'From the moment the curtain goes up I'm firing on all six cylinders. The engine has to be hot and running with the speedometer banging up to 80 or 90 all the time. This "car" is like a dragster with wheels spinning.' Charles Dance, with a designer scar slashing down his famous cheekbones, is in his dressing room at the Barbican. He's meant to be on lunch break, but in addition to doing this interview he's also giving an assistant stage manager strategic notes on where to put the stage blood, the towels and the buckets of water needed for his quick changes as Shakespeare's warriro general Coriolanus. 'We do this play very quickly, much faster than it's usually done, but hopefully the evening is an exhilarating one rather than an exhausting one.'

Dance, 44. hasn't been with the RSC for a decade and hasn't even been on a stage for eight years. His most recent project, due on our TV screens this summer, is Tony Richardson's four-hour mini-series adaptation of 'The Phantom of the Opera' (no, not that one). 'English actors,' he says, 'like to think they can flit from one medium to the other, but it has been a dangerously long time since I did anything classical.'

So now he's back on the boards in one of the Bard's most demanding roles, an uncompromising Roman hero who sacrifices everything because he is simply incapable of dissembling for political purpose. 'Coriolanus is immovable. He has an absolute belief in the status quo -- if you're a peasant, be the best peasant you can be. If you're an aristocrat, be the best aristocrat you can be. His thinking is very black and white. There's no time for grey.

'Yes,' he laughs, 'Coriolanus is very much "The Lady's Not for Turning", but this production isn't angled at any particular contemporary bias, either to the right or to the left. I think that would be a disservice because Shakespeare presents all sides of the argument, all of the time. This play is about the complexities, the fickleness and the changeability of human nature and that's a great analogy or mirror for any state at any time. Drawing a specific contemporary message is up to the audience.

'One of the beauties of the play is it's eternally relevant. It was usefully coincidental that the whole revolution in Eastern Europe was happening while we were playing in Stratford, but this production doesn't take a particular slant. There isn't a need to. It's all already there,'

After 20 years of living in London -- 'enough is enough' -- Dance and his family now reside in the West Country. 'I moved out of London about 18 months ago and now have five-and-a- half acres in an "unspoilt area of outstanding natural beauty", as the environmentalists would put it. It is very beautiful and I do things like plant vegetables and chase after the ducks. When I feel a need for the sort of stimulation that only the city can give me then I come up to the city. I treat London like a whore," he laughs. 'I take what I want and go.'

What he wants next is another lucrative movie deal. 'After nine months with the RSC I've got to make some money again. But really I do want to get back in front of a camera. If I'm absolutely honest, I enjoy making movies more. This play is hell to do. It's a colossal effort. I'm not certain I enjoy doing it, but it's a great feeling having done it.'

© Allen Robertson

Back to The Archive