Nigel Lindsay on the Joy of Going Green as the Title Ogre in London’s Shrek
Nigel Lindsay has performed Pinter and Stoppard, Patrick Marber (Dealer’s Choice) and David Eldridge (Under the Blue Sky). But the actor can currently be found at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane donning an acid green fat suit eight times a week in the title role of Shrek the Musical, co-directed by Jason Moore and Rob Ashford and also starring Amanda Holden, Nigel Harman and Richard Blackwood. Lindsay’s musical experience includes replacing Douglas Hodge as Nathan Detroit in the West End revival of Guys and Dolls, but Shrek presents its own challenges and delights, as the always affable Lindsay explained to Broadway.com one recent afternoon..
Is the London version of Shrek different from the Broadway mounting of the musical?
There are so many different versions of this show! It’s changed about 70% since the first tryout and 40% since the first Broadway show. I think [co-producer] Sam Mendes and [co-director] Rob Ashford and the others are beginning to think they got it to how they always wanted it and are now fine-tuning. Rob Ashford feels confident to change things around.
Are you amazed to find yourself in this particular show?
It was a bit of a cultural difference at the beginning, and I think I got a couple of people’s backs up because I had done so many straight plays and was trying to invest myself in the character—things like saying, “Call me Shrek,” because that just helps me and it’s such a huge part. But I’m lightening up a bit now! [Laughs.] Our producer Caro Newling said to me, “This is the King Lear of musical parts,” and I am realizing what she meant by that.
And you have, after all, played Nathan Detroit on the West End, which isn’t exactly chopped liver!
If you’re going to be in a musical, that’s no bad thing! I had been in the running to play Nathan at the top of that production but I was playing William Morris in a play [Earthly Paradise] and I was a stone [14 pounds] overweight and had this huge bushy beard, so I couldn’t make it to any of the auditions. But I did get to take over from the wonderful Doug Hodge for about four months, which was fantastic for me. It was a nice little introduction to how musicals work.
Shrek poses a unique set of demands, not least acting the part of a Scottish ogre from beneath a fat suit and prosthetics.
It is quite a difficult part to cast in a way, and I had read about the problems they had been having and how difficult it is to project—“humanity” is the wrong word because he’s an ogre—but a character from under all that makeup. I had heard that they were looking for actors who could sing rather than the other way round, so they got me in. I looked on YouTube and saw Brian d’Arcy James [Broadway’s original Shrek] singing “Who I’d Be,” and I was converted to the show just by hearing that song. Also, it follows a fantastic story: a journey we can all relate to about an outsider who’s been given a personality by the world.
What about the physical requirements?
You just have to get yourself into a military mindset. There’s no doubt this is the most physical thing I’ve ever done. The makeup takes an hour and a half each night, and when you’ve got it on, you can’t take it off between shows. The fat suit is extremely heavy and literally draining: When they take the cowl off me at the end, you could fill a cup of water. It’s not sweat; it’s that the water just pours off you.
Did you reach out to Brian d’Arcy James or others for advice?
Yes, I did. I had a feeling this part was unique not in terms of how you interpret the role but about how you physically cope with it—and that only people who had been in that suit would have an idea. The first show we did was on a Friday, and I nearly passed out with the physicality of it all. So I phoned Brian and he said, “Listen, it gets easier.” Now I find that I’m already not having to drink as much water and that my body is getting used to it; it’s a mindset thing. Basically, this isn’t [a show] where I’m going to be down at The Ivy [restaurant] every night. I have got to be sensible.
It’s a good way to diet, I suppose.
Brian said, “Don’t get too excited because it’s all water; it comes straight back!” [Laughs.]
What do your children think about you playing Shrek?
I am getting so much kudos in the playground now [laughs]. My daughters, 11 and 8, came to see the show last week, and I’d never seen them so excited. I would never accept a role just because I’ve got kids, but in the back of my mind, that was a part of it; suddenly my girls know what I do. It’s funny: I did a film with Richard E Grant last year, and he said that the only time his daughter realized he was an actor was when he did the Spice Girls movie.
Were you a musical fan growing up?
I’m a Londoner: My parents are Jewish East Enders and there’s quite a theatergoing population there, but I didn’t go to that many musicals when I was a kid. I did English at university and kind of drifted toward the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company and on from there. I consider myself really fortunate to have had such an eclectic career and to be in a town where we are perhaps less categorized in terms of what we do than they are on Broadway. I haven’t become a massive star, but I’ve managed to work solidly for 20 years and gain a bit of a reputation that allows me to work without being pigeonholed; I’m not sure there are as many people who get to be as fortunate.
It must be amazing to walk up to one of the largest playhouses in the UK and think, “I’m playing the title role in this!”
Once in a while, you have to step back and say, “Look, I’m playing Shrek in Shrek the Musical” at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, which is one of the best theaters in the world. You have to remind yourself of that. I spent the first 15 years of my career wondering, “Oh my God, am I making it? Am I there?” And my agent said, “You’re doing fine, don’t worry about it!” We as actors spend so much time looking for the next job and wondering if we can do this or that. What’s nice now is to be able to sit back and say, “You know what? This is fun.”