TIMES: The Drama Kings, article

Theatrical tantrums or male bonding – what happened when Britain’s leading men got together for our photoshoot?

What’s the collective noun for a roomful of actors? "A whinge,” says Russell Tovey.

"A babble,” offers Tim Pigott-Smith. "A resting,” says Mark Gatiss, who then immediately changes his mind. "An ambition. No, a thrust! A thrust of actors!” he eventually decides, laughing. Keeping one eye on his peers, he leans in conspiratorially. "Can you smell the testosterone?”

We’re in a photographer’s studio in north London and the actors – suited, booted, ready for their close-ups – sit around a long table, chatting, drinking coffee and cooing over Tovey’s French bulldog, Rocky. There really is no testosterone to smell. The atmosphere is relaxed and convivial, as if I’ve accidentally walked in on a poker night arranged for some of the best leading men of the British stage. It’s friendly. It’s fun. "Actors tend to be quite good at getting on with people,” says Bertie Carvel, who is tall, dark and thoughtful. "If you’re an arsehole, people don’t want to work with you. You won’t get hired.”

Wait, hang on … actors can’t be arseholes? "Well, there are a few arseholes,” he concedes, but insists that none of them is here today. New faces wander into the studio and warm greetings are dispensed. Andrew Scott – an Olivier award winner in 2005 for his performance in the Royal Court’s A Girl in a Car with a Man – bear-hugs Carvel, himself a 2012 winner (Best Actor in a Musical) for his Miss Trunchbull in Matilda. James McAvoy – three Olivier nominations and counting – arrives with his motorcycle helmet under one arm and gives out high-fives, while Rory Kinnear (two Oliviers, including Best Actor last year for his Iago) is more subdued, smiling and nodding at people in polite recognition, like a man at his wife’s office party.

A few moments later Michael Sheen walks in and mimes surprise at seeing Gatiss across the room. It transpires the two had arranged to meet for dinner tonight and then take in a show, but that neither had known the other was going to be here today. From a punter’s perspective, I say, there’s something quite nice about learning that. "Well, Mark and I have known each other for a long time,” says Sheen, explaining that, often as not, actors genuinely do end up being mates. "If you’ve spent six months doing the same theatre production night after night, and trying not to go insane, then that does bond you.”

It’s been a bumper year for juicy male roles on the British stage, and those performances will be celebrated at next weekend’s Olivier Awards. Looking at these leading men, it begs the question: why, in 2015, do we have such a glut of theatrical talent? To answer this, we first need to understand how the theatre has changed. Pigott-Smith, up for an Olivier for his lead role in King Charles III, has been working on stage for almost 50 years. "The profession is radically different today. All those old-fashioned images of the old actor laddie in a fedora with a trace of eye make-up have gone. When I started, it was much more hierarchical. Older actors were afforded a great deal more respect. But since then there’s been a democratisation that is very healthy.”

In other words, there is now less dead wood taking up space that could otherwise be filled by talented younger actors. This is in part because British theatre has been forced to become leaner, less complacent. "There’s not as much theatre around now,” says Pigott-Smith. "Which means there’s much more competition for less and less work.” This competition, in turn, raises everybody’s game. The result?

A virtuous cycle of effort and ability. (READ MORE)