Ophelia Lovibond: “I just worked hard and kept going”
As Ophelia Lovibond explains the premise of Barney Norris’s new play, Nightfall, her casting quickly makes perfect sense. “Barney’s writing brilliantly explores grief through what’s not being said. The characters are failing to communicate; they’re misfiring.”
If portraying misfiring communication were a sport, Lovibond would be world champion. This is exemplified by her portrayal of smart PA Izzy Gould in popular BBC sitcom W1A. Her ability to time an awkward pause is second to none.
Nightfall premieres at the new Bridge Theatre this month. It centres on a family struggling to come to terms with the father’s death from cancer. Their grief manifests itself in challenging ways. Life is complicated further when the ex-boyfriend of Lovibond’s character, Lou, returns, having been released from prison.
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“When I read it, I found myself literally sitting on the edge of my sofa, wondering, ‘How has [Barney] done this?’” Lovibond enthuses. “It builds this tension without you noticing it happening, in the way that families do when they walk on broken glass around each other.”
She describes the rehearsal process as “deeply collaborative”. Director Laurie Sansom created an open environment with scope for reinvention. (This is the first stage role Lovibond has created, though she did star in the regional premiere of Lucy Prebble’s The Effect in 2015.) Lovibond doesn’t want to give away too much about the set – the Bridge can be reconfigured in numerous ways – but does confirm it “looks and feels like a farm”. This will come as no surprise to fans of Norris’s work, which often evokes rural communities in crisis.
Lovibond’s own upbringing could hardly be more different from her character’s. She was raised on a housing estate in Hammersmith. Despite her theatrical name, she discovered acting serendipitously thanks to a youth theatre group at the nearby Riverside Studios. “Within minutes of being in that room, I knew immediately it was what I wanted to do forever,” she says bluntly.
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Sion Daniel Young and Ophelia Lovibond star in Nightfall at Bridge Theatre (Image: Manuel Harlan, courtesy of Premier PR)[/caption]
The founder of the group, Andrew Braidford, subsequently became an agent and Lovibond was among his first clients. She avoided drama school, learning her craft on the job, and says she is eager to show there are ways of breaking into the industry that don’t involve spending vast amounts of money on training. “People often ask me, ‘How did you get into it?’ The truth is I just worked hard and kept going.”
Her impressive list of screen roles attests to this work ethic. Her credits range from Channel 4 sitcom The Wilsons, which she starred in aged 12, to the recent CBS series Elementary, a New York-set take on Sherlock Holmes. But for most Brits it was W1A, set in the corridors and meeting rooms of Broadcasting House, that put her on the map.
Was W1A as much fun to film as it looked? “I loved that show. John Morton was the kindest writer/director you could wish for, and the whole cast were so supportive of each other. It was a sad day when we knew there wouldn’t be any more.”
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Ophelia Lovibond, Sion Daniel Young and Ukweli Roach in Nightfall at Bridge Theatre (Image: Manuel Harlan, courtesy of Premier PR)[/caption]
I ask where she sees her career going in the next few years. She mentions the Time’s Up campaign, launched after the revelations of rife sexual harassment in the entertainment industry. “I’m eager to see how things change and what the response is. Will we see roles that are more representative of the complexities of women? I’ve said this so many times I feel like a broken record, but I hope there will be more opportunities in the coming years.”
It’s always interesting to know whom actors look to for inspiration, and Lovibond mentions Julie Walters and Diane Keaton (though she says emphatically she has no desire to emulate anyone). Like them, she is acutely attuned to both comedy and pathos. And it’s clear she has the determination to join them at the top. She is refreshingly unabashed about her aspirations. “I’ve always been ambitious and driven, and these are qualities I’m keen to encourage in other women. So let’s see where it takes me. The sky’s the limit.”