Stage and screen star Denise Gough has called on leading actors, actresses and crew members to be vigilant in an industry where abuses remain rife.
Gough is set to reprise his role as the depressed actor in the play People, Places and Things, which won him an Olivier award in 2016. it became the most acclaimed stage performances of the decade and led to Gough receiving high-profile roles on television. As a leading man, the Irish star said it was his special duty to look after his colleagues.
“I’m considered ‘important’ now, so I’m always treated very well,” Gough said. “But I see people around me who are not considered important being treated badly. I think if you get into any position of power, especially as a player, if you’re number one or two on the call-up sheet, you have a responsibility. I know you have to do your acting and stuff, but you also have to make sure everyone on your set is okay. I don’t see this enough. “I see many actors who come into positions of power, get distracted by the shiny things and do nothing to change the system.”
Gough said he continues to observe bad behavior, particularly in film and television, that is not only tolerated but even rewarded, but is also “encouraged by the younger generation who are saying bad things”. But players are often warned that they can be easily replaced if they encounter bad behavior, and advises young people to “find an ally from the older generation who can support you.” He added that in his experience, “everyone hides when you talk and that can be really demoralizing.”
In recent years there has been a rise in mental health support on offer in an industry that has a poor reputation for protecting its workers. Gough highlighted a new generation of producers such as Wessex Grove, who partnered with Applause for Thinking to facilitate mental health awareness for the cast and crew of A Little Life, the traumatic West End hit starring James Norton. . He added that drama schools should now focus on training actors “so that they want their needs to be met” when they enter the industry, and stressed that abuses do not just affect actors. “There is a group of people who need to be treated better. I will specifically highlight makeup artists who are often treated incredibly poorly.
Born in Ennis, County Clare, Gough won a scholarship to study acting at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London. He had been performing on stage for almost a decade when he was nominated as outstanding newcomer at the Evening Standard theater awards in 2012. After facing a series of rejections, sexism and demoralizing treatment, she was on the verge of quitting acting, but then decided against it. Her life-changing role as Emma, an actor in addiction rehab, in People, Places and Things, written by Duncan Macmillan and first co-produced by the National Theater and Headlong in 2015.
“It was very difficult for it to take this long to achieve financial security because I don’t come from a moneyed family,” said Gough, who has since starred in major TV series including The Fall, Guerrilla and Paula. Written by Conor McPherson. Today’s rising actors face pressure “to become famous too quickly and that’s unsustainable,” he said. “I don’t envy young players. I’m glad I came when I did. I wish I came to an earlier generation [when] people took theater really seriously.”
The new run of People, Places and Things, which will be staged at Trafalgar Studios from May, will be his first theater role in London since starring in Angels in America at the National Theater in 2017. She played the role of Portia Coughlan in a 2022 play by Marina Carr. The Abbey theater in Dublin. His stage experience was particularly valuable for the Star Wars TV show Andor, whose “language is very strong and intense.” Calling the sci-fi series “theater in space,” he said it was an opportunity to work with big stage stars like Kathryn Hunter and Fiona Shaw.
His character in People, Places and Things was so rewarding that he overshadowed some of the projects he was offered later. “What role will you play next? I would read some chapters and think: This wouldn’t even fill me up to my waist!” He had been dying to return to the character since he last starred in New York’s St Ann’s Warehouse in 2017. This is a challenging part, but Gough said: “You’ll be surprised how easy it is when the writing is this good. . When the writing is bad, it’s a tough job. I have rarely had to do bad writing in the theatre. “I feel safe in the theatre, and I have never felt safer or more joyful doing a play than in People, Places and Things.”
Gough, who reprises the role in the production directed by Jeremy Herrin, follows in the footsteps of other actors who were drawn to the same role. Glenn Close was Norma Desmond in the 1994 Broadway production of Sunset Boulevard and again in London in 2016. Mark Rylance resumed his role as “Rooster” Byron in the West End in 2022, 13 years after his debut at the Royal Court in Jerusalem. Gough said there would come a point when she would consider herself too old to play Emma and pass the role on to another actress. And then? “I will play his mother.”