By Andrew Billen

 

Rachael Stirling’s mother would often remind her of the words of an 18th-century actress: “If it is to be found in nature, I know it can be played.” The actress was the much-celebrated Sarah Siddons, who played Hamlet in a dress and terrified herself so much while rehearsing Lady Macbeth that she hastened to bed fully clothed. She was credited with expanding the scope of stage heroines so that they did not always end up betrayed, broken or dead. Stirling’s mother was Diana Rigg, a star of Siddonian proportions who in her long career played Medea, Mrs Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the terrifying Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones and, obviously, slinky Emma Peel in The Avengers.

“I’ve known that quote all my life from Mama. She drilled it into my soul. She would be so thrilled that we are bringing Mrs Siddons back to centre stage, and thrilled that I am playing her,” enthuses Stirling, who entirely fails to pause long enough to eat her lunch when we meet at the Hampstead Theatre in London, where she is rehearsing the premiere of April De Angelis’s The Divine Mrs S.

Having giggled my way through De Angelis’s heady script, I predict a triumph for Stirling: the part is a gift for an actress with her dual commands of stage and the absurd. Although this characterisation of Siddons accumulates weight as the comedy goes on, I do wonder how the grande dame of Drury Lane would have taken to being sent up so mercilessly. Stirling, having read her diaries, doubts she would have minded. “I don’t think she could have existed without laughing at herself. I mean, if you can’t face public humiliation, you aren’t an artist. I say that in the play, and I believe that to be true.”

 

Visit The Times online to read the full interview through the link below.

 

The Divine Mrs S plays the Main Stage from 22 March to 27 April

 

READ THE THE INTERVIEW HERE

BOOK THE DIVINE MRS S HERE