Michael Pennington: How Dame Judi Dench persuaded me to tread the boards

It seems that even the most famous of actors sometimes have to audition for the parts that they really covet. Take Michael Pennington who recalls a time, not so long ago, when he was asked to meet Robert De Niro.

“My agent managed to get me an interview with the great man,” he recalls with a grin, “and I opened up the script to find that it was one of those characters who never finished a sentence. I gave it my very best shot, but in the end it went to Michael Gambon. There must have been something about his delivery that was in every way superior to mine.

“And the point of this story, as I tell every young actor who even cares to listen, is that you have to be prepared not to get some parts. That you are not everyone’s cup of tea.”

Michael, who turns 73 next month, is one of Britain’s finest actors. Through choice, much of his work has been on stage and he is currently touring the UK in the title role of a much-lauded and critically acclaimed production of King Lear. When it arrives at the Grand Opera House in York next week, Michael and the rest of the company will be about halfway through their travels.

“I shall probably be bankrupt by the time I finish, because I am treating myself and staying in some nice places,” he says with a chuckle. “I was rather foolish last month. On the weekend of the Bard’s birthday we were at the Derngate Theatre in Northampton and not so far away there’s this place called Abington Park, where Shakespeare’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Hall, lived.

“There’s a bit of a tradition that an actor is invited to plant a mulberry tree in the great man’s memory. The first one was planted by David Garrick, the second by Sir Laurence Olivier, and the third one was, well, me. So instead of having a bit of shut-eye and a cup of tea, I found myself planting a tree at 6.15pm, and making what I hoped was a gracious speech in honour of the playwright.

“The only thing was, when I got back to the theatre for the evening’s performance, I realised how much I depend on that short rest and that welcoming cuppa. However, once I’m on the stage the tiredness disappears and I find Lear completely exhilarating.”

While written in the 16th century, Michael believes that of all Shakespeare’s plays Lear has particular resonance with modern audiences.

“It is like a great piece of music-making. Perhaps some come along thinking that they are going to have to endure a marathon, but the dementia theme, for one, is particularly powerful. That touches a lot of people. And then there’s the themes of rejection and loss.

“Oh dear, I’m making it sound very gloomy, aren’t I? But it isn’t – there are the comic moments. People tend to forget those.”

In his long career – Pennington was born in Cambridge, joined the National Youth Theatre in his teens – he has been a much-valued member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. An actor manager, he co-founded the English Shakespeare Company, which toured for two years in 17 venues in the UK and as a writer he has several books to his name. He’s also performed opposite some of the best actors in the world, including Meryl Streep and John Gielgud, and was the Death Star commander in Return of the Jedi, which surely must earn him a question in the quiz show Pointless someday soon. However, it’s theatre and touring which still gives him the biggest buzz.

“It gives people the opportunity to see good plays, well-staged, at sensible prices. I shudder when I look at how much people are paying at the West End box office, but I want to shout for joy when I see the quality of work that regional theatres are doing. I’ve loved every second of the times I’ve been to the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Crucible. Brilliant places, and long may they thrive.

“Touring has been part of the British theatrical tradition for hundreds of years, and it’s like an ancient call to arms for me. Would I think about reviving the ESC? No. Don’t get me wrong – I’m very glad that Michael (the director Michael Bogdanov) and I did it and that we were as successful as we were, but that time has passed.

“I think that we got the balance about right, but the hardest thing for me wasn’t the acting, it was of being ‘him in charge’ when Michael was away doing something else. I was not only an acting colleague, but I was also the boss, and therefore I had to adjudicate when things occasionally went awry. Whenever these little disputes arose, I used to long for Michael to turn up and just to put his foot down. He has enormous resilience, and he rolls with the punches. I on the other hand discovered during that time that I am first and foremost an actor and not much of a diplomat. I admire Kenneth Branagh’s ability to be able to be both an actor and in charge of a company, but it didn’t work for me.”

Pennington has played most of Shakespeare’s leading men, but he admits the slog of learning a role doesn’t get any easier.

“I read my lines at night. Over and over again, bit by bit. I think that they tend to lodge in my brain that way, and I can summon them back up when I awake. It works for me, maybe not for others. And I listen a lot to the as I play them back at me when I’m driving. I am, touch wood, fine with my memory, but everyone has their own little ways. Once upon a time, a bottle of decent wine might have helped – but not any more.”

One of his best friends is Dame Judi Dench. They first met at Stratford, coincidentally, in a starry production of King Lear, but prior to that it was one of her early performances which persuaded him to tread the boards.

“I first saw her when I was a schoolboy, in London, when she played Ophelia in Hamlet. And she was magic even then. If any one performance persuaded me that I had to be an actor, it was that one. I think that we do have something in common – and it is that we both know that our profession is inherently daft. I mean, we put on a costume and, for several hours, we pretend to be someone else. How can you rationalise that?”

He doesn’t keep a diary (although he is thinking that he might well start one) but he has set down a lot of insights and personal thoughts on his career and on acting in general in the wonderful Let Me Play the Lion Too: How to be an actor.

Pared down, what advice does he give?

“Develop a thick skin, learn to be rejected with grace, be self-deprecating, and make sure that you have a sense of humour. And then one hopes, you will survive. When someone else gets the part that you yearned for, don’t get jealous. Or upset, or unhappy. That will just eat you up from within. You can smell jealousy on an actor, you know….”

King Lear, Grand Opera House, York, May 23 to 28. For tickets call the box office on 01904 678705, atgtickets.co.uk