Rising British Star Christian Cooke on Headlining Knives in Hens at London's Donmar, Being Paid in Burgers & More

The fast-rising English film and TV actor Christian Cooke was Dennis Quaid’s co-star in the recent series The Art of More and has even directed a short film, Edith, starring Michelle Fairley from Game of Thrones. Cook has of late turned his attentions to the stage, first at the Hampstead Theatre in Experience and now at the Donmar in Knives in Hens, a revival of David Harrower’s 1995 play that casts the Yorkshire-born actor as the intriguingly named Pony William. The charming Cooke talked names, and more, in conversation during rehearsals with Broadway.com.

Why your interest in the theater after such a good run on screens both large and small?
I think it’s just the way things have fallen out during the last few years. I hadn’t done theater since I was a teenager, so for me to have been able to do first the Hampstead and now the Donmar feels like a real privilege. Both these theaters are very intimate spaces, which means that we can really focus on the language. There are no big set changes: it's just the three of us [Cooke and co-stars Judith Roddy and Matt Ryan] up there.

What did you think when you were offered Knives in Hens?
When I first read it, I have to admit, “I’m not sure I get this; I don’t really know what it is.” But the play began to have a sort of mysterious hold over me, and I do think I get it now. I can’t believe it was written in 1995 because it seems like it’s from another era—like a Greek tragedy or whatever. On the surface, the dialogue can seem pedestrian and simple, but there’s so much going on beneath the surface.

What do you make of your character’s name: Pony William?
I just say William! Pony William is a nickname and is what he’s known as by certain people in the village, but it’s not something that would ever be said to his face. When I talk about him, it’s William.

What do you think of the process of making theater, after a decade or more working on screen?
Having four weeks or more to spend exploring language and text and each other in a rehearsal room—just the three of you and a director—is pretty alien compared to working in TV. In so much of the television work I’ve done, they just rehearse on set; it’s a visual process, whereas theater is very much an actor’s medium.

Did theater even seem a possibility when you were starting out?
I started acting when I was nine years old and also I didn’t go to drama school, so if you start as a child and you don’t properly train, it can be very hard to get in the door of theater. There’s still a bit of a prejudice against people who haven’t done theater and who haven’t trained on top of that. But, you know, it works both ways: there are a lot of theater actors who can’t get a foot in the door of TV and film. The way I see it, if you’re a good actor, you’re a good actor, and you can be good in both [mediums].

Are you getting the theater bug?
Definitely! I don’t understand people who don’t want to do theater unless they have left it so long that they can’t out of fear. I’m 30 next month and thought to myself, “F**king hell, I should be doing a play!” I’ve always known this was something I wanted as part of my career.

How did you start acting at such a young age?
My mum was just looking for that extracurricular thing for me and my brother to do, and my aunt had heard about this amateur dramatics place called Stage 84 [in Yorkshire] that did performing arts and speech and drama. We started doing productions with the school, and the lady that ran it sent us to auditions for TV and film—mainly things that were shot locally in Yorkshire, like soaps or whatever. So I got TV at an early age and thought then that I don’t want to do anything else. I had a kids’ TV show when I was 11.

Were you a child star?
If you have a kids’ show age 11 in America, all of a sudden you have 100 million followers, but I don’t think it’s quite like that in England. My first proper job when I was nine or 10 was a Birds Eye beef burger commercial, which is one of my all-time favorite things.

Did you get paid in burgers?
Yeah, exactly! The poor lad I did the advert with ended up eating like 70 burgers during the commercials—we were all put off by watching him.

Do you ever feel a permanent pull toward L.A. given the amount of work you have done Stateside?
I do go out a few times a year, and I have a lot of friends there. But I don’t think it’s somewhere at the moment that I would like to relocate to permanently. I’ve been in London now 10 years and just love it; I think it’s the best city in the world. And the beauty of the internet and self-taping and Skype is that you don’t have to based in one specific place these days: I can have as good a chance at a part in L.A. as the people who live there.

Do you feel you’re in a pretty good place for yourself as you approach 30?
Yeah, I guess so. I’ve had leaps of progress and moments of stagnation and other moments of fulfillment. My agents, particularly in America, have always told me that things will start to change for me in a positive way when I get into my 30s and 40s, so I’ve not got any issues with getting older. Let’s just see what life brings!