Interview: Chris Leask Talks THE COMEDY ABOUT A BANK ROBBERY

Chris Leask has reprised the role of Everybody Else in The Comedy About a Bank Robbery. We met up at the Criterion Theatre and a hilarious interview ensued.

Did you go to the theatre a lot as a kid?

I did, actually! However, I didn't get into acting straightaway. Both my brother and I are actors - he's in School of Rock, he's playing the lead at the moment.

He and I were always very dramatic children, we always performed for our parents. Mum and Dad took us to a lot of shows, but for me it was The Entertainer at the Old Vic with Robert Lindsay that completely blew me away and made me want to become an actor.

Because at that point I'd only seen musicals, and I love musicals, but what Robert Lindsay did in it completely blew me away and I was like "Oh, definitely, I want to be an actor". Then we ended up both going to the same drama school, which was LAMDA, so we kind of followed each other's footsteps. He seems to think his going there got me into LAMDA. But I think I am the Leask 2.0, so I'm the better version. You can write that down. [laughs]

You went to LAMDA with the rest of Mischief, right?

With all the original Mischief lot as well, yes. Half of them were in my year and the other half were in the year above. That's when the company was formed, but I didn't actually join Mischief until after we left LAMDA and they invited me to do Peter Pan Goes Wrong. Then I went to The Play That Goes Wrong, then back to Peter Pan Goes Wrong in the West End, and then this. And I've done the TV stuff with them as well.

What was your first professional role?

It was a TV thing. What was it called? I can't remember. It was for a TV show and I played a policeman, I think it was Policeman Z or something, he wasn't that important [laughs]. He was running down, moving traffic, it felt really, really cool. It was three weeks after drama school, and it was amazing, that whole experience of getting put up in a hotel away. You go "Aah this is fun, this is nice".

What did you learn from it?

When you go to drama school, you're protected in a way - you have unlimited amounts of different types of casting. If you want to play a 70-year-old man you can do it. Suddenly, going out in the big wide world, you realise that actually they really analyse you and look at you and go "Okay, where would he fit within our play, our show?".

So you suddenly realise that you kind of get pushed around and you don't have much choice over it. The security isn't there as much, which is nerve-wracking at first, but then actually quite liberating because after a while you realise that you have no control over this. I'm just gonna turn up and if they like me, OK, cool, that's really nice; if they don't like me, then, you know, screw them. [laughs]

Is there a role you'd love to do?

Yes. I'd love to play the lead in Jerusalem. I don't think I could play that part - I've seen Mark Rylance do it and he's just too good. He was so good in that show and I got to meet him afterwards; at the time I was doing a play in Sheffield, directed by Richard Wilson [Love Your Soldiers], and he was having a smoke outside and I got to chat with him.

He's the loveliest, nicest man in the world. It kind of made me love him even more, 'cause he's such a wonderful performer. When I saw that show I thought it was a part I'd like to play, but I'm not sure anyone can touch that part after him.

Tell me what The Comedy About a Bank Robbery is about, but don't say the title.

So... The play is about a guy called Mitch Ruscitti who's been imprisoned for assault and robbery. He's decided he's gonna break out, he's gonna go to Minneapolis and he's gonna steal a diamond worth half a million dollars. He breaks out and you follow his journey.

With the aid of his ex-girlfriend Caprice and some unfortunate soul, which is Sam, they go on a journey trying to rob this bank. It's watching all their kind of misfortunes and confusions of trying to do this... I don't know how to explain it now... come and see it! It's basically a lot of misunderstandings and getting into horrible scenarios and trying to get out of them.

You play the role of Everyone Else, who's not presented as ensemble, but a proper character in the show. Tell me about it.

That's what I loved when I got the script originally - they didn't just want to have someone play 14 different parts and then being considered for 14 different parts. There is the part of Everyone Else. The concept is that you have one actor struggling and trying the hardest to tell the story of these parts.

Which is why, in the second half, when you have the fight scene, you have three characters meet and you watch the struggle of the actor trying to tell the story of a fight playing three different parts. The best way to describe the part is that it's silly, bold, and over the top.

What's the hardest thing about playing three different characters fighting each other on an empty stage?

As an actor you want to be as subtle and good as possible. You want to be really subtle and really detailed. But when you play 14 different parts all you can do is make very bold choices. Shamefully, I can't change my face for each part... If I could! What an actor I'd be! Mark Rylance could do that! Oh, God, one day!

So, as soon as I walk on stage as Everyone Else, since he doesn't have that many lines, I have to come on physically and tell them instantly "Guys, I'm someone else". The best way that I found to do that, through a lot of devising and hard work with the writers, was just coming on and making very specific choices of physicality and vocal things. But to be fair, a lot of it was down to the writers - they were absolutely unbelievable, they did the job for me. But there's also a lot of freedom, especially in these plays.

Mischief is so successful is because it's a lot of young people who are friends having fun on stage and just trying the hardest to make the audience laugh. That's why people come to see our shows, they don't want it to be life-changing or anything, they just want to have a belly laugh and enjoy it! I find that's something that comes across, so there's the freedom of being as big and bold and to take it as far as we want.

The audience accept it, especially with Everyone Else. You have Mitch, you have Caprice, you have Sam, who are all very real people. And then I'm allowed to go off a bit and kind of be a bit more mad. But even though it's unnaturalistic, the audience still believes it's based in a naturalistic world and they forgive it.

Is there anything you still struggle with?

I'll tell you, when you do a job for a long time you hit a point where you start doubting absolutely everything you do. Big time. Obviously, in any show it's important to have an awareness of the audience but in comedy more so, I think, because you're constantly getting feedback. If sometimes you make a joke that the night before went down really well and it doesn't the next day, it is very hard to put it behind you as an actor. You suddenly go "Why wasn't I funny that time, what did I do wrong, I'm so sorry, forgive me". The biggest challenge I find is trying to keep it fresh every night, 'cause that's when something's funnier.

It's scripted, but there's a lot of room for us to try new ideas out and to keep things fresh for ourselves. And by doing that it means that every time the audience comes to see a show, they're seeing a different one because the actor might make different choices that night. But yeah, the biggest challenge is to keep it fresh every single night. But we do. And we smash it!

What's it like to have such quick costume changes?

We have an incredible wardrobe team. They work their butts off. There's two moments in it when I have to do some really quick changes. We hit each other in the face a lot because it's a small space.

And I come back - especially in the three suitors scene in the apartment - I come back and I have one person knocking on the door handing me props, another two people ripping costumes off me... And that's why I'm so padded out, at one point I've got five costumes on! Oh, the amounts of times I've gone on with my eyes watering from being hit, probably and usually by myself!

The idea of it is to be as fast as possible, and even if I don't make it, the audience love it. Many a time we've not quite made it, but when moments like that happen the audience love being let in on it.

In any show things go wrong, and the great thing about this comedy, and about all the Mischief shows, is that when they do go wrong we let the audience in. Especially with the part I play - they know how hard it is with the costume changes and they accept it instantly. You continue and you just make a thing of it. There's no massive error.

Do you have a favourite among your characters?

Yeah, Roger, the security guard. I really like being him but I get a lot of notes. When you have a part that you like the most you start to get a bit carried away. Not like method, nothing like that but you start to go "Oh, I could try a new idea", which is to go a bit bold.

That's the job for our amazing associate director Kirsty, to go "You need to rein it back in a bit". You do find a character that you become, fit into really easily and play with, and then suddenly you're making bold choices that you shouldn't.

You understudy Freeboys - how's playing that character different?

I have a lot of pride over Everyone Else because I originated it. I kind of feel like I understand that part incredibly well and I enjoy it because it feels quite natural for me to do. But I love doing Freeboys because it's a different role. It's a bit more challenging for me because it's playing an older part, and if I'm not shaking in walking sticks I'm not good at playing older.

It's a challenge that I accepted and I absolutely enjoy. The main difference between them is that Freeboys is not as physical as Everyone Else, but vocally it's one of the most challenging things I've ever done. When I did the show once I was nearly completely gone because of the screaming.

You can try - and if any vocal coaches are reading this they're going to hate me - you can try and scream in the best way that's good for your voice, but it's still screaming. And maybe I'm just not very good at my job, but sometimes you've got to do it quite aggressively to get a better laugh.

In that way it's very demanding, though screaming that much is one of the best ab workouts I've ever done! But it is a lot of fun. One of the things as Everyone Else I've always struggled with is that there's not many times you get to have an actual conversation with anyone. You're coming on and you're setting up a gag for someone else or delivering a gag yourself. With Freeboys, it's really fun because you get to have an actual scene with someone and a conversation, which is really nice. But they're both wonderful parts.

Do you have a favourite moment in the play?

In the play in general: the back wall. I think it took me two months not to stop laughing. I wish the audience could see the side of it as well. I think people forget how hard it is for the guy because he has to hold his whole body with his abs. It's even funnier if you watch their faces because they're in agony. It sounds awful but it's so much funnier 'cause they're in pain.

A moment I'm part of - I think the fight scene. It's terrifying. I mean, that was when I had a weird moment once. What I was saying earlier about keeping it fresh, when you've done a show for so long you start to get to a point - and maybe I'm the only actor in the world who actually does this - but you go six months down the line and you start forgetting your lines. And you're stuck there "Why am I forgetting my lines? I should know these lines!" But it's because you've become so relaxed.

And it was during the fight scene and suddenly I was in my head and I started thinking "Oh, this is the only point in the show when an actor is on stage on their own with no scenery". I was like, "Oh! If I mucked up my lines I would obviously have no one to cover me. That would suck", and suddenly I stopped and realised I didn't know where I was, what I was doing, for all I knew I was talking what I'm thinking and not saying my lines.

And I looked offstage and the guy is doing the clapping, originally it was the guy who choreographed it, he looked at me and he just gave me the thumbs up - "You okay? You just stopped". I was like "Ah!", so I went [does a voice] "Bring it on!" and started the fight.

Luckily, I asked him afterwards and I did everything fine, I just stopped for a moment. And that's why before the show I now rehearse the fight ten times just to make sure. It is so specific and really fast. Any less than that I become really habitual that I just go "I'm gonna forget it".

How long have you been in the show?

I was in it for nine months originally, then I had seven months off from the show, and now I've come back to it and I've been in for about four months.

What did you do in those seven months?

So, I... [laughs] what every other actor does, beg for money! No, I was auditioning and there are a few other things I did. I did The Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, which was fun. The rest of the time... There's a space on my Spotlight for no reason. I was chilling.

What's the biggest thing you want to achieve as an actor?

[He stops to think]

Don't tell me you've never thought about it!

Oh, of course! I want to be like Tom Cruise! For my career, I want it to be absolutely steady. I want to constantly work, I want to have a mix of TV, film - which I've never had the chance to do - and theatre. But I think that's every actor's dream, which is to...

...Win an Oscar.

...live off solely being an actor. And win an Oscar! That would be nice, it would enhance the pay. So yeah, win an Oscar. Win all of them, d'you know what I mean? Golden Globe, all of them.

You've got to win all of them.

And I wouldn't want anyone else to ever win one again. Just me.

Why should people come and see the show?

Hamilton's sold out.

You've already used that line, give me something else!

Yeah, I've done that joke already, I can't do that! Why should they come and see it? It is two and a half hours of pure joy. I don't know of anyone who's come out and not enjoyed it. They'd have no soul or heart.

It's just watching a bunch of fun, young actors having fun on stage and sharing it with you for two and a half hours. There's nothing more joyous than that. And it should have won the Olivier. [laughs]

The Comedy About a Bank Robbery is playing at Criterion Theatre and booking through April 2019.

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