When the late Billie Whitelaw once asked playwright Samuel Beckett where she should focus her attention during rehearsals, his advice was stark: look inwards.
Hearing this anecdote, Billie Piper, the Olivier-winning actor and former pop star, erupts with a raucous, genuine laugh, calling the sentiment perfectly accurate. Another Billie – the teen pop star turned Doctor Who companion and Olivier award-winning powerhouse Billie Piper – lets out a laugh so raucous and expansive, it is as if a flock of gaily coloured birds has been released into the room, flapping and squawking in every corner. “Fuck, that’s awesome,” she says, hearing this story. With enormous eager eyes, an animated expression and a hunger for stories, and Piper is full of vitality.
It is mid-morning in a London hotel suite, and the 44-year-old actor, draped in a gold-and-silver striped dress, seems remarkably composed despite the chaotic environment of a major three-day promotional tour for her latest film, the Oscar-tipped drama Elsinore. A big three-day press junket is under way to promote her new movie – the Oscar-tipped British tearjerker Elsinore – with assorted PRs, journalists and influencers bustling back and forth along endless corridors, on the other side of the door.
Piper admits that her stage career has functioned as a vital tool for processing her own personal crises. This candid revelation aligns with the themes of Elsinore, a film centered on the final months of actor Ian Charleson. Best known for his breakout role in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, Charleson took on the monumental challenge of playing Hamlet at the National Theatre in the autumn of 1989, even while struggling with the advanced stages of AIDS. He passed away in January 1990, just seven weeks after his closing performance. Which I recount to her after she makes a startling admission: that her stage acting has always been a means of processing personal struggles, hence her reaction to the Beckett anecdote. In Elsinore, we see Pollock making soup for her chum, offering morsels of tittle-tattle as if they were mugs of Lemsip, and generally cheering on his mission to turn a personal reckoning with mortality into a courageous rendering of the tortured prince. And she saw an acting potential in him that other people in the industry were maybe missing slightly. He also played Hamlet in 2017. According to did Piper see that acclaimed production? “I didn’t,” she, Guiltily. Aligned in a sisterly way, is not strictly true, such as? “This idea that women are always looking out for each other now. Do people need to keep announcing these things.
In the film, Piper portrays Charleson’s close friend, and she jokes that the role’s opening line—demanding strong liquor—was what ultimately convinced her to join the project. She plays the character Patsy Pollock, who worked on iconic films ranging from the 1970s mind-bender Performance to Chicken Run. The film offers a nuanced look at the bond between Pollock and Charleson, showing her supporting his intense, often painful quest to transform his impending death into a powerful artistic statement. Piper, who was Scott’s wife in Lena Dunham’s medieval romp Catherine Called Birdy, dons a bouncy blond wig to play Charleson’s best friend, the casting director Patsy Pollock. In fact, was on the trippy 1970’s mind-bender Performance, which – small world! – starred James Fox, pollock’s first credit. That is, from her marriage to his son, the actor and Reclaim party leader Laurence Fox, who received 347 votes in the recent Clacton byelection, piper’s former father-in-law.
Reflecting on their relationship, Piper describes them as kindred spirits who shared a deep, playful connection. Pollock was a single mother, and Charleson played an integral role in raising her daughter, Alice. However, when asked about how closely the real Pollock wanted to be involved in the film, Piper acknowledges that revisiting such personal history is rarely easy, noting a certain hesitation in speaking for someone else. However, in Piper’s immediate orbit, at least once her laughter has died down. “Earthed” was one of four words used by Russell T Davies to describe Piper when she played the indefatigable Rose in his Doctor Who reboot in 2005 – the others were “primal”, “beautiful” and “clever” – and within seconds of meeting her today, it is clear what he meant, all is strikingly calm. There is instant intimacy (“Have we met before?”) and informality (“Sorry, I’ve got tea on my hands”) but, unusually, no publicist with her to monitor what is asked and how it is answered. But she has seen the film and apparently enjoyed the …” It takes a few seconds for her to say the next word – “performances” – which might indicate wariness about speaking on someone else’s behalf or modesty (perhaps Pollock commended the portrayal of her, and Piper is reluctant to brag). In one scene, she refuses to be sent away simply because he has found a Kaposi’s sarcoma lesion on his face: “If you think I’m the sort of person who’d never kick a door down,” she bellows through the letterbox, “then you haven’t been paying attention, darling.”. But there are still bad apples, you feel more supported.
The film also touches on the pressure Charleson faced from public figures like Derek Jarman to be more transparent about his sexuality. When asked if the industry has evolved since that era, Piper expresses skepticism. While acknowledging the importance of movements like #MeToo, she questions how much real change has occurred, suggesting that in some respects, the industry has become even more difficult. She describes the environment as a bloodsport where women are frequently pitted against one another. Is the situation different today? “Whether it’s people coming out or #MeToo stuff, I don’t know how much has really changed.
Piper, who has previously received high praise for her performances in Lucy Prebble’s The Effect and Richard Bean’s comedy Great Britain, remains vigilant against pretense. She admits to struggling with social media, explaining that she maintains a cautious presence because she believes there is value in remaining somewhat unknowable. She finds that maintaining boundaries is essential in a digital age that demands constant availability.
The conversation inevitably turns to the acclaim surrounding Elsinore, with co-star Andrew Scott widely tipped for a clean sweep of best actor awards, including a potential Oscar. Piper, having previously demonstrated her dramatic range as the lead in a 2016 revival of Yerma, also remains a strong contender. Her work in Yerma, which reimagined Lorca’s protagonist as a modern woman navigating personal heartbreak inside a giant stage box, was described as a cyclone of emotional intensity. Staged by her Elsinore director Simon Stone, while Scott has two Oliviers to, both are acting heavyweights: Piper won an Olivier award for playing the lead in an electrifying 2016 update of Federico García Lorca’s Yerma.
Despite her success, Piper clarifies that she does not spend her time fantasizing about taking on Hamlet. While she has considered roles like Lady Macbeth in the past, she insists that any such undertaking would require a radical, fresh interpretation. Throughout the interview, her self-policing nature is clear; she consistently rejects anything she perceives as bogus or overly indulgent, preferring to ground her craft in the raw, personal reality that Beckett once championed.
