Carol Kane on Wicked Loyalty & Sharing the London Stage with Keira Knightley and Elisabeth Moss in The Children's Hour

The hottest ticket of this still-young London theater year is the director Ian Rickson’s scorching revival of The Children’s Hour, Lillian Hellman’s play about charges of lesbianism and the power of a lie at a 1930s New England boarding school. The Anglo-American is company headed by movie star Keira Knightley and Mad Men leading lady Elisabeth Moss, plus stage and screen veterans Ellen Burstyn and Carol Kane. (All three Americans are making their London stage debuts.) Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Kane, 58, who gives a scene-stealing turn as Moss’ daffy Aunt Lily, took time during her opening week at the Comedy Theatre to chat to Broadway.com about the play’s enduring power, playing Madame Morrible in Wicked, and swapping New York’s Upper West Side for the West End.

Congratulations on a formidable opening in The Children’s Hour. Did you know the play?
Thank you! I love Lillian Hellman and did know the play and, of course, had seen the movie [with Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn in 1961]. I always thought that to be in it would be a dream come true. I started working professionally when I was 14 and thought that I might play one of the girls, but here I am playing Aunt Lily [laughs].

I gather you got your start in a play about an altogether different group of schoolgirls.
That’s right, on an East Coast tour of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, starring Tammy Grimes, in which I played Jenny—the girl that Miss Brodie thinks is pretty. I got to wear a uniform, and now I’m on the other side!

What’s interesting about The Children’s Hour is the way in which a lie is seen to generate the truth.
What strikes me is that almost everybody in the play could have saved the day in one way or another if they had done something different: There are a million “what if”s in this play. At the same time, our director [Ian Rickson] worked very hard to give the opening scenes a lightness—to let the kids be kids—so that you at least start out with a degree of hope and take what happens from there. Ian is completely inspiring; I think we all felt ourselves to be his students.

Aunt Lily is a self-consciously extravagant figure, with her florid air and obviously assumed accent.
If you watch the movies from the 1930s, Bette Davis and most of the American actresses have a very theatrical sound to them, and all the big, famous names in fact sounded more English than the English—which is kind of fun for me to do in England! As Stella Adler [the legendary teacher of acting] used to say, “I’m not English, I’m just affected.” [Laughs.]

How well do you know London?
I’ve never done a play here, but I did two movies that I really enjoyed, Valentino, with Ken Russell, and The Princess Bride. But it’s been quite a long time since I was here, and I’m finding a lot of kindness. Not to mention the fact that I’m staying on Trafalgar Square [in the city center], so I can walk to work.

That must be noisy!
In New York, I live on the Upper West Side, which has plenty of people, too. The most difficult thing was and continues to be the fact that I’ve been unable to bring my dog, Dainty, who I’ve had for about three years. But I’ve really lucked out: She’s staying with friends of mine who are a young acting couple. I Skype them and they will frequently show me Dainty.

I love it! It’s interesting that you were nominated for an Oscar for Hester Street in 1975 when you were younger than Keira Knightley is now. Do you remember that night?
I remember it well, of course, because that was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I still watch the Oscars every year and root for my friends who have done beautiful work. But I have mixed feelings, as most actors do, about contests as to who is “best,” when it’s all so relative. Very often, I just don’t know how you can choose.

How has the acting profession changed since you were Keira and Elisabeth’s age?
I guess what’s different is that with the internet, everyone knows everything nowadays. We’re lucky on this play to have these two young women who are so extremely skilled and practised when, as we know, there are a lot of young women who are stars who haven’t had much experience.

You and Keira have somewhat of a history.
Yup! I played the mother in play written by Keira’s mother [Scottish playwright Sharman Macdonald], When I Was a Girl, I Used to Scream and Shout in Los Angeles [in 1999].

Did you do a Scottish accent?
Yes, sir. I thought it was quite good. At the time.

I noticed London’s first Madame Morrible, Miriam Margolyes, at the opening night of The Children’s Hour.
I know, wasn’t that nice? And she sent me a lovely e-mail! All the Morribles have hung out in New York: Miriam, me, Jayne Houdyshell. That was my first musical, and I loved doing it and would be so gratified to have a chance to go back into it.

Why not do it in London?
Well, I always have fun when I do it. I know they juggle a lot of people, but I’m not done with that role yet.