Ella Lily Hyland is counting her blessings. Following a fan-favourite turn as Williams in Netflix’s Black Doves and a demanding shoot for the upcoming BBC drama, Tall Tales & Murder , the Irish actor set out in search of a new challenge. What came next was a theater masterclass second to none, performing alongside two titans of industry: Nina Hoss and Cate Blanchett. Almost every night from August 19 to October 10 at London’s National Theatre, the trio remained onstage together for the duration of the two-hour runtime of Benedict Andrews ’s original play, Electra/Person a. With a coin toss determining the roles Hoss and Blanchett play in each performance, Hyland became a vital support to both actors. Speaking with me over a coffee in the play’s final week, the actor reflects on pre-show hugs with her co-stars and embracing the unexpected.
HARALD SMART: So, Ella, here we are, pre-show at the National Theatre.
HYLAND: I’m good, thank you. We’re nearly at the end of the run, so I’m a bit tired, but very grateful.
SMART: I can imagine. That actually leads nicely into my first question. I wanted to start where we are now—at the end. What are you feeling now that this process is coming to a close? How has the experience impacted you?
HYLAND: Something I keep saying about this is that I’m learning so much, but I feel like a lot of what I’m learning I’m going to process later. You know?
HYLAND: It’s like sometimes when you’re reading a book and you’re so into it, and then you walk away and you’re thinking of the characters and you’re feeling the nostalgia of it. Overall, it’s been a really interesting process because, as you saw in the play, Nina and Cate are amazing, and I get to watch a lot of it as well. I always feel like a job is meant to teach you something specific. Sometimes it’s about listening, or watching, or observing stuff, and for this, it feels like even just holding the energy of the piece every night and feeling it with the audience is something I’ve never experienced before.
SMART: Yeah, because it’s quite unconventional for you as an actor, the experience of participating and observing at the same time to that extent.
HYLAND: Yeah. I think, because of the process, because Nina and Cate switch roles every night, our rehearsal process was kind of unorthodox.
HYLAND: We’d rehearse a scene both ways, and figure out things, and stop and start. So it felt like we hadn’t properly run it until we got to previews.
HYLAND: Yes! And then it would change every day during the previews. It felt like I was having to learn through being present with a full audience of 800 people, so that was nerve-wracking! But at the same time, it taught me about what my role is in this piece, and it’s kind of an anchor for these two extraordinary energies.
SMART: Yes, I found that the characters you play are like a grounding force, a constant throughout the piece. How have you approached that responsibility?
HYLAND: I feel like I’m kind of an observer anyway. I was a little bit shy at the beginning, but I think the way I work is, actually, I like to observe and figure out where I stand. That was important here because of what they have to do and the amount that they have to absorb. I think it’s important that I stay sturdy. I don’t want to make too bold a choice.
SMART: I think also, within that, you’re playing two very different characters. There’s a slightly juvenile nervousness to Chrysothemis, and then, after we enter the second act, Anna the doctor cuts through the uncertainty of those first few moments. It takes a while for the dust to settle. You, the audience member, realize you’re now somewhere else, in a different play altogether, and I think it’s the doctor’s voice that actually helps it click. The resonance and calmness with which you delivered those lines really helped carry that.
SMART: But that just ties into what you’re saying about anchoring.
HYLAND: Yeah. It’s a nice feeling too, coming from the first play. It’s almost like I’m watching a family member and then watching the actor switch roles. All of these realities are happening at once and then, no matter how emotional I feel, I have to show restraint with the doctor. I have to regulate what I’m feeling as Chrysothemis in order to get into that place for act two, and that’s a challenge in itself. Sometimes I feel like you can rely on your emotions as an actor. But actually, you have to be able to move energy into a specific place, and that’s something I’ve definitely learned from this.
HYLAND: I think the language helps. It’s probably about restraint and giving into the words. And the words that we had to play with were so brilliant, the shifts in all of the characters are so clear, and I think the girls do it as well. You have to just give in to the temperature of the words. Whenever I tried to impose anything on the doctor, Benedict [Andrews], our director, was like “No, it’s not really that, it’s simpler than that.” And I think there’s a fear of being simple as an actor.
SMART: Absolutely, especially in theater as well where you’re filling a space. Actually, “restraint” was one of the words that I took away after watching.
HYLAND: That’s so funny. I’ve been thinking a lot about that word this week. And it’s the hardest thing because it’s like giving yourself permission to be nothing, and I think so much of this production is about that void space of nothingness. Like when Electra loses her character and she becomes Elisabeth, who has no voice. That stillness is very daunting. You want to rely on the things you do well, but to just release all that, it’s scary!
SMART: I’m sure. What a masterclass, though. You must still be pinching yourself in a way?
HYLAND: Yeah, it is a complete masterclass. I mean, in many ways, theater is always a masterclass because you have to sit in a lot of discomfort. But I think especially with something like this, with these extraordinary actors, I’ve really been observing how they manage their energy depending on the audience. They’re such pros, and I can see how something lands on one night and lands differently on another. Because it’s mad how an audience decides what they find funny, what they find moving, what they find shocking. Benedict is fucking mega as well. Like, in terms of how he creates an atmosphere in a room, I feel like there’s a new awareness that I’m getting working with such a theater beast like him.
SMART: That’s amazing. How was the audition process?
HYLAND: There’s actually a funny story about that. I knew I had this audition coming up, and it was in, like, three days or something. And then I sprained my ankle and spent the night in the fucking hospital. I was also in rehearsals for The Unbelievers at The Royal Court. So I was on crutches, and then I got let off a little bit late as well. So I had to, like, crutch my way to the National Theatre. I ended up being about 20 minutes late. I hobbled in, probably stinking after doing a full day’s rehearsals, and met everyone. My brain was just all over the place and I didn’t know how it went. I left and called my agent crying, being like, “I did such a bad job.” And then he rang me a week later and said I got it. I was like, “What?” I was so shocked.
SMART: That’s hilarious and stressful. You must have really wowed them, sprained ankle and all. Was it daunting going in there on day one of rehearsals?
HYLAND: It always is, but exciting too. Like the amount of times I’ve been outside the National thinking, “Oh my god, I’d love to work here.” It’s the home of all these amazing stories. I remember cycling in on the first day and I really had that feeling of, “This is happening.” And then you get in there, and you’re like, “How am I going to do this?” You’re covered with nerves.
SMART: How did you approach the working relationships with your fellow performers? How did you begin to build that trust?
HYLAND: It was great because we did a lot of table work for the first week, talking through things. I did have a few moments where I was at the table and I’d just be marveling at the intelligence of everyone and the experience of everyone—huge. Cate is a complete theater animal, as is Nina, and they’re good friends as well. Benedict is good friends with them too. So there was a sense of friendship and ease in the room already.It felt very inviting to be in that space. And then there were all their references and books that they gave me—
HYLAND: There was a book called You Won’t Be Free of It [by Rachel Aviv], which is about mother-daughter relationships, and abuse, and intergenerational trauma. It’s not an easy read at all, but wonderfully written. Benedict’s such an encyclopedia too. He’d just done Óresteia at The National Theater of Iceland, and Óresteia is the same world we’re in. So he just shared all this stuff; Anne Carson , I was constantly reading.
SMART: Are there specific lessons you feel you’ve learned from Cate and Nina?
HYLAND: I think what I love most is that there’s a feeling of humanness and vulnerability in both of them. Before every show, we have a hug, and they’re like, “I hope we resonate with this audience.” I feel like I’ll take that with me whenever I feel that fear over whether or not something is going to work. I feel like sometimes we try to be indestructible as artists and think that we shouldn’t feel the kind of human struggle of it, but things aren’t meant to be completely clean, and confident, and perfect. You know? Some of the most beautiful moments that I’ve witnessed in this play are when things have gone wrong, and then it lands in an unexpected way with an audience. So, I’m just so in admiration of the humanness of them both, at their level of experience and scale.
SMART: Totally. I think you’re right. I think we do get encouraged to be bulletproof, in all sectors of society, and to create these perfectly-formed works. But I think it’s important to let that go and just lean a bit more into the uncertainty.
HYLAND: That’s the word, uncertainty. That’s being alive. We can’t just tie things up neatly.
SMART: It sounds like you have license within this project to really feel around for that balance between uncertainty and control.
HYLAND: I feel very strongly that Cate and Nina have me, and vice versa. I’d never been in a room with actors experiencing that amount of challenge on a big stage like this. Having to learn that much, it’s a huge task. So I felt really strongly [that] I want to do this right for them.
SMART: How have you found it compares to other theatrical productions you’ve done?
HYLAND: Oh my god, very different. There is this tinge of existentialism that I feel like is present in all really great forms of art at turbulent times in history. I often feel when I read stuff at the moment, if there’s not that sense of existentialism, it doesn’t feel resonant, because we live in a time full of uncertainty. Like, what are we doing to the planet? What are we doing here? And I think that this play has that in spades.
SMART: Sometimes we do all want to go to a cabin by the beach and not talk, like Elisabeth does in the play.
HYLAND: Literally. Me and my boyfriend are going to do that in Ireland after the run ends!
SMART: That’ll be a well-deserved break. What other things are you hoping to do once this process comes to an end?
HYLAND: Writing, lots of writing. I’ve written a film, and I’m writing another film with Brendan Canty, who is an Irish director and writer. There’s a quietness to the process that I feel I want to lean into.
SMART: Where does that desire to write come from?
HYLAND: After being perceived so much in this, I feel like I want to retreat and write for a little while. But I’ve always loved storytelling, it’s something my parents always really felt passionate about too. My ma’s family, she comes from a family of ten, they are such storytellers. My dad also used to show me a lot of films from a young age. He’s a real film buff, music buff. I also did a lot of youth theatre as a kid.
SMART: How does that storytelling instinct evolve when you’re performing in something like Black Doves , for instance, compared to a project like Electra/Persona ?
HYLAND: It’s always different, you know, sometimes it’s to do with the character. I feel like when I was starting out, it was all about following the character. But as I’m getting older and stuff, I’m thinking about why a project is saying what it’s saying. I got my first start with a company called ANU in Dublin, who made pieces that were all reflective of working class stories or untold stories. And they’d always say, “Why are we telling this story? What are we reflecting? Why do people need to see this?” I think part of my soul feels like it’s been robbed if I don’t know why the story is being told.
SMART: Finally, is there a specific memory from this experience that you will take away with you? A defining moment, shall we say?
HYLAND: I think it’s all been a core memory. The whole thing. It feels like I’ve learned so much, not just about acting, but about creating a theatre piece as a whole, from this amazing team, from Benedict. That’s been an unbelievable gift that I’m going to be processing for a very long time… I’ve also got a T-shirt that says Cate Blanchett… and Cate got it for me! So I’ll definitely take that away too. [Laughs]
Source: Fashion
