Reasons To Be Pretty Talkback

Reasons To Be Pretty is the final part of Neil LaBute’s trilogy of plays that explore our perception of beauty and image interplaying the relationships between men and women. It’s been said that it’s the more humane play out of the trilogy. We have a Talkback during each run of a production at the Almeida where the audience can discuss the production with the cast. Here we have some highlights from the Reasons To Be Pretty Talkback. 

Tom Burke (Greg) and Kieran Bew (Kent). Photo Keith Pattison

The first scene plonks the audience slap bang in the middle of this huge argument. How did you both prepare getting to that place?

Tom Burke (Greg): It puts you on the edge of whatever technique you’ve got so you’ve got to make sure you’re thoroughly warmed up, other than that it’s just a case of jumping in.

Siân Brooke (Steph): We needed to be focused because it’s so fast and the way that it’s written there are so many overlaps. But you have to just go for it, but you hit the ground running, you can’t really take it easy.

Did you enjoy it? Was it fun?

Siân Brooke: Yeah, especially if you’d had a bad day.

Tom Burke: What often happens on stage is you start trying to control what you’re doing and each word as its coming out, and you can’t really do that here you just have to have the faith that you’ve done that work and you go in. And ultimately you’re going to be enjoying yourself the most when you’re not thinking about what you’re doing.

Kieran, can you explain how it is playing such a, er, well er…

Kieran Bew (Kent): such a bastard?

Well, since you said it, yes, such a bastard. And how important is it for you as an actor to also be searching for what is good about this character? Or why he behaves the way he does?

Kieran Bew: Its great fun because you do get to push things into areas that you wouldn’t normally. I do think with any character you’ve got to be able to empathise with them and you’ve got to look to the core of why this person behaves in this way, you have to see them as a human being. Particularly with someone likeKent, you could just be this cartoon character, constantly. He’s an insecure guy and is constantly having to reaffirm who he is and bully Greg into holding that image as well.

What is it that Carly’s attracted to in Kent?

Billie Piper (Carly): I think its one of those things that on paper makes perfect sense, he’s like a prize boyfriend. Where they’re from, things like that really matter. They’re two good looking people and you know I think that he is quite different with Carly to how he is amongst his friends,  I’m not sure she really knows who he actually is. I think its quite fake, their relationship.

Billie Piper (Carly) and Tom Burke (Greg). Photo Keith Pattison.

Was it difficult learning the accent?

Kieran Bew: He (LaBute) didn’t want it to be one specific place which I really struggled with because I wanted to know the town, I wanted to get it absolutely right.

Billie Piper: TheMidwest, that’s all we really knew…

Siân Brooke: I was doing this during the day and doing something with aLondon accent in the evening. Its like muscle memory. This accent is quite spread out and then with aLondon accent it’s all at the front of the mouth. But after a while your mouth gets used to it, it becomes easier to get your tongue around the words.

If you saw elements of yourselves reflected in your characters did you find yourself trying to distance yourself from them or did you accept them as ways to develop your character?

Tom Burke: I feel like it’s the closest I’ve ever played to myself because I heavily identify with the person in the first half who’s just reacting and taking the short cut all the time and, you know, wanting to become that person at the end who has intentions and morality. I do have morality.

Siân Brooke: When I have an argument I do sort of realise how I sound so it’s probably made me distance myself from it a lot more!