The Last Days of Liz Truss?, from Oxia Theatre, by Greg Wilkinson directed by Anthony Shrubsall with Emma Wilkinson Wright as Liz Truss and Steve Nallon of Spitting Image as the voice of Margaret Thatcher and others. We sat down with Emma Wilkinson Wright.
- What initially drew you to the character of Liz Truss, and how did you prepare to embody her unique persona on stage?
For me personally and also for my theatre company Oxia Theatre – the single most important questions when putting on a production are why this piece and why now? The Last Days of Liz Truss? is on the one hand a play about Liz: her rise to power, her 49 day premiership and then her fall from grace. It is, however, also a much broader commentary on wider, systemic issues and broken systems – financial, political, governmental, societal. We are – to use one of Oxia’s mission statement lines – holding up a provocative and uncomfortable mirror to a whole series of deep-rooted issues, asking questions about what’s really going on and inviting the audience to engage with a process of challenge and reflection.
Preparing to embody her on stage was an 8 week process of immensely detailed research which entailed watching every single video of her (many times over), listening to her speak on repeat, reading everything that has ever been written about her and written by her, physical embodiment exercises, working with the amazing vocal coach Ryan O’Grady twice a week for two months to really unpick her voice: the tonality, intonations, the specifics of her vocal cadence and so forth. I literally didn’t leave a stone unturned and it’s really nice to see the critics noticing the work that has taken place behind the scenes. It was very important that we didn’t do caricature or parody. It had to be truthful. Whilst I believe absolutely that she made huge, dreadful mistakes that caused chaos, I do also believe that she was treated atrociously by the media and the political systems. I want to portray the human being, the woman: the play is an attempt to portray a 360 degree person.
2. The play intertwines humour with serious political commentary. How did you navigate these shifts in tone to present a cohesive performance?
The play is indeed very funny – audiences are laughing all the way through. It’s also VERY dark. It’s been joyous to navigate this duality. I never had myself down as an actor that can do comedy – I tend to get cast in the dark roles – so this has been an eyeopener for me as well! I’ve learnt to really lean into and play with the humour. It’s also been really important to be very specific and very active with all the political commentary: there is a LOT of information in the piece, and some of it about complex economic theory. It would be really boring for it feel like it was a ‘lecture”; it’s not, it is a piece of dramatic satire which relies on the use of information to convey the story. So it has been a case of being very clear about why I am saying what I am saying to them, what impact do I want to have on them, and in this way keeping everything very active, very energetic. And of course playing with timing – key for comedy. Also, the writing by Greg Wilkinson is absolutely superb, so it is easy to navigate, because it is so brilliantly written.
3. What specific techniques did you employ to capture Liz’s distinctive speech patterns?
There is a nasality to her voice, a slightly metallic quality. She glottal-stops her ‘ing’ sounds, and tends to bounce her vowels. Upwards inflections are key, especially when she is listing things. The main challenge really has been that her public voice is quite robotic – doing that for an hour and a half on stage would be unbearable for the audience, so we’ve taken the key characteristics of her voice and softened them slightly to make sure the 90 minutes operates on multiple vocal levels and isn’t just the robotic delivery of text!! As I’ve already mentioned, we are portraying Liz as a person, not just the public persona.
4. Given the play’s satirical elements, how does audience reaction influence your performance, especially during comedic moments?
Audience interaction is key! There is a LOT of breaking the fourth wall, and the way in which the audience interacts or not is something that entirely effects the energy of the show. We have had audiences laughing out loud from start to finish – and also slightly quieter audiences, listening intently. The trick as the performer is to read the room and gauge the temperature. It’s always really nice when the audience goes with it and joins in then fun, giving me stuff to bounce off!
5. Through portraying Liz Truss, did you gain any new perspectives on her political journey or the challenges she faced during her brief tenure as Prime Minister?
Yes. I have more empathy for her. At the end of the day, this woman was torn to shreds by the media, politicians and the public. I’m not sure that would have happened with the same visceral hatred had she been a man.
6. What guidance would you offer young actors aiming to tackle complex political figures in their performances?
Honestly – just do the work! Prepare, prepare, prepare. Do your research. Don’t leave any stone unturned. Get off book as early as you can, learn the lines as soon as you can (organically or by rote, whatever works for you!). It took me 6 weeks pretty much full time to learn the lines, and I did this so I could hit the ground running on day 1 of rehearsal. I was also starting to loose sleep over the lines, you know those actor nightmares where you dream you’re on stage and you’ve learnt the wrong play, or you go to open your mouth and realise that you forgot to learn the script. Those dreams. Yeah, I had a few!!!
Also I would offer that portraying someone who has lived or is still alive is tough – there is due diligence to be done. I played Adelaine Hain in The Only White two years ago – that was an incredible experience, such an honour to walk in this phenomenal woman’s shoes and I made absolutely sure I honoured that responsibility. I even learnt to knit because apparently she would knit whilst waiting to go into court: I’m currently half way through a scarf for her son Peter Hain!! But yes. Put simply. Do the work.