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  • Celebrating 5 years online
  • Welcome to Matt Ryan Daily, your official fansite for actor Matt Ryan. Best known for his role as John Constantine in DCTV. You'll find all the latest news, high quality photos and media on Matt. Check out the site and please come back soon.
    written by mouza on Monday, October 02 2017

    Interview: Matt Ryan Talks “Knives in Hens”

    Last week, I had the chance to see Matt on stage during a weekend performance of “Knives in Hens“.  The play was amazing and Matt did a superb job. It was my first time seeing him on stage and I’m hoping it won’t be the last.

    I got to sit down with Matt after the play for a mini interview, these were his answers.

    Matt about the Play: It’s so intense and concentrated and the thing is, it’s not literal, it’s very symbolic and metaphorical and ambiguous, lots of questions are deliberately left unanswered. The play I think is very filmic, with the lighting and the pictures and the sensuality of it.

    Matt about the Cast: The way we work together as actors, very early on we did a lot of physical work so that when we came to it, we’re way used to each other’s bodies. Getting used to the physicality of that so that there’s no fear for us as actors.

    Matt about the Director: Our director is unbelievable, [Yaël Farber] she’s such a special human being and director.

    Matt about any future projects: (smirks) Maybe.

    Knives in Hens runs until October 7, so make sure to try and see him before the show runs end.

    Full Interview transcript:

    Matt: This play is an interesting one. What’s great about it, it’s only an hour and 30 minutes.

    Interviewer: Yes, that’s really short.

    Matt: Can you imagine if you had to go back in for another hour after that? No.

    Interviewer: God no, it was too intense.

    Matt: I’m doing it as well. It’s so intense and concentrated. The thing is, we don’t let off any release valves for the audience. There’s a few little bits where the audience laugh, which is a little bit of a release, but not many. The thing is about the place. It’s not literal. It’s metaphorical. You see that it’s very symbolic and metaphorical and ambiguous. Lots of questions are deliberately left unanswered like, “Is he sleeping with a horse or is it a woman in there?” What we do as a production is we don’t say it’s one or the other. We let the audience dwell in that ambiguity, which is nice for us, but it’s good. The director is unbelievable. Her name’s Yaël Farber. She’s such a special human being and director. There’s incense burning in there. I don’t know if you could smell the incense-

    Interviewer: Yes.

    Matt: -when you walk in? It’s just like when you walk in there, you feel like you’re in pre-industrial Britain. Do you know what I mean? It’s like flour going everywhere and dirt going everywhere and stuff. Yes, it’s quite an intense but beautiful metaphorical poetical play and it’s been a great experience.

    Interviewer: It is great to watch.

    Matt: Yes. Lots of my friends have come and they’ve said that they’ve found it– It’s not an easy watch. If you’re not very well acquainted with theater, it’s not something that you go on, “Oh, that was great. I had a nice night out of the theater.” It’s something that it takes. It does something to you hopefully, good or bad.

    Interviewer: To be honest, I got a bit uncomfortable with the sex scenes but I knew it was part of it because it set the tone of how he treated her for the rest of the play.

    Matt: Yes, exactly. The thing is as well, it’s pre-industrial Britain. There was bestiality in those days. People did have loving relationships with horses. With all the research you do, you look at it and that stuff did happen. Not to say it’s right or not. The thing is like with a piece like this, it’s not whether we have judgment on it, it’s about what it is. Do you know what I mean?

    Interviewer: Yes.

    Matt: You present the work and the time. It’s not specific in any time but it is pre-industrial. The idea of the metaphor is from the plough to the pen. When human beings started, during the agricultural age, they started to use memory different. The way that old civilizations and cultures used to tell stories, there used to be chiefs in the clans or in the tribes that would be the memory keepers, and they would be the ones who knew all the stories and had the wisdom.

    It wasn’t until us as a whole global society started to write things down that we didn’t need to use that part of our brain anymore, so it freed it up for other things because we were able to write something down and put it down on record. The thing is, it shifts because there’s lots of different cultures all over the world that did that at different times from the first time.

    Interviewer: It actually fits a lot, yes.

    Matt: All of that stuff is just really interesting to me, doing all that research and then just working out the sensuality of the play. The play, I think, is very filmic with the lighting and the pictures.

    Interviewer: Yes, the lighting played a huge role.

    Matt: Yes, and the sensuality of it. The way that we worked together as actors very early on, we did a lot of physical work so that when we come to it, it’s like we’re way used to each other’s bodies. It’s not that thing of, “You can’t touch.” It’s like where everybody is touching everybody. Do you know what I mean? It’s like getting used to the physicality of that so that there’s no fear for us as actors to go, “Is it okay if I do that” You just get down and we did all this physical work that really bled into it. You can see that, I think more so with the way that Christian and Judith work. Do you know? Because they’re a couple.

    Interviewer: Yes, she is amazing. I honestly don’t know her. Again, I have very limited theater background, but she was amazing.

    Matt: Yes, she is. She’s so physical as well. There was a point in rehearsals where– I have an old injury in my shoulder and it had flared up, so I had a problem for about three weeks in my shoulder. We’re doing all this physical, real physical work, and then dragon sacks around. There was a whole point where, that bit when the drag in the sack, she would pick one up individually and walk like water. Those sacks are heavy like this.

    I had a shoulder injury, then Christian got a shoulder injury. You look at Christian’s body, he’s a big boy. The two men are like just incapacitated and she’s walking around with sacks on her back. We’re like, “What are you doing, woman?” Do you know what I mean? She’s older than all of us.

    written by mouza on Tuesday, July 11 2017

    News: Matt Ryan Joins ‘Knives in Hens’

    With a huge thanks to my friend Don for the tip, Matt have joined the cast of a small production that will run over the few couple of months in London titled ‘Knives in Hens‘.

    ‘I have no name for the thing which is in my head. It is not envy. It is more than envy. It does not scare me. I must look close enough to look at what it is.’

    A ploughman and his wife live a simple existence in a pre-industrial time until they, along with the hated local miller, are drawn into a struggle of knowledge, power and attraction.

    David Harrower’s haunting play established him as one of the UK’s leading contemporary playwrights. Multi-award-winning director Yaël Farber brings her own distinctive style to this tense, modern classic.’

    The play will be performed starting 17 August 2017 – 7 October 2017 in Donmar Warehouse in London. You can check the official play page for details about tickets and workshops

    written by mouza on Sunday, January 08 2017

    News: First Look at Constantine Animated Series

    The CW announced at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Sunday that the DC Comics character, previously brought to life via a one-and-done NBC drama, will return in an animated CW Seed series. Matt Ryan, who fronted the aforementioned live-action series (and reprised the character in an episode of The CW’s Arrow), will voice the character’s cartoon form.

    As with the typical CW Seed offering, Constantine will run for six to seven episodes of about 10 minutes each. [Source]

    written by mouza on Sunday, October 09 2016

    News: The Halcyon Key Art & MIPCOM Screening

    Sony Pictures Television is inviting delegates at MIPCOM2016 to an exclusive screening of its highly-anticipated, new period drama series, “The Halcyon.” The global entertainment content market, MIPCOM takes place in Cannes, France, from 17-20 October.

    The Halcyon screening will take place at the Palais des Festivals on Sunday 16 October at 6.30pm, and will be open to all delegates. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the producers of the show.

    Produced by Left Bank Pictures and commissioned by ITV in the UK, the eight-part drama is set in 1940, and tells the story of a bustling and glamorous five-star hotel at the centre of London society at the start of World War Two. It shows life in the capital through the prism of war, and the impact it has on families, politics, relationships and work across all social strata, set to a soundtrack of the music of the era.

    written by mouza on Monday, September 26 2016

    News: Justice League Dark Heading to NYCC

    Justice League Dark will be featured at the Main Stage of the Javits Center on Saturday, October 8 at 4:45 PM. While the full movie will not be shown, there will be footage from the film as well as a panel discussion accompanying it. According to the press release:

    “The spotlight panel will include the first official film footage from the all-new animated Justice League Dark, and an enthralling discussion led actors Matt Ryan and Jason O’Mara alongside the filmmaking trio of producer James Tucker, director Jay Oliva and character designer Phil Bourassa.” [Source]

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