Interview: Actress Charlie Russell on BIRDSONG tour

The epic World War I story of love and loss, Birdsong, has returned to the stage this Autumn in a brand-new production marking the 30th anniversary of Sebastian Faulks’s international best-selling novel. We caught up with Charlie Russell who plays Isabelle in the current production.

Can you tell us a little about Birdsong and the character you play?

I play Isabelle Azaire in Birdsong. The play is both a story of love and of war, and how the two things can overlap. We follow Stephen, before WW1 when he stays with a family in France and begins a love affair with the wife of his host, Isabelle. Then we see him again in the trenches in WW1 before the Battle of The Somme, and again after - and we follow his journey through that, and as he tries to find Isabelle again. We also get to follow Jack Firebrace through the war, who was a tunneller - a ‘sapper’, and see how he deals with love and loss.

What attracted you to the character of Isabelle?

Isabelle fascinates me. She clearly has a vivid and burning inner life, a huge capacity for love and passion. But when we see her at the beginning of the play she is oppressed and controlled by her abusive husband. Stephen’s arrival awakens the girl and the woman in her, the one that secretly always dreamed of a passionate love, and she finds liberation and strength in their affair. It’s a great journey and an honour to play the character so well written by Sebastian Faulks and subsequently Rachel Wagstaff in the adaptation.

This tour celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Birdsong novel. How do you hope the story will resonate with audiences today?

I don’t think there is ever a time limit on our society’s ability and capacity to empathise with people in love and war. Sadly it feels all too relevant at the moment. One of the things I take from the play is how unnecessary and unnatural war really is. How these people fighting, or the people living in countries that invaded, are just people who want to live and to love. As is Isabelle, in the domestic but still epic setting of emotional and physical violence. They are at the behest of those in power who seem to have lost touch with humanity. At the end of the play, which also marks the end of the conflict, a character says, ‘Never again’, and it’s heartbreaking to know we haven’t kept that promise.

A comforting thought I have, however, is that as an actor the best way we can honour those who fought, those who lost their lives in the conflict, is to keep telling their story. I like to imagine the souls of those people might be able to feel it.

Your current role is quite different from the comedy work you've done with Mischief. How does the process of rehearsing a drama differ from a comedy?

Fewer bruises! Although still a surprising amount, but that’s down to my own clumsiness. I was actually heartened to discover that it’s just as a creative and fun environment. Alastair Whatley led a safe and supportive room where I felt comfortable offering thoughts and ideas, and the whole cast and crew are a very creative and bright bunch. There are a lot of laughs, just more offstage than on though. As it is when doing a comedy, the focus was on delivering truthful and committed performances.

The major difference I suppose is that after a big day of doing a farce, we need a strong physical cool down. Whereas I found that my body needed a different kind of cool down after a day of doing highly emotional and dramatic scenes. We got given techniques to use to calm down our nervous systems and come back to the present day. It’s all very well doing a big emotional scene on one day, where I’m afraid for my life perhaps, and it affecting me, but I want to take care of my mental health as well as make sure that I can keep it up over a long tour. Each audience deserves the same quality of performance, so a level of discipline and resilience becomes essential to develop. It’s the same standard of rigour and discipline needed to keep a comedy tight and fresh. We use all the same muscles, just being applied in different ways.

Do you have any dream roles that you'd like to tackle in future?

So many! I’m attracted to roles that require humour and specificity as well as passion and drama, so Maggie The Cat from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, or Arkadina in The Seagull. I’d also love the chance to tackle a Shakespearean heroine or hero…Beatrice/Benedick for example.

I was lucky enough to play Fanny Mendelssohn in a new play by Calum Finlay called Fanny (directed by Katie-Ann McDonough at The Watermill) and that was very special, and so I hope to get the chance to do it again in the future.

Are there any new Mischief plans that you'd like to share?

We’ve just been celebrating our 10th anniversary of The Play That Goes Wrong in the West End which has been wonderful. It’s been great to look back at the last decade, see how far we’ve come, and take a moment to be grateful for all the fun, Iove and support we’ve had along the way. Here’s to another 10!

I just recorded an episode of the Mischief Makers podcast with the current Sandra, Hannah Sinclair Robinson, which was hosted by the delightful Bradley Riches. We had a lot of fun chatting comedy, the role of Sandra and what it’s like to work within Mischief.

Also…I can’t say a lot right now, but do keep your eyes peeled for more Mischief Christmas antics!

Birdsong continues to tour until February 2025, with further info here.