Interview

Ben Silverstone

Ben Silverstone co-stars with David Suchet in Terence Rattigan's gripping thriller Man and Boy (no relation to Tony Parson's novel), at the Duchess Theatre. Paul Webb went to the nearby theatrical haunt P J's Bar and Grill to meet him.

Is this your first West End role? "It is. I've been on stage in London before, but essentially on the fringe - I was in The Age of Consent at the Bush, and Electra at the Gate.

The Age of Consent was two monologues, and my character was a young child murderer, so it was quite a controversial play. It was based on the case of the two boys who killed Jamie Bulger."

You've appeared in several films and had an early start in another Rattigan? "Yes, I was Taplow, a schoolboy, in a film version of Rattigan's The Browning Version, with Albert Finney as Crocker-Harris, the crusty old classics master who is very moved - and sort of brought back to life - when Taplow gives him a leaving present of a copy of Robert Browning's translation of Aeschylus' play Agamemnon."

That must have been a fascinating start to a movie career? "It was a wonderful experience, especially to be acting with Albert Finney, and I'm also very lucky to be acting with David Suchet in Man and Boy."

In the play you have a very difficult relationship with your father, a crooked tycoon, who tries to pass you off as his lover in order to clinch a deal with a gay businessman... "It is a strange relationship, but then Rattigan had an odd one with his own father - he kept a room in his flat where his father could take back women he picked up!"

Your character, Basil, who is furious with his father's behaviour - and indeed tried to kill him some years earlier - does nonetheless come back to try to help him. Why is that? "It's because, despite everything, there's such a strong link between them, and Basil always worshipped his father - in fact, when he's talking about him to his girlfriend, although he's attacking him, she picks up on the fact that he basically adores him - despite himself. His father [Suchet] does say that the reason he spurned Basil was that he couldn't cope with love, and as the play makes clear Basil is really the only person in the world who loves him. And his father can't cope with that."

Suchet's performance is extraordinary, but you match it. I don't mean that in the sense of a competition, but in terms of the balance of the play - the balance of interest on stage between you. "Thank you! That's largely down to the craft of Rattigan's writing. Basil is ostensibly a weak character but is actually very strong - as his father says at one point - 'Who is now strong, who is now weak?' because he is reduced to seeking refuge in his estranged son's flat."

Does Suchet's character actually kill himself at the end? It isn't clear. On press night he seemed to leave the gun behind when he left the flat, then went back for it and left with it. And why didn't he just shoot himself there and then? "Actually it was a mistake, as the lights should have gone out with David sitting there with the gun, but they didn't, so he had no option but to walk off stage in full view of the audience! But that's press nights for you!

One of the things I enjoy about live theatre in general and this play in particular is that no two performances are ever quite the same, and David certainly varies his role each time, which makes acting with him very exciting."

You appear topless at a couple of points, and you're obviously very slim - in fact it's referred to on stage when your father [Suchet] says you're too thin. Did you diet for the role? "No, I'm just naturally like this! I think the stage makes you look slightly thinner, though - just as film, by contrast, tends to put pounds on you."

Your girlfriend in the play is a lot less exotic than Basil - what's the attraction? "I think he finds her very honest and direct. She doesn't have a great career, she's an understudy and despite being an actress isn't very actressy."
In a way she's a bit mumsy? "I wouldn't go that far! But she is a down-to-earth person. Opposites attract and I think she's someone he can settle down with."

Is Man and Boy an open run? "No, we're a limited season, to April 16, as David has to leave to film Poirot after that."

Were you at drama school? "No, I went straight into acting from university - I read English at Cambridge, and did a lot of acting while I was there."

Any favourite theatre restaurants? "Not specially, but this bar is nice..."

Book tickets for Man And Boy here - from £30

By Paul Webb
Thursday March 17