For her first piece of classical theatre, Lara Pulver has chosen to throw herself in at the deep end.
The 31-year-old, with TV credits for True Blood, Spooks and Sherlock, will play Yelena in Uncle Vanya.
It is the play that Chichester Festival Theatre’s first artistic director Laurence Olivier appeared in as Astrov in 1962.
Now that Chichester Festival Theatre is 50 years old, a new production of the Chekov masterpiece has been commissioned to celebrate the anniversary and the theatre’s heritage.
“It is a total privilege to step on stage to do my first classical piece of theatre with such an established cast,” says Pulver, on a lunch break between rehearsals.
“I sit in awe of Roger Allam. He is one of this country’s most treasured possessions in terms of acting.”
Somewhat fittingly, Allam won the 2011 Olivier Award for best actor for his performance as Falstaff at Shakespeare’s Globe. In Uncle Vanya he takes the title role.
Though she is in awe of Allam, one does not get the sense Pulver, born in Essex but living in LA, is short of confidence.
It’s probably the result of the great parts she has had recently.
Her most recent role on UK TV screens was alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in the BBC’s update of Sherlock.
In the episode A Scandal In Belgravia she played Irene Adler, a dominatrix and the woman Holmes cannot help but admire.
She had to strip off for the show, to foil Sherlock’s detective work. The episode was watched by nine million viewers.
“That was unnerving, however there was something hugely empowering about standing there as a woman. Of course there are things I want to change about my body but I am human, and also it was a character device.”
Her character in Uncle Vanya, Yelena, is another divisive beauty – though she is not as calculating as Irene Adler.
“She is often misunderstood. If you are beautiful it’s often how people react to you, rather than you to them. For example, if we were around someone beautiful, we might be like, ‘She is so beautiful and aloof,’ but they are not doing anything different. It is us projecting on to them.”
The Russian playwright’s tale is set on a dilapidated, remote farm, where Uncle Vanya and his niece Sonya have worked like slaves to sustain an estate in decline.
When the farm’s owner Professor Serebryakov (Timothy West) and his wife Yelena return to visit, what follows is chaos, compounded by Doctor Astrov’s (Alexander Hanson) frequent visits.
As all-consuming love affairs develop, the professor reveals he is to sell the estate and Vanya turns to violence.
Pulver initially thought Yelena’s role in the despair and conflict was as a manipulator.
Now she puts it down to a lack of self-worth and self-esteem.
“She has been given the gift of beauty from God and it’s like a mask she can hide behind, but that doesn’t serve her.
“She can’t befriend a man without people assuming she is one-dimensional and just something pretty to look at. Then there is the frustration of marrying a man who is 40 years her senior, which is very harrowing and apparent in this play.”
Minerva Theatre, Oaklands Park, Chichester, Friday, March 30, to Saturday, May 5
Starts 7.45pm, 2.30pm matinees on Thursday and Saturday, tickets £23.50/£29.50.
Call 01243 781312
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