“There’s something interesting about people that are always on – they’re always trying to make people laugh. It really interests me when people are like that, because I think – ‘what are they hiding?’”
Richard reads Things I Know To Be True as a continuous crisis point for Ben, an impending train wreck, hurtling towards a catastrophic act of envy and selfishness. He describes developing Ben’s character by learning his extremes, before pulling back to something stiller to internalise that turmoil, and explains that every moment of the production is intensely physical, even in its stillness. Richard reveals how his choices were often anchored in personal experiences of loss, and expresses how empathetic he, as a father, feels towards Bob Price, cautioning against the jeopardies of spoiling a child.