Thirty years have passed since two-time Oscar winner Glenda Jackson was on Broadway, and more than 50 since she made her debut in Marat/Sade. Now鈥攁fter a 22-year hiatus from acting, during which she served as a Member of Parliament鈥擩ackson is back, this time in a revival of Edward Albee鈥檚 Pulitzer Prize鈥搘inning Three Tall Women.
A film icon for her Academy Award鈥搘inning roles in Women in Love and A Touch of Class (not to mention film buff favorites Sunday Bloody Sunday and The Music Lovers), Jackson proved that time away had not diminished her considerable powers, wowing audiences and critics alike as King Lear at the Old Vic in 2016. After attempts fell through to bring her to Broadway in a remounting of that production, producer Scott Rudin mentioned the Albee play. Jackson was immediately intrigued by the rarity of a work that provides three juicy roles for women (the other two are played by Laurie Metcalf and Alison Pill).
Read: FLIP THROUGH THE OPENING NIGHT PLAYBILL FOR THREE TALL WOMEN ON BROADWAY
鈥淚鈥檇 never heard of the play, I didn鈥檛 know anything about it,鈥� Jackson says over coffee. 鈥淚 did Who鈥檚 Afraid of Virginia Woolf? [in Los Angeles] when Albee directed it, and we didn鈥檛 get on. He is a very, very good writer. Very good.鈥� She pauses. 鈥淭errible director, in my opinion.鈥�
This time around Jackson has a very good director indeed: Joe Mantello. And she鈥檚 spent the last year wrestling with the script, a dense, darkly funny conversation between three women about memories, aging, and self-deception in which there is virtually no onstage action and yet almost everything about the human experience is discussed and dissected. The show is a non-stop talkfest for three women who must be at the top of their game.
鈥淚鈥檝e sat with that script for almost a year and I haven鈥檛 had any voice to hear but my own,鈥� Jackson says with a wry laugh, a few days before rehearsals began. 鈥淎nd people say to me, 鈥楬ave you learned it? Have you learned it?鈥� And I said, 鈥榃ell, I鈥檝e learned鈥擨 hope鈥攎y lines, but I don鈥檛 know the cues, and if I don鈥檛 have the other voices I don鈥檛 know what to do.鈥� If you don鈥檛 have those other voices, it begins to lose its energy. I mean, you鈥檙e just looking at printed words on a page, which is dangerous.鈥�
So does Jackson still get nervous? 鈥淥f course,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he really frightening thing is if you don鈥檛 feel frightened. If you don鈥檛 feel frightened, what the hell is the matter with you?鈥�