My Night With Reg star Julian Ovenden talks stage nudity: “There’s nowhere to hide!”
By Ben Kelly
Ultra-suave actor Julian Ovenden sits down for a chat with Attitude in our current Style issue, accompanied by the actor looking oh-so-stylish in a three-page fashion shoot.
While the actor is most recognisable to TV viewers for his role as Lady Mary’s love interest Charles Blake in Downton Abbey, London theatregoers have seen a lot more of him recently thanks to his role in the 20-year revival of modern theatre classic My Night With Reg.
The play, which tells the story of a group of gay friends at the height of the AIDS crisis, includes a lengthy nude scene from Ovenden, who admitted it was his first time baring all on stage.
“Everyone can see everything. There’s nowhere to hide! But the script calls for it, and is quite insistent on it. Certain people thought it was unnecessary but I don’t think it’s gratuitous. Also the whole play is about sex to a certain degree. I think it’s quite English in the way it’s all buttoned up.”
Ovenden saw the play when it originally opened 20 years ago and it immediately struck him.
“It was one o the pieces that made want to become an actor,” he says. “It moved me. It made me laugh hard but it also moved me.”
“It was labelled 20 years ago as a gay play, or a play about HIV, but I don’t think it’s about that anymore. There is a certain theme to it but the overriding theme is about love and loss and longing and that’s a universal thing.”
You can read our full interview with Julian in the Attitude Style Issue, out in shops today with our glam cover girl RuPaul on the front.
Inside, there are also features on man-of-the-moment Jamie Dornan and a 10-page special on Madonna’s musical comeback.
Elsewhere, we chat to acting legend Celia Imrie about her glittering career and Ugly Heart hitmakers G.R.L.,who open up about about life together after the shock death of their founding member Simone last year.
You can read all that plus more in the new Style issue of Attitude, which is available to download to your mobile, iPad or tablet device now, at Pocketmags.com/Attitude.
The issue is in shops now and you can also have it delivered directly to your door atnewsstand.co.uk.