In Lucas Hnath’s playHillary and Clinton, audience members are challenged to see an iconic political pair anew.
“We don’t look like them.
We’re not trying to be them.”
Credit: Julieta Cervantes
How can audiences leave their personal feelings at the door?
“Everybody has their opinions about them,” Metcalf admits, andHillary and Clintoncertainly skirts familiar territory.
At its heart,Hillary and Clintonexplores a marriage, and Metcalf feels a responsibility to get that right.
EW caught up with the actress just as previews were getting underway.
Read on below.Hillary and Clintonopens April 16 at the John Golden Theatre.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve just started previews.
How’s it going so far?
LAURIE METCALF:It’s been really informative.
They tell us so much, like with any show.
With this one, it’s been crucial to find out where each laugh is.
We’re still in a learning process on it.
I hope to find out even more in the next few days.
So let’s get right into that: people’s feelings about the Clintons.
Given everything, the title alone is fairly provocative.
What kind of story about Bill and Hillary are you hoping to tell?
They seemed fine to go with the flow with us on the fact that we’re not imitating them.
We don’t look like them.
We’re not trying to be them.
So what’s the dynamic you’re keying into, exactly?
But we’ll never know.
It’s funny, it’s hard to talk about.
We don’t know them; we know certain things about them.
Everybody has their opinions about them.
The bond that they must have because of that shared history is really strong.
It has to be.
There are no other people that have been through what they’ve been through.
So how have you decided to approach the character, given how much of a public figure she is?
That has been freeing.
That we can put our own spin on what we think the characters may or may not be like.
Do you feel pressure?
I feel a responsibility.
What I want to capture is an essence of the character and the marriage.
At the end of the play, I feel a real connection with the both of them.
I think that is working.
I think that’s coming through.
That there’s an empathy with them at the end of the play.
You say you feel connected to them.
What about them, specifically?
There’s betrayal, obviously, which is fun to play.
And hurt from betrayal.
There’s expectations that are not met in a marriage.
And then there’s what’s really fun to play, which is the humor.
The things they say to each other that I find really shocking.
Lucas has a way with, of course, being very unpredictable.
And I’m really enjoying the playing humor of it.
I’m such a fan of Lucas'.
There’s nothing in the play that we don’t remember happening or them going through.
But again, I might be talking out of my ass [Laughs].
This was rewritten in the haze of 2016, of course.
How does the feeling of the play change, for you?
What emotion is it leaving you with?
It’s very melancholy.
