Clare Higgins

Clare Higgins

Clare Higgins needs scant introduction as one of Britain's finest actresses, a Yorkshire-born talent at home in classics and contemporary plays, whether navigating the unspoken emotions of Ursula Loyer in Vincent In Brixton, which brought her to Broadway (and to a 2003 Tony nod), or excavating the high passions of Phaedra or Hecuba, two of the more extreme tragic characters whom she has played to acclaim. A three-time winner of the Olivier Award for Best Actress, Higgins has taken time away from the stage of late to do movies, among them The Golden Compass—which she confesses to not having seen—as well as Woody Allen's latest, Cassandra's Dream, playing the mother to a pair of murderous brothers in Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor. Now, she's back at the National Theatre, where she looks likely to stay put for the rest of the year: Her delicious Lady Britomart in Major Barbara will be followed over the summer by a rare sighting of Harold Pinter's A Slight Ache, capped in October by her opening opposite Ralph Fiennes as Jocasta in Oedipus Rex, directed by Jonathan Kent. Broadway.com caught up with Higgins one recent afternoon to discuss a seemingly unstoppable career—and the prospect of a stage smooch with Ralph Fiennes.

It must be such fun finally to find yourself in a comedy and not having to plumb the depths of despair countless times a week.
It's heaven. Instead of crawling around in rags, it's very nice to wear a lovely frock and make people laugh; it's glorious. I haven't done it for years, and it's such a shock to the system. It's delightful for a change not to be playing someone who's outside the crowd.

I can imagine—though the play itself, particularly in the character of your husband, Undershaft—exerts quite a commanding chill.
What Shaw does that I think is so wonderful is he presents Undershaft initially more or less as the devil and then he puts the weight of his considerable mind behind Undershaft's argument; he plays devil's advocate in order to make us think. This is what is so wonderful: unlike a lot of dramatists who simply present their arguments and that's it, Shaw's plays are really a platform for debate afterwards. And he's so funny with it.

Clare Higgins in Major Barbara

Not to mention the numerous real-life Undershafts who are everywhere in the world today, existing beyond the realms of government or anything resembling conventional morality.
Oh, darling, we're spoiled for choice, aren't we? Who is the latest: any one of these people overlooking the credit crunch would qualify. I wonder how many CEO's are coming to see this play?

How did you end up in this production?
Well, I'd never worked for Nick [director Nicholas Hytner] before and in the last five years I haven't been at the National. I've been mostly in the West End and doing movies. So he called me and I said, Who's in it?, and he said, Simon Russell Beale, and I said, Yes, immediately; I've wanted to work with Simon for so long and I thought this is just too good a chance not to take it up. We've had the most delightful experience together. He's got to be the best actor we have, and I know that is said all the time, but hell, is it ever true! As Undershaft, he's terrifying, and then he gets offstage and he's just the loveliest, funniest man you could imagine, which makes it even more extraordinary that he has this power to terrify.

Plus, we're reminded of the power of Bernard Shaw.
I'm very glad Nick has opened up the repertoire to Shaw. Whether you love him or loathe him, he's one of those dramatists that makes people talk and debate, and there's so little of that now with texting and all that jargon; his delightful and prolonged use of the best language is just such a treat.

Lady Britomart, of course, seems like Shaw's response to Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest, a play Shaw certainly would have known.
It's wonderful, isn't it, though we never discussed it—though I have noticed the two initials; they're both Lady B. Britomart is such an extraordinary name; it sounds like the Walmart of its time. I can imagine her having a younger sister called Walmart. And Shaw was not unaware of Wilde, I'm sure, and of having great fun with the whole notion of aristocracy. I wonder how many impoverished aristocrats Shaw had in mind—people with a huge country pile and a huge house in London and absolutely no money? This has been going on in England since time immemorial. She's a darling old thing, Lady Britomart, and Simon and I have kind of put in a subtext where the two are still terribly fond of one another.

Clare Higgins in Phaedra

In between plays, you've been doing films, including the latest from Woody Allen, who I gather doesn't direct his casts.
He doesn't direct you at all. Hayley Atwell, who's with me in Major Barbara, was also in [Cassandra's Dream], and we had our conversations about it: “Did he direct you?” “No, not a bit.” “Me neither.” [Laughs.] The only thing Woody said to me is, “Just do what you like.” He'll do one take and say, “What do you think?” and you'll say, “I really think I should do this,” and he says, “That's fine.” He gives you complete sort of control over what you're doing, which is rather lovely for an actor because it's your job to turn up and act. You're being trusted.

But now it's the National for you for the rest of the year
It feels like home. It's just lovely; I'll be there 10 months, what with this, the Pinter [A Slight Ache], which is a deeply sinister play, and Jocasta for Jonathan Kent, who directed me in Hecuba, in October. In that, I'll be the envy of every woman in London snogging Ralph Fiennes, but in a very twisted way, of course.