Denise Gough: From feral brilliance in 'People, Places & Things' to a Broadway debut in 'Angels in America'
NEW YORK - At the start of Duncan Macmillan's "People, Places & Things," which concluded its triumphant run at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn on Sunday, Emma, an actress with a serious substance abuse problem, is flailing about in Chekhov's "The Seagull." She's practically teetering as she delivers Nina's famous speech, "I'm a seagull. No, that's not right. I'm an actress."
As portrayed by Denise Gough, the Irish-born, London-based powerhouse who won an Olivier Award for her performance, Emma might be more truthfully wondering whether she's an actress or an addict. At the moment, the high she's getting from pills and booze seems to have overtaken the intoxication of performing onstage.
No performance this year has affected me as viscerally. If I were to pick a runner-up, it might be Gough's anguished portrayal of Harper in the National Theatre production of "Angels in America," which I saw in the summer and am eager to see again once it opens on Broadway in March.
Wanting to meet the woman capable of this brilliant
