As he takes on his latest role as Hull trawler owner Donald Claxton in the world premiere of Richard Bean’s new play Reykjavik actor John Hollingworth chats to The Stage’s Fergus Morgan.

John Hollingworth feels fortunate to be working regularly. The 43-year-old has just finished starring as Antony in Blanche McIntyre’s bilingual English and British Sign Language staging of Anthony and Cleopatra at Shakespeare’s Globe, and is now in rehearsals for Richard Bean’s new play, Reykjavik at Hampstead Theatre. It is good, he says to get stuck into two long theatre projects back-to-back, compared with the stop-start nature of screen work.

“We did out last show at the Globe and I went straight into doing this play,” Hollingworth says. “Theatre is the most fun you can have as an actor. I’m lucky to have done so much on screen, but it is often much kore broken up. You do two days here, four days there, then time off. With theatre you get a shared sense of endeavour. You get a group of people forming a company and working hard to tell a story.”

Born in 1981, Hollingworth was brought up by his mother on the outskirts of Bradford. When a next injury put a stop to his passion for rugby, he discovered acting instead. He landed a spot with the National Youth Theatre, studied at Trinity College Dublin and eventually graduated from RADA in 2008. He has worked extensively on stage – The Deep Blue Sea as West Yorkshire Playhouse (now Leeds Playhouse), The Norman Conquests at Chichester Festival Theatre, Trouble in Mind at the National Theatre – but is best known as a character actor in TV series such as Poldark, The Crown, The Queen’s Gambit and Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Ironically, he says he often finds himself playing posh people.

“I grew up on benefits in Yorkshire and got an assisted place at Bradford Grammar School, which had a fairly metropolitan accent.” Hollingworth says. “Now, I make money playing posh guys. I think a lot of casting directors don’t even know I’m from Yorkshire.

“Reykjavik, which is playing at Hampstead Theatre in London until late November, is set in 1975 and is about a fishing trawler that is lost near the city. Some men survive. I play Donald Claxton, the hull owner who heads to Iceland to sort it all out. The play is written by Richard Bean, who is a master craftsman. It has a lot of funny stuff, but within a serious and moving structure. And it’s directed by Emily Burns, who is a generational directing talent at 33 years old. It also has a fantastic, incredible bunch of actors in it. It’s going to be great.”

 

Reykjavik plays the Main Stage from 18 October to 23 November.

 

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE

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