BWW Interviews: The Cast Of The Landor Theatre's CLOSER THAN EVER

Carrie Dunn joins Ria Jones, Clare Burt, Glyn Kerslake and Michael Kerslake on a rainy afternoon in Clapham to talk about their forthcoming production of Closer Than Ever, Maltby and Shire's collection of songs...

I've been told you're having an emotional time of it in rehearsal.

Glyn: Yes, particularly towards the end of act two.

Clare: Absolutely.

Michael: We've all had a funny old time of it. You invest in your four minutes, and because it's so well-written and well-structured, it's like a small play. You come to the rehearsals with the director and the creative team the same way as you would with any play. Depending on what type of performer you are, and we're all from very similar worlds, when we're out there it looks like we belong in the same world. You'll adopt the same method. You talk about who you are, The Situation, and the journey throughout the song, as you would a journey throughout a play.

Clare: The songs are very pertinent to our age group as well, which is why it resonates so much with us as well, and evokes so much emotion. On day one, Ria had to leave the room and compose herself.

What kind of stories are there?

Ria: Middle-age crisis.

Glyn: Relationships with partners and parents. Grief. Separation.

Clare: It's very analytical. The songs analyse aspects of getting older, hitting midlife, and most of the songs are as a person of a certain age now deals with life. It's very different to being in your thirties.

Michael: They're disguised in very accessible tunes, but marry that with clever lyrics and you've got something more profound, in a way. Sometimes with Sondheim you know what's coming because of the music. It's very American. Lyrically, it merits listening to again simply for the lyrics. That's what we tried to make sure that we worked on, to make sure that the lyrics are the key thing in the narrative of each song.

Clare: People think, oh, musical theatre, you just sing songs. It's actually very hard. You have to cut through the melody and get through to the audience what you're saying.

Glyn: We try not to be too stereotypical, and bring ourselves into the songs.

You say it's very American. This is the 21st anniversary show, but I've never seen it done before.

Clare: They did it at the Jermyn Street Theatre. I did a concert before. It sold very well, and we did it again because it sold very well, because people want to see it and as you say, nobody ever does it. It's quite a difficult piece. Not blowing our own trumpets, but it's quite a hard sing. It's finding the right four people; it's tougher than I thought it was going to be.

The right four people - so a lot depends on the dynamic?

Clare: To be honest, I wanted to know who else was doing it before I said yes.

Michael: We all held back until we knew!

Ria: We all did! And then started messaging each other - "Oh, you're doing it!"

I guess in such a small venue too, it's important - the audience can pick up on tension and if you hate each other...

Michael: Yes, and we all do. (They all laugh)

Clare: The biggest fear is us laughing.

Is that a possibility?

Ria: Not for the first few weeks. I'll be too scared.

Glyn: I never laugh. That's really unprofessional. (Everyone laughs)

Do you have favourite bits?

Clare: We like to get through it all without forgetting the words and without laughing. I like the end of act one.

Ria: I like the end of act two.

Clare: What's that?

Ria: The end of the show. (Both look blank.) If I was watching the show I think I'd be a wreck at the end from laughing and crying, I think I'd be exhausted, from questioning where I am in my life. In a lovely way.

Michael: Because we've associated very much of the time in our lives and where it's written it'll be interesting to find out. It'll change, as soon as it gets in front of an audience. The audience response is not up to us. It'll be interesting to see what an audience think, whether it's just navel-gazing or whether we take them on a journey whoever they are.

Ria: Particularly younger people.

Michael: Yes, whether they can relate to it. I hope they do.

Is it navel-gazing?

Clare: It's analytical. When you analyse it doesn't have to be - you can share it.

Michael: In a way it's probably a bit advanced in terms of how things were then [when it was written]. We are in an analytical age now. We do constantly hold a mirror up to ourselves. We do question.

Ria: We talk about feelings.

Clare: There are more options open to us now.

And this is a very small venue too - so the audience's proximity must affect your choices.

Michael: The bigger the show, the more polish there is. The rawness in this type of venue - if we do screw up, and as long as we have the right intent behind it, it doesn't really matter. We need to live in a dangerous world out there.

Clare: I think it is quite exciting. They're there. You can just be a bit realler. We've got a band of piano and double bass. If it's all right for Barbara Cook, it's all right for us.

Closer Than Ever runs at the Landor Theatre from this week.

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