The Mad Men star on being Peggy Olson, taking to the West End stage with Keira Knightley, and Ricky Gervais's winning ways at the Golden Globes
Elisabeth Moss has her feet up. We are in a small attic bar, high in the upper circle of the Comedy Theatre off Leicester Square, in between rehearsals for her new play, The Children's Hour. Her plonked furry boots don't look like they'll be shifting for a while.
She's been busy. The production, a revival of Lillian Hellman's 1934 play in which Moss stars opposite Keira Knightley, is hours away from its first preview when we meet. She's also only a few days back from Los Angeles, where she had made a zippy trip to attend the Golden Globes. On top of that, she's recently been sitting through several hours of the fourth series of Mad Men, in which she stars, recording a commentary for the DVD. Of all the exertions, you imagine this last being the most draining: resisting the temptation to scream "Look at this! Just look how good this programme is!" over and again as the footage spooled.
As the intractable Peggy Olson in Mad Men, arguably the most engrossing character in the most engrossing drama of its time, she really doesn't need to be here, spending five months getting sweaty on a London stage. When she says of co-star Knightley, "I suspected she was a very cool person when I heard she was doing this, because at her level she doesn't need to," she could just as easily be talking about herself.
For Moss, this is technically a "hiatus project" ? the gig a TV actor takes in the break between seasonal filming, usually to show what else he or she has in the tank. The lead in a trashy teen show will jam themselves into a credible indie movie, the funny one from a sitcom is suddenly dying in a big-budget weepy ? it's "artistic fulfilment" time. But, as Moss puts it, "Mad Men kinda is our artistically fulfilling job. So I guess on hiatus we get to do whatever we want, whatever we find fun."
The 28-year-old has chosen a West End play, she says, to meet a goal she set for herself as a teenager, when she came on her own to see a production in London and vowed to appear here herself one day. She had the ticket stub (an RSC Twelfth Night) framed, to harden the resolve, and now it's happening. "I wanted to do something that would mean I got to live here and not be a visitor, you know? Do my laundry here, know all the restaurants, visit grocery stores and? Wait, what do you call grocery stores?"
The Children's Hour tells the story of teachers Martha (Moss) and Karen (Knightley), their lives in a New England boarding school wrecked when a pupil spreads the rumour that they are lovers. What makes the play so interesting ? and, over the years, controversial ? is the deeper truth this slander draws from Martha. As a new production, The Children's Hour was banned in Boston and London for its suggestion of homosexuality; a 1936 film version eliminated hints of lesbianism from the plot entirely, while key scenes were excised from a 1961 adaptation starring Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn.
"The relevance in terms of the gay community is obvious," says Moss of Martha, who is held up as a seminal figure in gay literary history. "But the play tells a very important story for all of us. How making things up about people is a very dangerous thing to do."
Moss is vehement on this point. Are there parallels, I wonder, between Martha and Karen ? scrutinised and whispered about by a dozen staring schoolgirls every day ? and starlets like Moss and Knightley, under similar daily scrutiny? Instead of schoolgirls watching there's the gaze of Perez Hilton, TMZ? "Yeah, being in the public eye I have had experience with that. And I've been drawing a lot on that for this play, the injustice of that. In this day and age people seem to be allowed to just make? shit... up." She laughs. "You know what I mean? And people get away with it. And people's lives are hurt by that."
The feet are off the chair now. There are some fresh wounds here. At the end of last year she went through the gossip mangle when her year-long marriage to the comedian Fred Armisen ended. Moss filed for divorce in September, citing "irreconcilable differences". Big-font speculation, online, put the split down to religious differences; for a while it was "amicable"; then bloggers posted gossip about another woman. Moss has refused to comment entirely, and fair enough.
Of The Children's Hour, she says: "I believe it's essentially about the power of a lie. And it's why this play is so relevant so many years later, because no matter who you are ? a teenager, a 45-year-old man, a child ? you can identify with the concept of an injustice being done."
Speaking of injustice (I segue a little clunkily), how on earth did Mad Men get beaten to a Golden Globe last Sunday? Rival period drama Boardwalk Empire, which starts in the UK next month, took the best drama award? "We've had so much success, so much recognition," chirps Moss, comfy again, "we've got nothing to complain about. There's more than one night to watch television!"
Her feet are back up as she talks about host for the night Ricky Gervais, who (you might have heard) gave a roomful of Hollywood greats a memorable roasting during the ceremony. While Gervais took chunks out of a grimacing Johnny Depp and a disapproving Robert Downey Jr, the crowd tittered and shuffled, unsure what to make of it all. Moss cackles at the memory.
"Hilarious but excruciating," she says. "I love him. I mean, what was he supposed to do? I understand it can go too far sometimes. But you've got to enjoy somebody ? can I use a British expression? ? 'taking the mickey' out of the spectacle of an awards show. It's nice for somebody to come in and remind everybody: we're not saving the world here."
Gervais' chanciest gag ? one, he quipped, that had been pre-proofed by lawyers ? was at the expense of LA's Scientology community. Moss is a Scientologist, and has been from birth, a biographical nugget about her that tends to surprise and oddly sadden people. How could anybody (the feeling goes) be in a show as great and credible and true as Mad Men, while also being part of such an offbeat religion?
"I understand the curiosity," she says, "I don't fault anyone for it. Ultimately my religion is a personal thing for me." Is undue attention paid to her beliefs? "No, it's not for me to say what is due and undue. People have questions and people are curious. I think the press has made a big deal out of it, which makes people more curious. I do feel there's definitely more attention on it than if I were Jewish or something, but it's a new religion, there's questions asked. There's things people want to know, and I understand it."
Has it fed in to her preparations for The Children's Hour, for instance? "You draw on all kinds of things that are trying in life: on past experiences, or on yoga, or on a call to your mom, or, yeah, you might draw on your religion, or you might draw on your friends."
Does she have any friends here? "Just these people," she says shyly, gesturing in the direction of the stage, where musical cues are being played, and a fleet of actors in school uniform are being put through their paces. "I've got, like, a built-in group of girlfriends. We're going to have a lot of fun over the next few months." The cast have recently been for a night out together at actorly den the Garrick club, and are currently plotting a playlist of dance music to lift spirits at the end of each night's performance. The play's ending is a bit of a downer.
As our conversation ends I tell Moss that, on the set of Hepburn and MacLaine's film of The Children's Hour, the two stars became great friends. Moss says that she and Knightley are likewise on the way. I also mention what MacLaine said of Hepburn: "I taught her how to cuss and she taught me how to dress." Has there been a similar exchange of skills, I wonder, between co-stars? Back upright, looking zingy and ready for more rehearsal, Moss flashes back with a smile: "We both can cuss and we both can dress. I think we're good."
The Children's Hour runs at the Comedy Theatre, London until 30 April
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/jan/23/elisabeth-moss-childrens-hour-interview
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