THEATRE TALK: Ruth Wilson's Passion For Psychology

A Chatty Man (And Woman)

The Oliviers lunch this week was a somewhat boozy, rather fun few hours of schmoozing and interviewing for yours truly and the other journos who attended. It pulled in a fair few nominated slebs, too, including Keira Knightley (whose much-maligned outfit really didn't look that bad in person), Maureen Lipman (much shorter than you'd expect) and Brian May, who spent most of his time chatting with wife Anita Dobson and Hannah Waddingham.

I managed to catch up with actors like The Priory's Rachael Stirling, who expressed her pleasure at being nominated but also her current frustration at her commute from North London to Kingston for A Midsummer Night's Dream, to live-in partner Oliver Chris, who is also in Dream and who was there for moral support. I also chatted with Priscilla's Tony Sheldon, who departs these shores in just a few days' time, the gorgeous Lorraine Burroughs and awards host Anthony Head, who was incredibly engaging, fun and giggly.

Head told me he was surprised the set of Six Degrees Of Separation, which he currently starred in, hadn't been nominated for an Olivier: "I was hoping it might be up for an award because I think it's a genius piece of design. I think it's one of the most inventive pieces of set I've been on in years, because it actually becomes part of the play, it tells the story along with us, because it gets blown apart and comes back together again almost imperceptibly. The number of people who've said 'I looked up and it had come together - I couldn't believe it! How did that happen?' It took hours of painstaking work to get the timing right and it's beautifully lit. I think it's a fascinating piece."

But my favourite encounter of the afternoon had to be with Ruth Wilson, who gave a stonking Stella in the Donmar's Streetcar this year and who is to star in Through A Glass Darkly at the Almeida in June. From the beginning of our chat, when I dropped all my papers and she bent down and picked them up for me, to her thoughtful and thought-through answers, she was a pleasure and a joy to chat with. With some interviewees, you get the sense they really don't care for your presence in their lives, however fleeting, but Wilson, whose undergraduate degree is in history, is very friendly, seems thoroughly engaged with the material she's working with and is extremely pleased to be talking about it. As I mentioned in my report, Wilson has a tendency to pick psychologically intriguing productions. She has just finished filming Luther, a BBC1 show about a psychopath where she stars alongside The Wire's Idris Elba.

She explained: "It's a Hannibal Lecter role - it was very fun. I like to play people with slight mental problems! Then I'm going to be doing Through A Glass Darkly... I'm playing the lead in that. It's a great play. Again, it's about a girl who suffers from schizophrenia and it's really about her choice of sanity over insanity and whether the people around her give her enough love to remain sane, or in fact whether insanity is the best option. The thing is, the Luther - I had a lot of fun playing that part, probably a bit too much! It was great fun, that was not as psychologically indepth as most parts I play whereas Karen will be really intense. It's a really interesting discussion on sanity and insanity and the fine line between the two. Actually, what's wrong with giving into it - if it makes you happy, happier, then what's wrong?"

On working with Elliot Cowan, soon to play Macbeth at the Globe, and who was her Stanley in Streetcar, she said: "A true talent, in my opinion, is someoNe You either love or hate, because they've made bold choices. Elliot went for bold choices and in rehearsal he was a joy to work with. If someone, no matter how bold someone's choices are, if underneath in their eyes you can see that it's truthful, then it still makes sense to you. And certainly in rehearsals, you want that boldness, you want to explore and experiment and try things out. It made a very sexy, visceral Elliot as Stanley, which then transferred to the whole play being sexy and young."

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