‘I decided to give it a go’

It’s a little awkward, standing nose to nose with strangers. Here, inside a lift the size of a train loo, are two young actresses, a PR man, one actor on the brink of proper stardom (Rory Kinnear) and me, all inching down through the body of the bustling, gossipy National Theatre. We’ve been silent for two floors and there’s a hint of desperation in the air, so Rory, being a pro, steps into the breach. ‘Did you hear about the reading they sent me to last week?’ he asks. PR man says no. ‘I was told to bring along my favourite book to read a chapter to an audience, but when I got there all I could see were children. There was literally no one over ten. And as I waited for the kids to leave, I gradually realised that this was my audience. No one had told me! So I got out my copy of Ulysses…’ Rory pauses. There’s a lift-full of laughs. Rory says, ‘Actually, it was OK. I found a chapter with a cat in it, and I got the children to miaow every time the cat was mentioned. They loved it!’

More silence between floors 2 and G in which I consider what a versatile and unpredictable chap Rory is. He can turn up all prepared to quote James Joyce, then turn on a dime and become a children’s entertainer.

Sitting opposite him an hour earlier in a sun-filled, glass-walled corner of the NT, I learnt quite quickly that it’s a mistake to pigeon-hole Kinnear. He’s mercurial: one minute Jack the lad, the next a thoughtful academic; sometimes very handsome, sometimes normal-looking; cheerful and upbeat but with an occasional sudden look of sadness.