This week Jonny’s guest is one of the radical icons of American theatre: writer, essayist and actor Wallace Shawn. Surely one of the most vocally and visually recognisable actors in the world after a screen career ranging from Vizzini in The Princess Bride to Rex the Dinosaur in Toy Story to Dr Sturgis in Young Sheldon, to My Dinner With Andre as himself, Wally has been at the forefront of some of the most boundary-pushing and innovative theatre work of the last forty years. The conversation ranges from the “sexually perverse” show that began his theatregoing career (Peter Pan) to his latest onstage outing understudying a female part in his most recent play, What We Did Before Our Moth Days; the profound experience of a Christmas pageant; the influence of England and English theatre artists on his life and career; the startling controversy of his first London play (it was raided by the Vice Squad and questions were asked in Parliament); his father, legendary New Yorker editor William Shawn’s, resistance to obscenities, the runaway hit that he was deprived of by the British government; voyeurism in the theatre; Andre Gregory, Grotowski and not acting onstage- and who cries the tears: actor or character?
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