People, Places & Things Star Denise Gough on Nicole Kidman as Her Awards Rival, Her Olivier Speech Prep & Being the Toast of the Town

Irish actress Denise Gough has gone from comparative unknown to West End star on the back of her acclaimed performance as Emma, an actress battling addiction in Duncan Macmillan’s People, Places & Things, the National Theatre hit that transfers to Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End this week. A Best Actress nominee at the forthcoming Olivier Awards, Gough took time early one recent evening to talk about garnering advice from Imelda Staunton and going head-to-head in her category with Nicole Kidman.

This play—and part—have catapulted you to attention as has rarely happened in recent years.
The reviews [last September] were quite something; I had never experienced that before where this interest in you happens and all of a sudden you’re the toast of the town. And here I was having not worked for a year before [this play] thinking, “That’s it, I’ve got no money. I’m done.”

It’s been an amazing trajectory.
It absolutely has but part of me was also worried on the back of it that our play would somehow become a spectacle. The day the reviews came out, I met with Rufus [Norris, who runs the National Theater], who asked me if I was all right and I said, “I just want to continue to be honest.” There’s nothing worse than buying into the talk of being the toast of the town when it’s not about that, it’s about telling a story—and this is the most important story.

Did Duncan Macmillan write this part for you?
Not at all! They auditioned everybody—every one of my friends. I went back for a second audition where there were five of us, and they said that they just wanted to check that what we had done the first time wasn’t a fluke.

And in the end, you carried the day.
What was great was to have Duncan say that he didn’t realize in fact that he must have been writing the play for me. I have a thing in my career about feeling that certain characters find me, and that’s how it has felt here, not to mention that every now and then you find exactly the right people: [director] Jeremy [Herrin, of Broadway's Noises Off and Wolf Hall] and I are just going to work together forever.

How did you approach the challenge of playing a woman in near-total free fall?
I felt it was my responsibility to tell the truth. I’ve seen actresses play actresses who are addicts, and they could not have been more self-indulgent. The most valuable feedback came not from the press, though that was great, but from the addicts themselves. Before we opened at the National, one of the people from the local treatment center shouted out from the audience, “Good girl!” and I thought, that’s who I’m representing; that’s the story we’re telling.

Emma’s situation in the play suggests any number of parallels.
Have you seen the [Oscar-winning] Amy documentary [about Amy Winehouse]? I watched it again the other night, and oh my God, what we did to her and there she was trying to cope. Everyone is trying to cope.

Did you really seek advice from Imelda Staunton?
The brilliant thing about becoming shiny is that you get to request to talk with people. I had seen Imelda in Gypsy and thought that what she was doing was amazing and, in energy terms, just what I was doing. She had read my reviews and knew what I was up to, so we just spoke. We never met or anything, but it turned into a conversation about athleticism.

What did you take away from the chat?
Just that as a theater actor you’re in training and you have to maintain your health. I mean you don’t see [British Olympic athlete] Jessica Ennis out partying, though at the same time, it’s not lost on me as I talk to you that I have a slice of pizza in front of me.

What is the run-up to the Olivier Awards on April 3 like for you?
The funny thing is that at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards last year, nobody would dress me because nobody knew who I was. I just thought, “This is so icky. I have to ask someone to dress me?!” But now with the Oliviers, people are calling my agent and saying, “Would Denise like us to do this and that,” and I think, “Where were you three months ago?” It’s funny how the industry works on that level.

Do you have any sense of how it’s going to go on the night? [Gough’s competition includes Nicole Kidman, Lia Williams, and Gemma Arterton.]
Well, if I win and Nicole Kidman is there, I’m going to say, there’s no way I thought I would win because Nicole is here and see how that goes down. The thing is, you’ve got 40 seconds, so it all becomes a performance in itself. Maybe I’ll steal some forks.

Forty seconds is nothing.
I know, and there I’d be wanting to talk about gender parity and racial equality, because I’d want to talk about all the amazing black women this past year who haven’t been nominated, like Noma Dumezweni in Linda: I’m sorry but if she were a white actress, she’d have been up for an Olivier. So I’ve got a lot to fit in.

Is New York theater on your radar?
I would love this play to go there. Did you know there are something like 6000 AA meetings in New York? My dream has always been to do theater on or off-Broadway and I think if that were to happen on this play, my head would explode.

Sounds like a love affair waiting to happen.
Back in the day I was going to apply to Juilliard, but New York felt like too big a move to make when you’re broke and 19, so here I am in my 30s and I’ve never even been there! What I do know is that if and when I go, I might not come back!