonight' or 'Yeah, I think they were really with us tonight.' You get a sense of how it went. With cinema, you have no idea.
Were you excited about being in New York for the holidays?
I’ve been here for bits and pieces, but never actually to celebrate Christmas. The smells of the city change: Christmas in this city is like Christmas nowhere else. The whole city celebrated, whether they were of the Christian persuasion or not. It was so quintessentially New York in that way.
What do you like to do when you have some downtime?
I’m a bit of a coffeeholic so I go to Brooklyn, Williamsburg, to get a coffee ... there’s a lot of Australian baristas out there, not that I want to move amongst my own [laughs], but they do make good coffee.
You have two Oscars: Would you love to add a Tony?
Thank you, thank you, thank you for reminding me [laughs]. It’s a very strange thing when you put accolades before the work, you know? You can’t work well unless you risk failure.
What’s in your future workwise?
I just did “Ocean’s Eight,” [a spinoff to the “Ocean’s Eleven” film franchise] with Sarah Paulson and Sandra Bullock. Now it’s the play. After this, I’m not sure.
Any last thoughts about your having your Broadway debut?
No, because if I dwell on it too much, I’ll be under my dressing room table! [laughs].
Market:
New York City
Subtitle:
The always elegant Cate Blanchett makes her Broadway debut in “The Present.”
Interest Type:
Cultured
Locals
Tag:
Broadway
Theater
Category:
Entertainment
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