David Suchet interview – ‘I can hear Harold Pinter’s voice in my head’

We're on the verge of something big at the Harold Pinter Theatre, and there is no one more excited about it than David Suchet.

Jamie Lloyd has taken on the absolutely mammoth task of producing every single one-act play written by the great Harold Pinter, in a season unprecedented in scale, performed at the theatre named in his honour.

The plans weren't always so bold, though. When deciding to produce a number of Pinter's plays to commemorate ten years since the writer's death, Lloyd and producer Emily Vaughan-Barratt met with his widow, Lady Antonia Fraser. Over lunch, the team couldn't pin down which of Pinter's classics they should produce, so Lloyd threw out: "let's just do all of them".

And here we are. A mammoth six-month rep season, featuring all 19 short plays performed on the stage so closely associated with the writer, and a mouth-watering cast to boot.

David Suchet stars in one of the first productions, starring alongside Russell Tovey in The Lover, a role Pinter played himself when at the Donmar in 1998.

"I know he played my role in this, he played Harry. I can almost hear him play the role in my head", Suchet told me at the launch of the season. While many of the cast had some kind of relationship with Pinter during his life - often professional from appearing in his work - Suchet's was a friendly one. 

"He directed me in the European premiere of David Mamet's play Oleanna, and we got to know each other very well. After that, he would come and see every play I performed in, and we would have dinner afterwards. We just got on so well."

That's one reason Suchet is so excited about this season, but he also considers it a career milestone. The actor celebrates 50 years in the business next February, but, quite remarkably, this is his first Pinter.

"The fact I am now in one of his plays, celebrating his life as one of the great British playwrights, is such a privilege for me, but also a great challenge."

A big part of the challenge of mounting a season like this is keeping it fresh. If an audience decides to see two different productions one night after another, you want to offer them something different. Some insight into this comes from Lloyd, who told me to expect a contemporary, almost Black Mirror-style during Pinter One (One for The Road / The New World Order / Mountain Language / Ashes to Ashes / The Pres and an Officer), and a 60s style for Pinter Two (The Lover and The Collection).

But Suchet, who's been adorned the nickname 'The Suche' in rehearsals, feels that the young cast he will be treading the boards will also bring something different to the plays.

"We have young actors I would never normally come together with or work with. But here I am, sharing the stage with someone like Russell Tovey, because of Harold Pinter."

So, if you are a Pinter newbie, what can you expect from this season; what is quintessentially Pinter?

"You will sit there thinking 'I'm not quite sure how I feel'," The Suche says. "He will unsettle you, and it will be a true theatre experience like nothing you have seen before." 

The Lover / The Collection is at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 13th September until 20th October, with an official opening night on 27th September.

The Lover / The Collection tickets are available now.