IR Interview: Tamsin Greig For “The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin” [Apple TV+]

The Inside Reel

Actress Tamsin GreIg talks to The Inside Reel about tone, subtext, notes and performance in regards to her new comedy series: “The Completely Made-Up Adventures Of Dick Turpin” on Apple TV+.

Transcript

00:00 [music playing]

00:03 [music playing]

00:06 [music playing]

00:09 [music playing]

00:12 [music playing]

00:13 [screaming]

00:14 [music playing]

00:17 [screaming]

00:18 [music playing]

00:21 Going to be famous.

00:23 Dick Turpin!

00:24 Dick Turpin.

00:25 Dick Turpin.

00:26 Dick Turpin.

00:27 Dick Turpin.

00:29 I want this dick in my hands as soon as possible.

00:32 [laughs]

00:33 That sounds weird.

00:34 Yeah, that did sound a bit weird.

00:35 Sorry.

00:36 [music playing]

00:39 Tone in any piece is so important.

00:42 And it's interesting because your character

00:44 plays all different sides of tone,

00:46 whether it be sort of the fun, the comedy, the heart,

00:49 the dramatic, the dread.

00:51 Could you talk about seeing those different facets of her

00:54 and sort of finding the right sort of notes

00:56 in order to do that?

00:57 I think that I have a kind of am I bored filter.

01:01 So if I'm playing a character and it's the same note,

01:04 you know, I don't think I'd do well in an orchestra

01:06 playing the bassoon.

01:07 Do you know what I mean?

01:08 Because you're playing--

01:09 Yeah, I get you.

01:10 [humming]

01:11 Do you know what I mean?

01:12 So I have quite a low boredom threshold for tone for myself.

01:17 So I think that I'm constantly trying

01:19 to surprise myself about what is also possible,

01:24 but also surprising.

01:26 [music playing]

01:27 [screaming]

01:30 You've probably heard of him.

01:31 Dick Turpin, new leader of the Essex gang.

01:33 Highwayman murder and rob.

01:35 You're not a highwayman, Dick.

01:36 I've got this.

01:37 We strike on three.

01:39 One, two--

01:40 We'll get the next one.

01:44 Now, do you have to understand within this context

01:47 of the Turpin universe, the motivations of the character?

01:49 Because she has so many different motivations

01:51 for her daughter, for her life, for her business.

01:55 You know, and I love how, like, I think

01:57 there's one scene in, like, a boarding room

02:00 where you switch the notes mid-scene, which

02:04 is really neat to do.

02:05 Could you sort of talk about that?

02:06 Is that about knowing what the other actor is doing,

02:09 in that case, like Ellie, or playing to different things?

02:12 Can you sort of talk about that process, if you don't mind?

02:16 I think that the element of surprise

02:22 has great traction and currency within a show like this.

02:26 Comedy is really about deception.

02:28 It's about sleight of hand and leading an audience

02:31 down a particular track, and then they're surprised

02:34 where they find themselves.

02:36 But you're trying to do that without giving it away.

02:39 So it's often about contradiction.

02:41 So you can do all of that work on your own as a performer.

02:44 You're reading a script and learning it

02:45 and seeing what's possible within the script that you have

02:48 and the character notes that you have for yourself.

02:51 But then you're in the company of other brilliant performers.

02:55 And that, then, it's the interplay between the two things.

02:58 And then you get surprised and inspired and sidetracked

03:02 and tripped over by other performers,

03:04 and that's when the magic happens.

03:06 Now, it appears that one of our coaches,

03:09 full of stolen gold, was...

03:12 stolen.

03:13 That's not supposed to happen now, is it?

03:16 This is unacceptable.

03:18 Which of you cretinous pillocks allowed this to happen?

03:20 Well, you did.

03:22 What? Really?

03:24 The robbery occurred in Hempstead,

03:26 which I believe is your turf.

03:28 But there's also different scenes

03:30 where it's as much as what's said between the lines,

03:32 which is true in drama as well,

03:34 but, like, I think you're walking with Noel at one point as Dick,

03:38 and you can see her being sort of not immune to his flirting

03:42 but still knowing what he's doing

03:44 and still having her own angle.

03:46 Can you talk about finding sort of that white element,

03:49 that white noise between the lines

03:51 that, you know, gives so much to a performance?

03:53 And I was telling Noel about this as well,

03:55 because he does it with Dick as well.

03:57 Yeah, it's really wonderful to have that...

04:02 be given that freedom to play between the words.

04:06 You know, it's like a musician playing between the notes.

04:10 You know, that...

04:12 Like the breath between each communication.

04:18 You know, that's where you reside as a performer,

04:21 as an individual, that you're bringing something unique.

04:24 And it's how you inhabit that space,

04:27 which is really thrilling, to be given that space,

04:31 and then to see what comes back when you give that.

04:36 There were certain gestures that I would use with him,

04:39 because she's a child who's pretending to be flirtatious.

04:42 I don't think she really knows what it means to be flirtatious,

04:45 but she's sort of pretending it,

04:47 and he finds it attractive but excruciating.

04:52 And, you know, that's delightful to play with as well.

04:56 So, yeah, it's very inventive in the moment.

05:00 Jonathan, the Syndicate had you appointed Thief-Taker

05:03 to secure safe passage for our smuggled cargo, remember?

05:06 If you're not up to the task, perhaps you need replacing.

05:14 So, you have 24 hours to find the gold, and there's responsible.

05:18 Otherwise...

05:20 The aspect of vernacular, because the thing is,

05:24 is that the one thing about the show is that it exists in modern language

05:27 and in antiquity, and yet some of the slang sort of plays in between.

05:31 Can you talk about sort of the pentameter almost of that,

05:34 and how that timing has to be correct in order for this to work as well?

05:40 Yeah, I think, again, it's the clash of anachronism.

05:44 You know, that you have a historical...

05:46 We don't know how people spoke in that time,

05:48 and, you know, it's mostly invented, but we do know how people speak now.

05:52 But when you clash those two elements together,

05:55 then you've got... There are firecracker moments.

05:57 So, you couldn't do it probably in a drama,

06:02 or it would feel elbowed in,

06:05 but you can probably do it in something where there's a wilder element to it,

06:11 and that's really pleasing, really pleasurable.

06:15 Yeah.

06:16 There's only one man brainless enough to steal from the syndicate.

06:20 Thank you, Dick. I don't know what we'd do without you.

06:24 (SCREAMING)

06:26 (SCREAMING)

06:28 (SCREAMING)

06:30 (SCREAMING)

06:32 ♪♪

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