Samuel Barnett

Samuel Barnett

Samuel Barnett shot to prominence both sides of the pond playing Posner in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, a performance that brought the smart, soft-spoken actor a 2006 Tony nod and considerable acclaim when Nicholas Hytner brought his highly lauded National Theatre production to the screen. How do you move on from a role on which, preparation and the odd bit of time off included, Barnett spent the better part of three years? The answer is by making a distinct about-face from the wry, witty, academic world of Bennett to a gamesmanship of a different kind—namely, the world of poker as played out in Patrick Marber’s debut play, Dealer’s Choice, which is now being revived at the Menier Chocolate Factory under the direction of Sam West. Both the venue and the play itself are more modest in scope than Bennett’s barnstorming hit, though there’s nothing reined-in about the ambitions of a south London playhouse that by now is known for sending various productions on to the West End and, starting in 2008, New York. And once again, Barnett, now 27, finds himself in a predominantly male milieu, this time playing Carl, the son of Malcolm Sinclair’s Stephen, in a play whose heart of darkness lies never far from view beneath its larky façade. During a rehearsal break, Barnett chatted amiably about returning home to England and to the theatre, putting a career-making play behind him, and whether he is in fact a dab hand at cards.

Welcome back to London, and to the London stage. This must feel a totally different sort of gig from The History Boys.
It is, and that's kind of why I wanted to do this job. It’s a totally different part, nothing like Posner, and I knew that when I went back [to the stage] that the first theatre I did had to be completely different.

What was the hook on this occasion: Was it the play? The venue? The timing?
Yes to all three. I was doing some filming and this job came up; the filming ended at the end of July, I had four weeks off, and I started this the beginning of September, so it was definitely the play, the playwright, the venue, and the part. This is a really nice part for me, and the play is absolutely brilliant—and also the venue: the first thing I saw here at the Chocolate Factory was Mercury Fur, and I’ve just seen Take Flight, and they’re all brilliant. The standard of work here is incredibly high, and I knew from the first time that I came to the Menier that I wanted to work here.

Were you already a card shark?
No, I’ve had to learn. My brother and I used to play when we were younger but never for real money. I’ve never particularly been into cards, so this is all new to me. But what it is about, as with any great play, are the relationships; the characters are so vividly drawn—the relationship between my character and my character’s father; it’s a joy to do.

You can’t have been aware at the time of the original National Theatre production in 1995, with David Bark-Jones playing your current role.
No. I was 15 then and wasn’t even in London. There’s a whole new generation of people who probably won’t have seen the play. I don’t know what the original production was like but in ours, every character is going through a baptism by fire. And, I don’t know, I think what’s great about this play is that it has such an ambiguous ending; you have to make up your own mind about what you think is happening to these characters: there’s a real learning curve to every single character on stage.

As I recall, your character, Carl, is the one who extols poker, calling it a game “about guts [and] passion.”
Yes. He is almost the architect of a lot of what goes on. He's the gambling addict who has got himself into such dire strait—his lying and manipulation in order to save himself.

Samuel Barnett in The History Boys

This is the first play you’ve done since The History Boys finished on Broadway almost exactly a year ago [1 October, 2006]. But you very nearly did David Grindley’s Tony-winning revival of Journey’s End.
I was offered it, but I had to turn it down. At that point, we'd been away 10 months, and I really had to go home, though it would have been an incredible opportunity to stay and do another play. But I felt I had to go home: I’d been away from everything I knew for such a long time and on a really practical level, I needed a rest. I hadn’t really stopped—I’d been very lucky and had managed to get another play [at the Bush Theatre] before we did the world tour [of History Boys], but with the film and the National Theatre stuff, that run had kind of lasted two years—more like three in all—and it was exhausting by the end. We all came home and had to de-stress for a while.

Of course, you had that tumultuous final Sunday matinee at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York and then flew directly to the film premiere in London.
We walked out of the stage door of the Broadhurst and into a van and drove to the airport and got onto a plane. We were all really grateful for that, really, and the fact that still after the premiere, we had a month of press. It was a very gentle letting go. It would have been awful to finish that show and just leave and say, “See you later,” but I didn’t really complete the press on the film until November. I wanted to chill out at home but it was Christmas, really, by the time I got there.

Did you feel as if part of you was still in New York?
That was my first experience of New York, and I don’t know if anything’s ever going to quite live up to it again. There I was living on Central Park West and 75th Street, and that was what was magic about the experience. For the entire six months that we were there, we were swept up into all of it and treated so well. There were things where I thought, This could only happen in New York: I’d be in a random bar and someone would shout over, “Let me buy you a drink.” That doesn’t happen back here in cosy old London. It was an amazing time, because we knew that if we weren’t successful, we would be back home, and I think it’s much better being that kind of cutthroat, I really do. It’s all financial; it’s like, “On to the next!” What I found was, nobody criticizes you for not having a good run. It’s “bad luck, let’s try the next one.” You don’t lose face.

Now, presumably, you have the ability to pick and choose your roles a bit more.
Well, I’ve never been in a position to pick and choose work, and I’m still not; but for the first time, I felt I could be a little bit selective about what I wanted to do next. That was the thing about Journey’s End. It was necessary for me just to stop; it was about timing, really, and being away for a long time again. I wanted to rest and regroup and see what was going to happen next.

While we’re on that topic, what is next?
There’s a thing about Alexander Hamilton, with Brian F. O’Byrne, where I play a young Hamilton in some of the voiceover stuff and also appear as one of his friends. And I did a miniseries about John Adams with Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, where I play Thomas Adams, one of his sons. That was shot in Virginia and Budapest; I don’t know why they did Budapest but it was nice for me to be close to home.

And Dealer’s Choice, I suppose, has opened up a whole new career path for you.
[Laughs.] Maybe I’ll become a professional poker player!