Midnight Cowboy - Interview
“ Two broken souls stumble the streets, misfits, clutching to a fragile hope of finding fortune around the corner. The dark corners and harsh flickering neon of New York City await, as Midnight Cowboy, a new musical, makes its world premiere at Southwark Playhouse Elephant. “
Simon J Webb: Can you just tell me a bit about your character and where she sits within this exciting new musical retelling of Midnight Cowboy?
Tori Allen-Martin: I play two women in this production, Cass and Orange. Cass is a bit of a hustler herself. She uses men for money. She is very sexually confident and when she meets Joe Buck he thinks he's going to hustle her, but she actually hustles him, so I think she's a bit of an education for him, but he also says he has the best night of his life... so I think she teaches him a thing or two, (laughs), but I think it's really exciting to play in a scene where there are two very sexually confident people having a great night together... it is a bit transactional but they love every minute of it, and I think it's something we don't always get to see, especially with women playing that role and being very front-footed sexually, and so that was a really exciting challenge. The second woman that I play is a schoolteacher who pays for Joe Buck for the night...
SJW: Oh… here we go again! (laughs)
TAM: Yeah. (laughs). There are two sex scenes with Paul Jacob French who plays Joe… so we're in at the deep end. We're very close now… (laughs), but it's fun to then also play someone on the flipside of that, you know... a woman who, in her day-to-day life, is much softer and quieter than Cass, and she's exploring this for different reasons… for her own reasons, and there's more intimacy to it. So, it's really cool to have two juxtaposing scenes where we explore sex with the same character, but with me playing two different women.
SJW: I’m guessing playing those scenes in front of an audience for the first time is going to be an interesting experience.
TAM: I mean... yeah... and when I saw my song on the call sheet for this morning’s press launch I was like, “Are you sure?”... because, I mean, I'm just riding on a bed for five minutes... (laughs) and I just thought, “I don't know if people are ready for that at 10:30am!
SJW: (laughs)
TAM: I mean, yeah… Paul is a wonderful young man and thank God we get on because otherwise it could have been very awkward... but I can't say it's the worst experience I've ever had. (laughs). It's a privilege to get to hang out with this amazing cast.
SJW: I’m guessing no one’s eating any garlic pre-show?
TAM: Absolutely not!... He’s also got a nut allergy... so I can't eat any nuts either!
SJW: (laughs)
TAM: I'm actually livid... but I might kill him if I eat nuts! Can you imagine? Oh, my God!
SJW: Sounds like there’s even more at stake on the first night than usual!
TAM: He needs to be nice to me, because if I get fed up with him, I'll be like, “Right, you're going off. Time to get the understudy on”.
SJW: … and suddenly Midnight Cowboy has become a murder mystery!
TAM: (laughs) I shouldn't have said anything... you’ll know who did it! (laughs). I’m joking of course as I absolutely love Paul to bits.
SJW: When did Midnight Cowboy first come onto your radar. Did you know about the film beforehand?
TAM: Actually, no. I knew some of the iconic moments from the film without knowing that they had actually come from the film. When I first got the offer, around October time last year, I then kind of delved into the world of it but I didn't know if I could do it because I might have had some TV work scheduled, so at first I thought I was going to have to let it go, but then it came back around in January and that’s when I really immersed myself in it, and I heard ‘Eg’s’ music, and I remember I listened to one of the songs and I called my agent, and I was like, “I have to do this show!”
SJW: So you hadn't heard any of the music when you were first approached?
TAM: No, I’d heard nothing, and I was like, “Can I hear any of the music?”. Obviously I knew Cass had some sex scenes, and so I knew it would be a challenge to put myself out there in that way, so I’m sort of like, “I kind of want to hear the music to know the tone of it”, but the minute I heard the music I understood how sensual and cool it was going to be, and I thought, “Oh, OK. This is going to be classy. This is something that I want to do”, because I'm really up for telling that story... but how you do it matters...
SJW: Absolutely.
TAM: ... and I wanted it to feel empowering and sensual. We still have fun with it, but yeah, the music let me know, “OK. I see where they're going with this and it's something I really want to be a part of for sure”.
SJW: I must admit, when I first heard about this production it didn't strike me as the most obvious choice for a musical reinvention, but having just seen this morning’s preview it actually really started to make sense.
TAM: Yeah, it really works. Obviously it's such a dark story, so you might be thinking, “Bloomin’ hell... do I really need a musical about this?”, but I think ‘Eg's’ music is so uplifting, and I actually think that stops it from getting to, sort of, ‘in the dregs’… but I also think that with two protagonists being men that can't really communicate their feelings, and don't necessarily have the emotional intelligence or the language to convey how they feel, it makes complete sense to use music to portray those emotions... because that's what music does... it speaks when we can't. In that respect I think it’s kind of the perfect marriage and therefore the characters are ‘heightened’... they are big, broad characters and so they were quite transferable into musical theatre characters in the end. But I also love Nick's vision for it. I feel it's not trying to be like anything else. So I think it's one of those productions where you just have to leave your expectations at the door and go with it.
SJW: Yeah.
TAM: But I think it works.
SJW: Your career straddles both TV and Theatre....
TAM: Yeah.
SJW: … so the somewhat obvious question would be do you have a preference? I mean, I understand they are very different disciplines, but....
TAM: No, I genuinely don't have a preference, and I’m not just saying that. When I've been doing too much of one I miss the other, and I think I learn completely different things doing both. It's honestly quite a different skill set. That being said, there's nothing like the live reaction. The thing that I love about theatre is that it will never be the same twice. If you go to the theatre, whatever you witness that night it was entirely for you because of the energy of the audience. Whoever's in that room makes the show what it is that night, and that's something that I think is absolute magic! It also all began with theatre for me, so I will always have a soft spot for theatre, but I love them both equally and I feel very privileged that I get to do both.
SJW: And I’m guessing the rehearsal process must always feel like a bit of a luxury when you’re doing something for the theatre.
TAM: Oh yeah. I mean with television you're in the deep end! You know… you’re just constantly being given new lines and you're like, “Well, I don't even know what I'm saying”. Sometimes I come out of a scene on TV and I'm like, “I genuinely don't even know what just happened!” And if you ask me what I’d just said, I would not be able to tell you… but yeah, there is definitely a luxury to actually get to know what I'm doing. (laughs).
interview & photography: Simon J. Webb
“ Joe Buck is a young man desperate to escape his dead-end past. Leaving everything behind, to seek wealth and glory in the big city, he meets a man just as lost as he is – Rico ‘Ratso’ Rizzo. The pair join forces, prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve their dreams, even if it means surrendering a part of themselves. But New York ain’t no dream – it’s a jungle and survival requires sacrifice…
Based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy and the beloved triple Academy Award-winning 1969 film, starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, Midnight Cowboy captures the gripping tension of dreaming big whilst trying to survive the grind of New York City.
This powerful adaptation has a book by Bryony Lavery (writer of the Tony-nominated play ‘Frozen’), which breathes new life into the classic story, exploring the depths of friendship and ambition, and soundtrack by three-time Ivor Novello Award-winning composer Francis ‘Eg’ White, who has written songs for Adele, Florence + The Machine and James Morrison. “
Midnight Cowboy is on at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant until 17th May. Tickets available here