Mary Wakefield talks to Tom Hollander

Glutton for punishment

T (outraged): No, you f***ing do not! What sort of person are you? You feel co-dependently involved, you feel sick. You think, that could be me! Are you familiar with the term co-dependence, because that term does sum it up?

M: Not really.

T laughs: Oh, dear. Well, lucky you. Look, it’s when people go into relationships with people where if one person’s feeling a bit shy, the other person immediately starts getting involved in the world of shyness. You’re so keen to empathise that you end up getting sucked in. That’s what it feels like at the Old Vic.

M: So it’s a real hothouse atmosphere in the cast, very tight?

T: Yes, and the audience have been cranked up brilliantly by Kevin Spacey and are just waiting for someone to make a mistake, as if they were in the Colosseum. You can feel the adrenaline coming through the back of the stage.

M: Do the audience or the directors judge the plays? Thumbs up or down like the Emperor did in the Colosseum?

T: No, of course not! You sadist! It’s obvious which ones are good and which ones are dreadful, but no one stands up and says, ‘You were CRAP!’ Because they’re all so grateful that anyone’s turned up to do it at all.

M: And do they write anything decent? Are the plays any good?

T: Obviously, most of them are dreadful, but every so often one of them is brilliant!

M: You proved to yourself that you can do it, so why are you doing it again?

T: Why am I doing it again? Um...because it’s an adrenaline rush, it’s fun! It’s like having, I dunno, air blasted through your gaskets!

M: So, is there anything else you’d like to say about the 24-hour plays that you haven’t yet said?

T (decisively): No.

M laughs: OK, then, I’ll let you go now and thank you.

T: I hope it’s not too ghastly having to write it up.

Ends.

The 24-hour plays are at the Old Vic on Sunday, 11 November 2007; www.oldvictheatre.com/galafundraiser