'Equus' actress Anna Camp

The production of Equus that is currently on Broadway has taken the theatre community by storm. Yes, it marks Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe's Broadway debut, but the real marvel is that he is ostensibly the best part of the production—and, with Richard Griffiths as a costar, that really is saying something. However, these two stars are surrounded by a supporting cast that is extremely impressive in its own right, among which is Anna Camp, the talented young actress who plays Jill Mason. Jill is a stablehand and coworker of troubled teenager Alan Strang (Radcliffe), and she serves as the catalyst when she asks him on a date one night and they end up back at the stables with the intent of having sex: Alan is unable to perform in the presence of the horses, whom he worships as gods, and this triggers the traumatic breakdown that causes him to blind every horse at the stables. Anna Camp and I speak about her role, the play, and further topics. Enjoy.

How did you get involved with this production of Equus?
My agent called and said that there was going to be an audition, and I’ve been a little bit familiar with the script since high school but I reread it and went into the audition and then got a callback the same day, and I went to the callback I guess the following week and then found out that day that I got the part!

Oh, wow, that happened quick.
Yeah, it happened very very quick. Everybody asks me, “Were there lots of callbacks?” and actually there was only one! The director [Thea Sharrock] said she knew when I came in that she wanted me, so that’s a big compliment.

Well, that’s great! And you’ve been in productions on Broadway before, am I right?
Yeah, I just had my Broadway debut in The Country Girl last… February, actually.

How is Equus different from other experiences you’ve had onstage? I mean—maybe I should take that back; there are a lot of ways you could answer that!
[laughter]

Okay, as a play, not regarding the fact that you get naked or that you’re starring opposite Daniel Radcliffe, but as a play, how is it different from other pieces you have performed onstage?
Well, [my character, Jill, is] British. And it’s a beautiful play because it takes place on different levels. It’s a memory play, and all my scenes are in Alan’s memory. There’s now, where Richard Griffiths, as Dysart, is talking to the audience and telling the story, and everything beyond that is a memory. So it’s balancing that and knowing that I’m the character that triggers the horrible event that happens in the story, which is why the play exists, you know? I am the catalyst in this exciting and pivotal scene, and it’s incredibly challenging for lots of reasons.

You know, it’s interesting that you say you’re the catalyst, because I was about to mention that. It’s such an intense play, and in a way your character is almost completely removed from the tragic event. I mean, you were there, and you caused it. But, both psychologically and in terms of helping Alan figure out what’s going on in his head, you have nothing to do with it, and yet it all happens because of you.
Exactly, exactly! It’s such a weird—because I’m sort of a positive, light character, hoping to wake him up and figure out who he is, and I’m interested in him because I see that he is curious about horses, but I have no idea how far his fascination and love of these horses goes. [laughs] I have no idea at all. I love playing the part because she really has no idea and just discovers in that moment, just feeling so vulnerable, because of the nudity and also because she’s being attacked like that [when Alan chases her out of the stable with an ice pick], for no reason that she can possibly think of that she did anything wrong. It’s such a challenging and pivotal scene to play.

You mentioned that she’s trying to find out more about him and also trying to help him find out more about himself, because she can tell that he’s really shy—
Yeah, she can see that he’s really shy, and she can tell that he has no friends and that he just comes and doesn’t talk much and he just works, and she’s also there all the time, working, and it’s a small town and there’s not much to do, and she becomes curious as to who this guy is and if she can maybe make him smile and laugh, because Jill doesn’t really take anything in life too-too seriously, you know? She knows to laugh at life, and there’s a part in the play where I talk about my family and home life, how my dad left my mom, and she’s learned to shrug off lots of things in life that you can potentially become obsessed with. She’s learned how to move on and smile and keep laughing. And I think she wants to share that with Alan because she senses his sadness and darkness, especially when she’s at the movie theatre with his dad and he finally sees his dad react the way that he does to being caught at a porno, and she’s really just like, “It’s no big deal! Let’s just laugh and have a good time!” She really just wants him to shrug off those things.

Well, what I wanted to say is that in trying to open him up and even have him find out more about himself, because he’s so pulled into himself, you can almost say that she’s trying to do the same thing as Dysart, only in a non-professional capacity and before the incident.
Right. So are you saying she’s sort of unknowingly trying to be a therapist to him?

Kind of, yeah.
Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, and if only he had opened up he maybe wouldn’t have gone at the horses' eyes. He would have laughed it off and learned to talk through it with Jill, and it’s such a sad thing because there are so many what-ifs in this play: if only he had listened, if only he had communicated and talked with her, and if only the parents communicated and talked better with each other. There are so many—“if only this had happened, then maybe this terrible incident wouldn’t have occurred.”

You keep bringing up points I want to ask you about before I get to ask you about them!
Oh, really! [laughs]

After that, I was going to say, “There are so many what-ifs in this play!” and then you came in and—
Oh, wow!

We’re on the same wavelength, I guess.
Oh, good! Good, good, good, I’m glad.

Another thing about Jill: you’ve mentioned elsewhere, and it’s true, that she’s very open about her sexuality, so in the usual sense of the word you wouldn’t think to call her innocent but that’s really what she is in the context of this play. She’s innocent.
Yeah! Oh, yeah, she’s completely innocent. And she doesn’t really know that she’s going to ask Alan out; she has no idea that they’re going to end up at the stables that evening. It’s not in her plan. She’s not, like, “I’m gonna go out with him and we’re gonna have sex.” It’s not even remotely like that. She just sort of learns a lot more about him and sees that—she’s not in love with him in any way. She just wants to share something with him, you know, to share something beautiful, because she sees there’s so much darkness and repression [in his life]. She’s not meaning anything malicious or salacious like that, you know, and she just plays it as it comes, and it’s great for me as an actor, because when I can just experience things as they come, in the moment, without having any plan, it really keeps me in the moment.

Well, if we were to go back to the what-ifs, it’s really interesting to wonder about the incident in the stable where Alan blinds the horses. I mean, she didn’t even witness it, all she was there for was him threatening her with an ice pick, but it’s kind of interesting to wonder how the incident affected Jill.
Oh my god, yeah, yeah. She must have had a nervous breakdown. She runs out being attacked and in the most vulnerable state a person could be in, and she’s alone out there in the country, and she hears the next morning that he blinded all her horses! She doesn’t realize how deep-rooted his fascination is with them, so she feels incredible guilt knowing that she pressured him into doing something that was the cause of this incredible, violent act. Just to think about her hearing in the morning what happened, it’s just this incredible guilt, because she’s a very thoughtful person and a very sensitive person and was only trying to do good.

Right, and it’s not going to have the same repercussions for her as for Alan but she’s still not going to be able to just walk away from this and go on with her life.
No, no, everyone in the story is going to be completely affected by Alan’s story.

Yes, and she’s really the only major character that we don’t get to follow up with after he blinds the horses.
Yeah, she’s just the memory. There are no present scenes where she comes in and talks to Dysart.

Right.
Yeah, she’s just the one that gets caught up in it, and he doesn’t even want to talk about her, and it takes so long for Dysart to get him. It takes the fake truth drug to get him to open up and talk about her because he doesn’t want to go there, for so many reasons. Yeah, I can imagine that she’s going to always carry this with her for a really long time. It’s fascinating. She should have her own play! [laughs]

Yeah, I’ve gotta say, I wonder why Dysart never called her in to speak with her. You’d think that he would want to talk to the catalyst.
Right, right. I guess we’d have to ask [the playwright] Peter Schaffer about that one.

That one’s up in the air!
[laughs] It is. It’s definitely up in the air. But I guess he never really finds out until the end that she was the catalyst. He suspects it all the time, and then finally at the end [Alan] has his breakthrough and tells him, I guess. He knows why, and maybe he doesn’t need to even see her.

Right, that’s true. And then at the end he has his final monologue, which concerns the fact that Alan is deeply troubled to the point where he’s even a menace to society but at the same time—is it better, metaphorically speaking, to pour disinfectant all over him and leave nothing but the blankest, dullest, emptiest thing? In Alan’s case, there’s not really much of a choice; he’s not safe to himself or to other people. But I think the question itself still applies today, even though it was written thirty years ago.
Right, he’s talking about passion and questioning whether or not it’s bad to feel so deeply about something just because society says it’s wrong, and what trauma that could cause a person, not being able to express fully and feel fully something that they truly believe in. And Alan wasn’t trying to hurt anyone or do anything, but the way society looks at his fascination and love, it’s turned into such a dark thing. And there are so many parallels in today’s world, and I’m glad that you see that, because a lot of the reviews of the play say that it’s dated and that the psychiatry of it all is dated, but, when you look at the huge issues of it, it’s about passion and whether or not it’s wrong to feel the way you feel.

Well, when I read all the reviews, everyone was saying the play is dated because nobody uses that kind of psychology any more, and I was just like, “Who cares?” Most of the people going to see the play do not have, you know, PhDs in psychology! They don’t care that the actual psychology is thirty years old; everything else is modern!
Everything else is modern, and I’m so glad that you saw that, because that’s the way we all feel too! Yeah, there are some things about psychology, but when it comes down to it the huge issues of the play are incredibly relevant.

Yeah. When I was reading the reviews, I was like, “This is not what they should be paying attention to.”
Exactly. And they really focused on it and made it seem like the primary focus of the play, whereas it’s just a tool that’s used and it’s just a character. It’s how we get to know Alan in the story, through the therapy, but it’s not necessarily about that. And the play as itself can withstand time because of its universal themes about passion.

Right. Did you get to meet Peter Schaffer?
Yes! He was very involved in our rehearsals for a very long time, and he even made some cuts to the play during the rehearsal process.

Oh, so that was him!
Yeah, yeah! It was still a work in progress, even thirty years later. And he was with us in rehearsal most of the time, actually, during the rehearsal process. He was a very, very sweet and very smart man. He’s very passionate about his play still.

Yeah. Well, if you include the London run as part of this production, there hasn’t been such a large-scale production of the play pretty much since the first Broadway production. And I’ve read the play, so I noticed that some scenes weren’t in the production, and it’s interesting to hear that that was him.
Oh, yeah! It was definitely him. And he was changing lines and switching lines around also for the American audience. There were certain British things that the American audience wouldn’t understand that he was shifting and changing. Yeah, it was really cool that he was involved. I didn’t know that he was even going to be here, and it was such a surprise to know that he was going to be working with us.

That’s incredible. It’s such a shame though, that British things have to be completely restructured for an American audience. They do that on TV, in literature…
Oh, I know. They want Americans to buy the tickets, and it is a shame, but they want things to be funnier, and even directors sometimes just go for the laughs, you know what I mean? It’s all about going for the laughs. And they forget sometimes that the play can stand on its own and that American audiences are smart enough to pick up things. Some people aren’t, but some people will be, and you shouldn’t have to change your art to make it fit and to sell more tickets, which is a shame.

Well, the thing is, on Broadway, almost all productions have to be marketed to, well, Joe the plumber.
Oh, totally! Yeah, to appeal to the masses, to sell the tickets, and it’s a shame right now with our economy so bad that so many plays are putting in their closing notices that are really great plays but just don’t appeal to the masses enough, and it’s just a shame, but the tickets are also incredibly expensive. [laughs] You know what I mean? So there’s just this catch-22 thing going on, and it’s a difficult time for theatre right now, and people want to make money.

Yeah. Well, I was reading an article on a blog that said you actually increase your profits if you reduce your prices by just a little bit, and it’s interesting that so many producers are so much more fixated on higher prices than on lowering them a little bit to attract more people. Instead they’re just closing the shows.
I know! You would think that they would just want people in the seats and to get some money rolling in for these shows that the actors and the crew and everybody has worked so hard on, and getting the art out there, but they’re just focused on selling the tickets at the highest price available, and if people don’t buy they just feel like it’s better to close, which is such a shame and incredibly sad, and I just wish that we could get over it and keep things open. They finally added student rush, which is great! [laughs]

Yeah, I saw!
I was so happy I told all of my friends. They can see the play now and they don’t have to pay $116! [laughs]

Yeah, the first time I saw it I just paid full price, and I go to the theatre a lot but I don’t think I’ve ever paid full price for anything. Ever. From when I bought the ticket up until when I walked into the theatre I was like, “I really want to see this, but should I have spent over a hundred bucks?” I mean, then I saw the play and loved it, but…
Right, right, right. And so many people end up waiting to buy the tickets because they can’t afford to. I have so many friends who are like, “I’m sorry, Anna, but I can’t see your show!” [laughs] And if I had a million dollars I would pay for them; I wish I could, because it is something I’m really proud of. I’m incredibly proud of this play and the acting I’m doing in it. I’ve really learned a lot working with Dan [Radcliffe] and Richard [Griffiths]. Yeah, it’s a shame because you want everybody to come see it and it’s just really hard right now.

Oh, yeah. Are you from New York?
No, I’m from South Carolina. Originally.

So when did you move to New York?
I graduated from school in 2004, so I guess I’ve been here for almost five years now! It’s kind of crazy to think about. [laughs] I live in Queens with my fiancé, who’s also an actor.

Yeah, well, especially if you don’t live in New York, you’ve gotta trek out to NYC on top of buying the ticket, so the last thing you want is a huge—for Young Frankenstein, the premium tickets were over $400.
Oh, yeah. And if you go out to dinner and all that stuff beforehand and then have to take a train home, it’s just so much money. You have to really want to see the star, and that’s why a lot of Broadway shows now have movie stars; it gets the people in. And we’re lucky, because Richard and Dan are incredibly talented. Yeah, it’s all about the box office draw, you know?

It’s a shame, because a lot of shows seem to be sacrificing quality just for the sake of having a name. And yes, having a name is really important, because it gets people to see the show when many of them might not have otherwise, and a lot of the time that means sacrificing quality—but luckily that’s not the case with Equus.
Exactly, yes, but sometimes it is. And I just know that there are so many actors in New York who are incredibly talented and who are not big stars, and it’s an uphill battle for everyone to climb, and I’m very lucky to be in the show. But it’s very hard for people without—you have to work really, really hard to get that part, and hopefully the producers and director will have open minds and be willing to take a chance.

Right. Yeah, you’ve gotta be so, so good that you surpass the potential draw of a big name.
Yeah. They have to believe in you. It’s that part that comes along that you’re absolutely right for and that people can just see you doing, and there’s no question, and those times rarely come by but when they do it’s like, “Thank god I have a job and thank god they believe in me and think that I can put some butts in the seats!” [laughs] You know, they need to pack their theatres.

Absolutely. All right, we’re just about done.
All right, great!

It was so great talking to you. Good night!
Thanks! Good night!

As has been thoroughly discussed, Anna Camp is currently portraying Jill Mason on Broadway in Equus, about which you can find more by visiting the production's website.