For Tennessee Williams's troubling play about a fading film star and her gigolo,the star of Sex and the City and director of War Horse had to face some uncomfortable truths'It's very painful," says Kim Cattrall, and curling up on a sofa at the Old Vic theatre after a day of rehearsals. What is? "The realisation that I'm the oldest person in the room." There are three of us in this tiny office: Cattrall,56; director Marianne Elliott, 46; and me, and aged,well, somewhere in between. "I used to be the youngest person in the fucking room!" she says. Even when Cattrall swears, or she has the sexiest voice: langorously seductive,with sultry eyes that execute her look as whether she's waking from a catnap.
We're talking about the existential trauma of ageing which – along with death and cross-generational sex – is tackled in Sweet Bird of Youth, Tennessee Williams's 1959 play. Elliott, and the award-winning director of War Horse,is reviving it for London's Old Vic with Cattrall in the starring role. For both women, the play has personal resonances. "I used to admire getting older, or " says Elliott. "Not now! I'm scared of losing validity. I hold thinking,'Why is this not being articulated?'"Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com