In part two of Jonny’s chat with Chris Abbott they discuss Arthur Miller and the edge of embarrassment, Chris’s thoughts on the extraordinary final scene of Salesman and how to do it afresh each night, just saying the first line and letting go and how to be generous onstage; having an action, grabbing Nathan Lane’s face onstage, a quick shift of recording location to Chris’s bedroom, the suggestion of violence Chris brings onstage, the life he brings off the text, responding to what the NYT theatre critic wrote in praise of his performance and whether we feel free onstage; what he needs from a director, freedom in a House of Blue Leaves with Ben Stiller and in John with Annie Baker and Sam Gold, what pisses him off about the theatre, knowing “how to backstage” and his longing for the experimental.
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