The
News Shopper -
September 28th, 2003
Interview
with Christopher Cazenove
Hunky Christopher
Cazenove has set hearts a fluttering in women of a certain age for
years. Now he is appearing in a hit comedy as it leaves the West End
to tour the regions. He chats with Melanie Gomm ...
Handsome
housewives'-choice Christopher Cazenove has been delighting hoards
of female fans since the early-70s. And now the swoonsome Eton and
Oxford educated, classically-trained actor will perform alongside
the king of light entertainment, Les Dennis, and actor John Duttine
in the popular West End play, Art.
The threesome will
bring Art - a play about a trio of old friends discussing
relationships, life and a blank canvass - to the Orchard Theatre
as part of a 12-week national tour.
Cazenove and Dennis
met briefly about 10 years ago. They are seated together with
Duttine in the theatre foyer and the three of them have a believable
rapport.
"We get on
marvellously," said Cazenove, "and we all bring something
different of ourselves to the play." Art has been kicking around
the West End for six years now and numerous comedians, including
Jack Dee and Frank Skinner, have joined the production during that
time.
Cazenove denies this
has put him under extra pressure to deliver a top-notch performance
and says the play is still as fresh as its first night.
"There is just the
normal pressure really. It's always scary getting up there,
especially on first night. I do get stage fright - yes,
absolutely. I don't know a good actor who doesn't." Cazenove
first saw Art five years ago and has had his eye on a role ever
since.
"I and many of my
acting friends thought, why haven't they asked me because it is a
wonderful piece. I was thrilled when they came through and said
we're taking it on the road, do you want to do it?" The
Kennington-based star says the play's appeal for him lies in its
brilliant writing and its comedy.
"There is a lot of
thoughtful argument in there about what is art and what isn't but,
of course, the more important thing is about the nature of
friendship, what things can affect the way you interact with friends
and the way friendships can change with what happens in people's
lives." So did it make him reassess his own relationships with his
family and friends?
"Well, yeah for
about five minutes," he laughs.
Despite all this
talk of blank canvasses, Cazenove says he is a discriminating art
fan himself.
"I have got a lot
of paintings and I go to art galleries. I went to Tate Modern
recently but I don't think I'd ever buy a white painting. Seeing
a pile of bricks on the floor is a bit too extreme too but, on the
other hand, I believe art is anything which makes us rethink things.
A pile of bricks could make you look at a building in a slightly
different way. Shock value is important too." Cazenove famously
appeared in the cult 80s' drama Dynasty as Ben Carrington, the
delectable but evil brother of Blake. He tried to steal back the
Carrington family inheritance but, after sordid affairs, a potential
love child and an explosion, he left the series in 1987.
There were certainly
plenty of madcap storylines. What was Cazenove's favourite?
"I can't
remember," he says with frustration. "I understand why people
ask me but it is such a long time ago now.
"It was such a
phenomena around the world, it was just incredible, so it is
inevitable people ask and talk about it. I'm hoping I will get a
job eventually which overshadows it," he laughs.
Ever since the navy
rejected him and Cazenove turned his back on a career in the
family's successful stockbroking business to be an actor, he has
struggled to avoid being type-cast.
After his stint in
the states, Cazenove returned to the British theatre. It was a
deliberate move.
"I got back to the
theatre. I hadn't done it for nine years. I did it consciously. I
thought it was time I got back to the stage but then I got into a
theatre loop.
"Once you are back
in this world more jobs come up. I thought I'd better stop this
cycle but every so often something comes up you really want to do,
like this one, and I just can't resist it." The versatile actor
has recently appeared in a variety of roles including A Knight's
Tale and Judge John Deed for British TV.
But after spending
so much time in the bosom of our American cousins, does he have a
particular love for all things yanky?
"Yeah, I love
America. I still keep a house in LA to get a green card." So, to
the most important question of all, when can us ladies expect to see
the sexy star on our screens next?
"I don't know, I
have no idea," he says.
Now that is a real
shame.
You can see
Christopher Cazenove in Art at the Orchard Theatre, Home Gardens,
Dartford, Sept 29- Oct 4, 7.45pm, mat Weds & Sat 2.30pm, Ł20.50-Ł10.50,
01322 220000
By
Melanie Gomm |
