#rather than becoming invested in the protagonists and horrified by the villain

[shittywizzard]

he's one of the most successful and disturbing horror villains ever written to YOU. to me he is my cringe wife

[toby-stephens]

SEPTEMBER 2017 : TOBY NEWS

‘OSLO’

‘Oslo’ opened at the Lyttelton Theatre at the National on 5th September to much anticipation and applause, gaining 4 or 5 stars from most reviews with the Independent saying that “there isn’t a weak link in the 18 strong cast”.  Con Coughlin for the Telegraph wrote, “Toby Stephens's portrayal of Rød-Larsen gives him a great deal more zest and personality than I recall, but this neatly nuanced performance is key to the pace of this fast-moving, entertaining take on the events (Rogers has said that, in order to liven up what might otherwise seem a prosaic and convoluted political process, he studied the plays of Noël Coward).”

The Financial Times had this to say of Toby’s performance, “Fully aware that three hours of intricate bargaining might be daunting, Rogers sets out in crisp and droll style. Taking a tip from Shakespeare, perhaps, he sprinkles the dialogue with gags and has his characters frequently break the fourth wall to reassure the audience and fill them in on necessary details. This brings a light touch to proceedings, ensures that we never get lost in the woods and adds to the appeal of his chief protagonists, the flamboyant, rash, but hugely engaging Larsen, played with great wit and panache by Toby Stephens, and the wise, long-suffering Juul, played with infinite composure by Lydia Leonard.”

A sentiment echoed in the Guardian, “Although Bartlett Sher’s production has an epic sweep, it rightly puts the emphasis on the individuals involved. Toby Stephens brings out the vanity and self-regard behind Larsen’s idealism, while Lydia Leonard as Juul seems a model of practical wisdom.”

The Stage writes, “Toby Stephens anchors the play as the fastidious Terje, combing a dash of arrogance with a sense of integrity, while Lydia Leonard, as Mona, is similarly superb. As the play’s narrator, she balances out a piece laden with men.”

David Butcher for the Radio Times writes, “Toby Stephens is in his element as Terje Rod-Larsen, the slightly louche (for Norway) academic who in 1992 creates a back-channel for talks between the PLO finance minister and Israeli representatives. His diplomat wife Mona Juul is horrified when she gets wind of his plan, and so – in a hilariously profane outburst – is her boss, the Norwegian foreign minister.  Bobbing around the hard men, Stephens’s Terje is a squirming dilettante, forced at times to lie to both sides to keep the ball rolling; but when a character quotes Yitzhak Rabin’s dictum, “What is a lie but a dream that could come true?” it feels like his vindication.”

The Times were also full of praise, “Toby Stephens is brilliant as Rod-Larsen, a man who knows the right thing to do but often doesn’t do it.”  Even the Metro, (who still insist on referring to Toby as “Bond villain in Die Another Day” - [when will that ever end!!!!]) said that Terje was “Played with panache by Toby Stephens”, whilst Time Out referred to Toby as being “on flamboyant form”.

The Arts Desk writes, “As you’d expect, Stephens plays Terje as a smoothie, a jovial idealist who constantly puts his foot in it, while Lydia Leonard’s Mona patches things up with quiet intelligence.”

The Express had this to say, “Toby Stephens invests Rød-Larsen with the anonymous complexity of a well-meaning, slightly naive political dilettante……evincing the perfect balance of altruism and smugness”

In The Times we read “Toby Stephens plays Terje Rod-Larsen, a Norwegian sociologist and diplomat with expertise in “organisational psychology”, and the originator of the talks. He aims for something Nordic in his accent, though it’s often barely distinguishable from the urbane drawl of the Foreign Office grandee.”

Susannah Clapp [unfortunate name] for the Guardian was a tad less impressed, “As the Norwegian prime mover, Toby Stephens is a magnetic mixture of inspired enterprise and self-promotion. He moves like a spin doctor. With perhaps a touch too much flounce. He begins to look as if he is on the brink of doing an imitation of himself: has he inherited this from his mother, Maggie Smith?”

IN TOBY’S OWN WORDS:

On returning to the British stage after 4 years:

“I know, it was a really difficult decision. I was getting a bit panicked, thinking, Christ, I really need to do something back in the UK otherwise I am just going to disappear. And this came along and it was the perfect project.”

Source: standard.co.uk; 31 August 2017

'It's great to be back on London stage after six years away’

“It’s great coming home and to be able to work here again, while having the family settled here too.”

Source: standard.co.uk; 19 Sept 2017

On his ‘onslaught’ on America:

“It has really changed things for me”

Source: standard.co.uk; 31 August 2017

On ‘Oslo’:

“I was totally ignorant, I thought it was Clinton who brought them together because you saw the photos of him with Rabin and Arafat. But it was because the Americans had no part in it, really, that made it effective.”

“What the play very carefully and brilliantly does is not become bogged down in the present, or in the current politics of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.   It is dealing with a very specific period of time.”

“But that allows us to read all kinds of different things into this because it becomes about negotiation. Was it the right thing to do? Was it effective? Does it mean there is potential hope for situations around the world now? Bart said that in New York it became about Democrats and Republicans. Here maybe it will be about Brexit…”

Source: standard.co.uk; 31 August 2017

On Fatherhood, and uprooting his family with tutors and finding local schools:

“It is the most challenging thing that I have ever done, and also extraordinary and wonderful. It is rather clichéd but it really stopped me being such a selfish person. Before children it’s kind of easy to be solipsistic — you and your wife are in this hermetic little thing, and your own desires, wants, needs, tastes dictate your choices. Then suddenly all of that’s gone.  Since I’ve had kids I thank God that I don’t drink as I really wouldn’t have been able to cope.”

“It was a great thing for me. It made me more pragmatic about things. Quite honestly, as long as I am working, can enjoy what I do, get on with it and put bread on the table, I am really happy.”

Source: standard.co.uk; 31 August 2017

On his children being able to watch him in ‘Lost in Space’:

“It’s not that I think I am doing something distasteful.  But I do remember going to see my mum in a production of ‘Night and Day’ in New York when I was nine or 10, the age my son is now, and there was a scene where a body double was naked in a shower. I thought it was my mum and I was mortified, distraught.”

“I saw her in ‘The Seagull’, playing Arkadina, when I was 11 or 12 and was disturbed by it, because it had parallels to my life. Not that I think those things did me any great harm; they made me what I am. But it’s very hard to get your head around why daddy is on stage with someone strange, kissing and cuddling.”

Source: standard.co.uk; 31 August 2017

On his children:

“If they want to become actors I wouldn’t stop them.”

Source: standard.co.uk; 31 August 2017

On Sir Peter Hall:

“I didn’t know Peter when I was growing up – he knew my parents, but they didn’t really drag us around to endless glitzy parties. The only time I met him in my childhood was with Dave Allen and his wife Judith. I was very close to their children, so they would invite us around to their house in Oxfordshire. Peter came there once or twice, but I was quite young and I didn’t really understand who he was at the time.

"Later, however, he meant an enormous amount to me. He was the person who gave me my first job, and obviously those people have a special part to play in your career – they’re the one who pulled the trigger, as it were. In fact, he gave me my first two jobs: ‘The Camomile Lawn’, and then my first professional play, which was a production of ‘Tartuffe’ in the West End.

"Before he cast me in ‘The Camomile Lawn’, he took me to lunch with him at Pinewood Studios. He was lovely like that; he was very old-school, so he liked to take you out before asking you to do a play. He was so urbane. As a young actor, I remember thinking, “This is extraordinary - for my first job, to be having a meal with this man who is such an enormous figure in British theatre.” Sitting there with him, one-on-one, I was tongue-tied.

"I’ll always remember how generous and sweet he was. He wasn’t patronising. He was incredibly kind to me – it’s why I was always extremely fond of him. I’d always do whatever he wanted me to do. He’d ring you up, and even if you weren’t sure about the play, you’d go, “It’s Peter! I’ll do it.” He was always so persuasive and charming.

"He was loyal to me throughout my career, throughout his life. He used me five or six times, and I loved working with him. And Peter was always working! He was a total workaholic. Anybody who was close to him would recognise that. He wasn’t the kind of guy who would want to kick back and lie on the beach, or “hang out” at all. If he wasn’t working, he was formulating what he was going to be doing next. Not working, for Peter, was a nightmare. He said to me once, “My biggest fear is not being able to do this - not being able to work.”

"He was always planning what he would be doing four or five productions down the line. At his height, he was doing operas at the same time as everything else - he was incredibly industrious, and very driven in that way.

"The last time I saw him was at lunch with a mutual friend of ours, perhaps five or six years ago. I could tell he wasn’t at his best, and it was quite distressing. Because he had this hunger for work, and his need to be constantly doing new things, and he could see this wouldn’t be going on for much longer. But when he told me about the play he was doing at the time, ‘Twelfth Night’, he was incredible. Even then, he was still cracking the whip!”

Source: telegraph.co.uk; 12 Sept 2017

On Donald Trump:

“Trump is not the master of diplomacy and he could learn a thing or two from this play.”

Source: standard.co.uk; 19 Sept 2017