Rufus Wright on Playing a Hitchcock Hero in London's 39 Steps

The 39 Steps ranks as the West End’s longest currently running comedy, and Rufus Wright has just stepped into the leading role of stiff-upper-lipped hero Richard Hannay. This affectionate pastiche of the Hitchcock thriller (and its source novel by John Buchan) continues to draw enthusiastic audiences at London’s Criterion Theatre. Wright, a veteran of such Donmar productions as Frost/Nixon and Mary Stuart, had a nice, if brief, scene opposite Daniel Craig and Judi Dench in the most recent James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. The amiable actor took time one recent Saturday morning to talk about long runs, being (and playing) posh, and the pros and cons of growing a mustache.

You’re nearing the end of your first week in The 39 Steps. How is it going?
I’m pretty sore, actually [laughs]: bruises on my legs, sprains across my back. Being a Bulldog Drummond-style 1930s hero is a tiring business! What’s interesting is that the show is a tried and tested thing, so my job is not to mess it up.

And you don’t have to worry about the critics.
It’s a funny one, that. I’m not one of those actors who never reads reviews; I do sometimes cast an eye over them, and I was just saying to my wife that the job here is not so much about doing it well as it is about doing it correctly. You have creative freedom, but you’ve got to slot into a certain routine. On the other hand, it’s a hit West End show, and everyone loves it, so why not do the hell out of it and make people laugh?

Were you familiar with the play and the role?
I’d met Charlie [Edwards, the first Hannay in London and New York] and Bertie Portal; David Bark-Jones [Wright’s immediate predecessor in the role] very kindly left me a bottle of champagne with a book of John Buchan short stories. Funnily enough, I first saw the play with Charlie in it; I went with [Frost/Nixon colleague] Michael Sheen, who had been working with [former 39 Steps leading lady] Catherine McCormack, and we thought it was terrific, but no one knew it was going to run so long. I was 32 then, and Hannay is very specifically 37, so now I’m not far off the right age.

So the time was right.
Well, yes, except I didn’t know whether I was ready to commit to such a massive part: a huge physical commitment and a nine-month run, and an eight—sometimes nine—show week. We’ve got a seven-week-old baby, Jasper, and it’s been agony every day having to leave my poor wife [actress Melanie Gutteridge] behind.

On the other hand, Rufus Wright sounds the right name for an actor playing Richard Hannay!
[Laughs.] In fact, my name is Rufus Gerrard-Wright. My dad is a retired major-general, now 80, who spent 40 years in the army travelling around the world; I was born in Germany. But when you’re in your 20s as an actor, you think, “I’m going to change my name to make it less posh,” a bit more catchy, less of a mouthful. If you’re called Alphonse Horribilis von Polymath, you get one sort of role and if you’re called Danny Warren you get another, and what parts is an Alphonse going to play aside from the sinister landlord? What’s nice about this is that I look posh and I sound posh and I have decent posture and I move reasonably well, so this is exactly one of those roles where you think, “I can do this.”

Has playing Hannay required any physical transformations?
I’d had to grow a pencil mustache, so I’m not going to get a part in [popular UK police TV series] The Bill any time soon! I’m not naturally a particularly fit person, so this show is getting me fit—the stunts and ropes and climbing around, not to mention the physical exertion of speaking at that volume and at that level of intensity.

You’ve been on the West End in Frost/Nixon as former BBC director-general John Birt, and you understudied Michael Sheen as David Frost. Did you ever go on?
I did once, and had a wonderful time, though it was a terrifying, terrifying experience. I found out at two o’clock on the day that Michael’s grandmother was dying and so I was on—the only person who has ever played David Frost opposite Frank Langella besides Michael! After the show, Frank gave an embarrassing curtain speech saying [does deep-voiced Langella impersonation], “He’s made a better actor out of me.” It was quite a night.

What about your James Bond moment, in Quantum of Solace?
That was amazing, having two or three days and working on such a massive budget. My scene was with Daniel and Judi about 20 minutes in, playing a treasury agent who’s busy whizzing documents around and talking about money.

Was it intimidating?
Not really. Judi Dench was absolutely lovely—she’s an old pro. And Dan was charming, even though he wasn’t on set very long.

And here you are playing a hero of a different kind. The name’s Hannay—Richard Hannay.
Indeed! I think everybody likes a story about a hero, especially a tweedy hero [laughs]. And people have a natural resonance with what Peter Brook would call “poor theater,” where you think, “They haven’t got a car on stage and there are four chairs and an old lectern and a steering wheel and suddenly they’ve got a car.” It gets a round of applause every time.