Alexander Hanson on Telling Lies in London's The Truth, Loving Bernadette Peters & the Strain of Not Singing

French writer Florian Zeller has proven to be catnip for actors, with Kenneth Cranham and Frank Langella winning an Olivier and a Tony Award, respectively, for The Father and Gina McKee garnering raves in London in The Mother. Now comes musicals veteran Alexander Hanson (Stephen Ward, A Little Night Music) with his furiously funny performance in a non-singing role in Zeller’s latest, The Truth, which recently transferred to Wyndham’s Theatre after a sold-out run at the Menier earlier this year. The charming and versatile actor chatted with Broadway.com on topics ranging from the comedy of infidelity to Bernadette Peters.

Congrats on this transfer, which among other things is keeping playwright Florian Zeller in the public eye in London.
We were just thrilled!  There had been a lot of talk about a transfer over the course of the run, but it was a question of selling it. It looked as if it had all gone away, and then at the last minute this came along. We are absolutely delighted.

Your show is following where Audra McDonald was supposed to have led this summer in Lady Day—until she got pregnant.
I just don’t sing quite as well.

Speaking of singing, how does it feel to be in a non-musical role?
It’s actually different with musicals because you can be quite quiet on a microphone, but this play, I have to say, is really draining. I’m on stage the whole time, so whereas normally in a show you would come off stage and have a glass of water, with this if you need a pee you’re not going to get one. Also, I do a fair bit of shouting.

So there’s no music by way of support?
Exactly right. One forgets with musicals that the music does a fair bit of the work for you. And the emotional rollercoaster I go through on this is far harder than any musical I’ve done.

What I love about The Truth is how labyrinthine the plot is: as the lies and deception accumulate, soon you don’t know which of the four characters—if any—are telling the truth.
It just gets ever more ridiculous, in the most wonderful way. It was a nightmare as you can imagine to learn because my character, Michel, is lying all the time so it’s a question of how you play that. You have to play it as if it’s the truth and yet somehow keep inside yourself the fact that it’s a lie: in this one, every line almost is a lie.

I felt at the Menier as if you could feel the audience tensing up, as if to say, we’ve all been there.
It’s because we have. We certainly get a fair bit of commentary from stage managers or people watching the audience walk out who are going, “I wonder if he’s f**king somebody” or “Is she having an affair?”

What do you make of Michel as a person?
I actually asked my wife [Tony-nominated actress Samantha Bond] what she thought because sometimes it’s easier for people on the outside to see it. I think she nailed it when she described Michel as a man who likes to compartmentalize his life. He’s having an affair with his best friend’s wife, but it’s once a week in the same hotel room at the same time and he’s got it all worked out when suddenly he doesn’t and he loses control.

On the face of it, this play doesn’t seem possible coming from the author of The Father because it is so different.
I had seen The Father and thought it was really cleverly constructed but that didn’t prepare me for The Truth, which took me by surprise. What’s tantalizing is that Florian [Zeller] has written a companion piece to this called The Lie which [English-language translator] Christopher Hampton says is even better.

Florian is such a versatile writer—and so young!
I know, almost 37, and he’s a terrific guy—good-looking and charming and bright and political. He makes you sick, really.

Do you think the play makes a conscious nod to Harold Pinter’s contemporary classic, Betrayal?
There’s a specific homage in this to Pinter, especially in the scenes in The Truth between the two men. Betrayal is Florian’s favorite play, and Robert Portal who is appearing with me absolutely adores Pinter and Betrayal as I do and is spotting various echoes all the time.

It must be great to find yourself appearing up the street from your son, Tom, who is playing Paris in the Kenneth Branagh/Rob Ashford co-production of Romeo and Juliet.
I know, it’s lovely, just lovely. We actually appeared together last year in a play at the Park Theatre [The Gathered Leaves] and he was terrific; he’s a cracking actor. But when my show comes down at 9:30, his still has an hour to go.

Maybe you can sneak into the back of the Garrick Theatre and watch?
I think he’d probably want me to get to the pub and make sure I’ve got a few pints lined up! I must say, Tom seems to like having me around, but I sometimes wonder whether it’s me or my credit card.

Did you catch your Little Night Music co-star Bernadette Peters in concert in London at the start of June?
I did. It was the first time I’d seen her since we worked together, and I have to tell you that concert was unbelievable, absolutely stunning. Any singer worth their salt should study what she does with those songs.

And how great she always looks.
She’s clearly eating the right food! And you know what? She’s just a complete honey—as sexy as anything.

What’s next after this?
We finish in September—God willing we last that long—and afterwards I’m off to do 42nd Street at the Châtelet in Paris, with Ria Jones [Glenn Close’s recent standby in Sunset Boulevard] as Dorothy Brock.

That sounds fun.
Oh, it will be. I lived there for a year when I left school before I was an actor and was going to go and do hotel and catering work, and I just love it, so this is a great opportunity for me to revisit my old haunts. And thankfully, the show is in English.