Daniel Mays (Kidd) in The Red Lion. Image Catherine Ashmore
Try to be creative with your choices:
an interview with Daniel Mays
The thing that thrilled me at RADA
was working from the inside out
and internalising a character. I
recognise my RADA education as a
huge opportunity which has given
me invaluable experience.
Daniel Mays came to acting via dance, musical theatre,
and Italia Conti – where he was advised by a teacher to
consider drama school if he was serious about being an
actor, ‘particularly because of the voice work but they
also explained that it would give me the tools of the
trade for a long and creative career.’
Talking about the difference between stage school and
drama school he says, ‘Stage school looks at the external
and the performance, and was great fun, but the thing
that thrilled me at RADA was working from the inside
out and internalising a character. I recognise my RADA
education as a huge opportunity which has given me
invaluable experience.’
At the Royal Court
The Royal Court has been hugely influential in my
career – I’ve done seven plays there now. I did their
Young Writers festival and built great relationships
with directors like Ramin Grey and Ian Rickson who I’m
working with currently at the National Theatre.
Simon Stephens saw me in Ladybird at The Royal Court,
rada.ac.uk
stopped me in the bar and said ‘Danny, I really want
to write a play for you’. The second Iraq war was in full
swing and he wanted the play to be about a returning
soldier, so Motortown was born. Before that there was
Jez Butterworth’s The Winterling which he’d written
with a comedic role for me in mind. So it has given me
fantastic creative opportunities to show off different
characters and a lot of film and TV offers came from that.
Working with Mike Leigh
Mays has worked with RADA graduate Mike Leigh twice
and says it is ‘an amazing journey and education in itself.
A film-maker like Mike creates a theatre-like ethic in his
rehearsals – they are completely unique and are a brilliant
experience for an actor to go through. Of all the films I’ve
done, Vera Drake was probably the most enjoyable one
to work on; to work with someone like Imelda Staunton
- another RADA graduate – was an absolute privilege.
She’s such a superb actor; she’s like a little dynamo. And
she gets the business - even now if I’m in a complete
dilemma about what job to take I’ll often call her to get
her take on it because I respect her opinion so much and
value her as a person.’
Acting in theatre versus acting in film
The nuts and bolts of creating a character – whether it
be onstage or in front of the camera – it’s the same thing.
Acting is acting is acting! But in theatre, eight shows
a week is incredibly demanding. It takes me hours to
warm up and get into a character. In film-making there
is pressure to deliver on time. Filming is like taking a
photograph or a snapshot in time whereas in theatre if
you’re having a shaky night there’s always the chance to
correct it in the next performance.
+44 (0)20 7636 7076
[email protected]
Theatre is just intoxicating; that live scenario when the
audience is getting so much out of it - if you could bottle
that feeling, it would be wonderful.
Finally at the National Theatre
Mays has just taken his first role at the National Theatre
(NT). Why did it take so long? ‘I really wanted my first
role at the NT to be something memorable - and so
when Jimmy Kid in The Red Lion came along with such
a brilliant writer and director I was thrilled. I love working
with Ian Rickson, he’s a great director. He always makes
the rehearsals incredibly fun.’
Patrick Marber, the writer, had a serious case of writer’s
block so had moved to Sussex and become chairman of
non-league football club Lewis FC. His block lifted and
Mays says, ‘the authenticity of the writing was apparent
as soon as I read it. He completely got the inner workings
of a non-league football club but the play isn’t just about
football – it’s about how these three men have to co-exist.
It’s really about masculinity in decline – about belonging,
morality, what it means to win, ambition. All three
characters are so well drawn, so three-dimensional – it is
a superb piece of writing.’
Researching a character
Jimmy Kid is perhaps a part similar to some played by
Mays previously, an archetypal wheeler-dealer Londoner,
but he says, ‘I’ve played elements of this character in
the past but Jimmy’s a truly monstrous creation. He’s a
difficult character to have any sympathy for, a difficult
guy to love. Like a lot of characters I play, I guess.’
‘I adored doing all the research, going around the nonleague grounds. They’re all on a shoestring, but they have
absolute passion and absolute integrity. But even at that
level, corruption can enter in. And that’s what the play’s
about – the collision of the beauty, purpose and romance
of the game in comparison to the greed, money and
manipulation, which my character represents.’
Line of Duty
Following in the footsteps of Lennie James and Keeley
Hawes, Mays is taking a lead in BBC show Line of Duty,
now on series three. ‘But it’s so confidential! Probably the
most confidential script I’ve worked on. Jed Mercurio, the
writer, is fantastic; he’s an incredibly intelligent man, and
the scripts are amazing. I wish I could tell you more!’
What next?
Of his career, that is a happy balance of film, TV and
theatre, Mays says, ‘I’ve got a brilliant agent who has
helped me achieve a pretty eclectic mix of work.’ Mays is
certainly not short of work with a part in the new Victor
Frankenstein film, alongside James McAvoy and Daniel
Radcliffe, and a small part opposite Brian Cranston
(Breaking Bad) in an American movie The Infiltrator.
rada.ac.uk
So he’s busy? Mays laughs, ‘Yes, but you just sometimes
have these nightmare decisions as to what path you
should take… but it’s a lovely position to be in. I think you
have to follow your instincts and try to be creative with
your choices. But the more established you get, in a way
the harder it becomes. You end up going against top, top
actors. Disappointment is part and parcel of the game
so you have to be resilient. But the flip side to that is you
never know what’s going to happen – tomorrow you
could get a call and be off to another country, filming an
exciting project. I know it’s a cliché but as one door shuts
another one opens.’
And he can always call Imelda for advice!
Theatre is just intoxicating; that
live scenario when the audience is
getting so much out of it - if you
could bottle that feeling, it would
be wonderful.
+44 (0)20 7636 7076
[email protected]