Features
Role in the hay
Alfie Allenfs stage debut involves him blinding six horses and taking all his clothes off. He talks to Viv Hardwick about his amazing Equus scenes
SO is Alfie Allen fed up of
answering questions about
taking all his clothes off in
Equus? gNo, go for it man,h
he responds in laid-back
fashion, causing one of the
theatre company staff to burst into
laughter. In fact, the 21-year-old making
his acting debut in the touring version of
Peter Shafferfs powerful drama has only
just got his clothes back on having
wrestled into a sweatshirt, jeans and
snatched up his trainers during the last
seconds of matinee applause before
attending our interview in Edinburgh.
Having never been to acting classes,
how did he cope with being cast as the
complex 17-year-old Alan Strang who has
mysteriously blinded six horses?
Revealing the truth, so to speak, involves
a fairly raunchy simulated sex scene with
stablegirl Jill Mason (played by Daniel
Radcliffefs ex-girlfriend Laura OfToole).
gIt doesnft play with my head at all
having to ensure that itfs Alan Strang
taking his clothes off on stage rather than
Alfie Allen. Doing it in the rehearsal room
it might have been me, but I think once
youfre on stage and doing it, youfre in
your element and you just forget about it.
gPeople were actually saying to me on
the night if I was under more pressure
when my family came to see Equus, but I
wasnft. I was totally concentrated on what
I was doing, so it didnft bother mec
theyfve seen it all before,h he says.
What, him without clothes on stage?
gNo, obviously, they havenft seen me in
that situation before, but I wasnft
thinking about being naked when I was
doing it,h he says.
gI never engage the Alfie side of my
brain because Ifm concentrating on going
on stage and I know that Alan doesnft
have sex with her, and canft because
Equus is on his mind the whole time. All
he sees is the horrid image of Equusf head
instead of hers. So I have no worries about
getting carried away on stage. Ifd get in
big trouble with the police,h he says with a
burst of laughter.
Asked just how much of an acting
Everest this is for his first professional
appearance, he responds: gItfs just a huge,
huge challenge and the more I see the
challenge, the more I want to get my teeth
into it. Itfs just a bloody fantastic
opportunity for a 21-year-old actor to be
able to do this, especially me as I havenft
gone to drama school or done any
theatrical training. To kind of get this
part, I felt so honoured to be part of such
a fantastic play from an Oscar-winning
writer.h
He pays tribute to Helen Anderson and
Colin Hurley, who act out scenes with him
as Alanfs parents, as well as drama
heavyweights Simon Callow and Linda
Thorson, who play the therapist and
magistrate trying to keep Alan out of
prison. gItfs an amazing cast and I
couldnft really have asked for much more.
My God, they are fantastic and I feel
blessed to go on tour with such a great
bunch of actors,h Allen says.
At the moment, the young star who
made an impact in the cast of British film
Atonement and is about to be seen in
BBC1fs Casualty 1908 isnft too worried
about publicity material which announces
him as gbrother of singer Lily Allen and
son of Sheriff of Nottingham-playing
Keith Allenh.
❛ITfS fact isnft it? Itfs not people
making it up. Ifm immensely proud
of what Lily has done for herself and
what my dad has done for us and I would
never like to say I donft want to be
associated with them because they are my
family. I donft want to be the Alfie from
the song for the rest of my life to be sure,
but I think itfs going to be quite a while
before I get rid of that to be honest,h he
replies.
Amazingly, after being called a drugged
up layabout in Lilyfs hit song, he can still
see the positive side. gItfs a song about
love really at the end of the day and itfs
kind of cool to be immortalised in a song.
I donft think many people have had a song
written about them, so thatfs kind of cool.
Well, not songs that have got in the top
ten,h he jests.
His Casualty starring role of Nobby
Clark is actually a much-delayed project
from 2007 and Allen says: gIt was
supposed to be Casualty 1907 because it
was supposed to come out around
Christmas time and it didnft and then
they were going to air it in February, but
that clashed with a similar thing on
Channel 4, so itfs been pushed back to
March.h
He plays the leader of a gang who gis
misunderstood, which is kind of weird
because hefs similar to Alan in the play.
You see my character transform from this
horrible person into quite a nice, young
ladh.
Allen admits that herefs a huge gap to
bridge for him to return to playing a 17-
year-old in Equus. He feels he was able to
recapture those adolescent days of
awkwardness by still being able to
remember what it was like to be young
and have all your hormones raging.
But Allen confesses that his original
request to his agent to help find him a
stage role wasnft supposed to result in a
lead role in one of the West End hottest
revivals, which Harry Potter star Daniel
Radcliffe has seen spiral into a Broadway
production as well.
gI did the audition and remember
looking at the poster in Tottenham Court
Road and thinking ewow, what a fantastic
part to playf but I never thought Ifd
actually be doing it,h he says about being
promised a call-back in four months time,
which he assumed was a polite eno
thanksf.
gIt was a big shock when they called me
back for a workshop and I got a call while
I was filming Casualty in Liverpool to go
for breakfast with Peter Shaffer and David
Pugh (the producer) want to have
breakfast with you. It was pretty
amazing,h the young actor says and thinks
it was doing the workshop with director
Thea Sharrock which won him the role,
even though he admitted to her that he
didnft initially understand how to act out
one scene.
Having won through here, he confesses
that he is still pretty uncomfortable over
his relationship with actor Ray
Winstonefs daughter Jaime being the
focus of media attention.
By a quirk of casting fate, both he and
Jaime, have been doing Press interviews
for shows at the same time. He for Equus
and she for BBC3 superhero spoof Phoo
Action.
gIt is weird that wefre both in the
spotlight at the same time. We donft really
talk about it and I havenft seen her show. I
want to see it and Ifm really annoyed
about it because I havenft had time to
watch it. But it is really strange we seem
to be in the limelight at the same time. We
donft read the papers that much for that
precise reason,h he says.
Equus runs at Newcastle Theatre
Royal from Monday, March 24, until
Saturday, March 29. Box Office: 08448-11-
21-21
12:46pm Thursday 13th March 2008
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