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[0:00] Denise Gough: My name is Denise Gough and you're listening to Eleven, the official theatre podcast.

[0:17] William J Connolly: Hello and welcome to Eleven, the official theatre podcast that brings the biggest stars and creatives together in one place to discuss life in the arts. She's the Olivier winner and Tony nominee that's made it clear theatre isn't a career choice, it's survival. From her time outside of Shaftesbury Avenue theatres to seeing her own face illuminated above their very doors, it's a career of absolute dedication to the craft, matched with a showering of recognition from both industry and audiences alike. And now as she steps into a new world, a kinder, more generous one to her soul, albeit still putting her work first, she takes to the stage in the premiere of High Noon. So here, in an exclusive conversation direct from her home, she opens up about becoming Amy in Thea Sharrock and Eric Roth's new play.

The power of inhabiting a character not driven by trauma, grounding herself in peace, and how she's finding her voice again through singing for the first time in 30 years. Plus we return to her seismic performance as Emma in People, Places and Things, the work of my life as she so perfectly put it, and why theatre will always be a place of profound healing for her. How she draws inspiration from the fearless brilliance of industry peers like now Oscar-nominated Jessie Buckley. And in a raw, breathtaking final moment she also shares how the nightly ritual of theatre still continues to save my life daily. It is the beautiful Denise Gough here now on this, the next episode of Eleven, the official theatre podcast.

[2:00] William J Connolly: Please help me welcome to this the next episode of Eleven. She is the double Olivier winner, Tony nominee, BAFTA celebrated, an all-round queen of the stage and screen that has the skill and talent to leave audiences shattered in both soaring laughter and a pool of heartbreak. And now she's back where she belongs in the West End in the London stage premiere of High Noon. She is here to tell me all about it so I say good day Denise Gough. How are you?

[2:28] Denise Gough: Good day William. Just a few notes now on your little introduction about me. It could be more flattering and nicer about me if you could please. You could do that again.

[2:35] William J Connolly: Oh it's so nice to be here. Thanks for having me.

[2:39] Denise Gough: I'm so happy that you're here. I'm so happy we're doing this. I'm going to be completely 100% honest with you. I have been bugging your team and the PR people for a fair few shows now to do this. I have, every single time you've gone back on the stage I've gone, do you think maybe she might be able, do you think maybe, and it's finally happening.

[2:56] Denise Gough: I fired that entire team. You're now with a new team who knew that this was going to be gold. You were saying Denise Gough needs gay, that's what they were saying.

[3:07] William J Connolly: Come on, everybody needs gay.

[3:11] Denise Gough: Well I'm so happy you're here. I'm so happy we're going to get to do this because I have a million and one questions but let's start with the most exciting thing in the world as I referenced in that introduction which is, as a famous girl with red shoes says, there is no place like home. I imagine that's how you feel back in the West End.

[3:24] Denise Gough: Oh yeah and also I've worked in many theatres but the Harold Pinter is really something isn't it? I mean it's like magic and yeah it is like, it's always like coming home. Some are better than others and harder than others but yeah the theatre is definitely, even the older I get the more I know that it is the place where I'm supposed to be. So yeah it's gorgeous to be home and the Harold Pinter is really special, like the history that's in the building. Like even one of the cleaners came up to me and like welcomed me to the building and I was like oh god everyone is like part of a whole team there, the ushers are gorgeous, the stage management team that we have on this is insane good, stage door team, the whole thing, it's I love love love love love going to work.

[4:20] Denise Gough: I feel like I'm going to get lots of people in my messages and mentions about you can't say that about one theatre but it's like an actor's theatre, do you know what I mean?

[4:26] William J Connolly: Yeah and also like look for me it's the Wyndhams, the Gielgud and the Pinter, they're all so special. If I die, well of course I'm going to die one day, but when I die, you know in Andor this TV thing I do, Fiona Shaw gets made into a brick at the end of the, like when the characters die they get made into a brick and put into a wall and so I want to be put in the wall of the Wyndhams theatre. Heads up guys at the Wyndhams, that's on the way, don't know when but.

[4:58] Denise Gough: Just taking notes.

[5:00] William J Connolly: Yeah but I want to be bricked up and put into the wall of a theatre.

[5:06] Denise Gough: I don't know if we want you in bricks though, can't we just have the Gough, can't we just give you a whole theatre?

[5:10] William J Connolly: Oh yes I would love that, thank you very much, yes please, the Gough theatre.

[5:16] William J Connolly: What was it like then for you when this project first came to you? Because I know that you did the workshop, I believe it was early in 20, middle of 2025 is that right? Or did I make that up?

[5:25] Denise Gough: Yeah.

[5:25] William J Connolly: So what was it like when they first went, oh by the way, you know this thing that we all love, this classic western that's like literally iconic, we're going to be brave enough to do the thing that some people would be scared of doing. Were you like, fuck yeah, or like yeah absolutely not?

[5:38] Denise Gough: Well look, I was kind of working on bits and pieces on screen and I had some time and I was asked would I do a workshop and I like doing workshops. I had no idea what High Noon was, I'm not into westerns and so I didn't know. I knew that it was to play the part that Grace Kelly had played and I thought, well that makes sense because I'm exactly like her. But I also thought, yeah I probably wouldn't do this if it was a play because I just, you know, she's the wife and then we workshopped it and I realised that what the workshop was about specifically for the part of Amy was to figure out a way to make her more of, well to make more of the part because in the film, you know, women weren't written particularly well back then and she was so, so, so, so young.

So I realised in the room that I was with people who were theatre animals like Thea Sharrock is old school theatre. We kind of came up and out at the same time and so, and I'd never worked with her. And then Billy Crudup and the workshop was so gentle and so inspiring and safe, it was so safe and loving and I thought, but you know, you do workshops of things all the time, actors will tell you, and it never gets made into the actual play. So you do it without ever thinking it's going to happen. And then I think six weeks after we did the workshop, I got a call saying, look, we're going to do it. And I thought, oh. And then I sat with it for a bit because I, you know, I'm used to now playing, you know, after playing a lead like I did before, after running it, like kind of being the central focus of a show, your body gets used to a certain rhythm and having a particular job to do.

And I thought, I don't, will this fulfil me? But you know, William, the world is burning down around us in so many ways. And I thought I would really like to spend a few months in a gentle space with people who I love and who love me. That feels like the right thing for me to do. And it was absolutely the right thing for me to do. I've never worked with anyone like Billy Crudup before. To have a partnership with somebody the way that we do is really something I will be forever grateful for. And Thea, you know, because I feel safe with her, I trust her. And that takes a lot for me now. And the stage management team, because it's a lot of the time you think about the people that you're going to be with on stage or you're working opposite.

But without the people behind the scenes, it can, when you get a stage management team who don't know what they're doing or who don't care, you realise how unsafe that is. And it can be very, it can be quite a, I mean, look, there are more traumatic things, but it can be quite traumatic artistically to have to go through that. And so to be back with a team like this one, I mean, I can't tell you. It's, yeah, it's just beautiful. The whole thing has been so beautiful. I'm so glad I did it. So glad.

[9:10] William J Connolly: Do you think the element of gentleness to Amy, and obviously she does have some brilliant writing towards the middle to latter half of this piece, which is where you very much come alive, but do you think because she isn't trauma 101 from the start, which to be quite frank, and I don't want to pigeonhole you, is not the world that we're so used to seeing you in. Was that what was interesting for you?

[9:29] Denise Gough: Yes. And also there's something that happens in your body when you're, when you play someone who's grounded in a sense of love and peace. And in my own, in my actual life, I'm connected deeply to things that require something else of me and I needed to give my nervous system something that was peaceful. Like, I think if I was playing Harper or even Emma, even though Emma was so powerful, I felt very safe in many ways within my body, in her, whatever happened outside. But yeah, to do that and also live the life that I live outside my work, I think it would have been too much for me. So this was a godsend really. It was a, but it was also very exposing. Like it's, you know, when you are used to going out on a stage and being an animal, like being a sort of a beast, and then you go out in a big dress and you start singing.

Yeah, I'm well aware that it's very different, but it's good to do things that are different. And also it's good to do things for yourself sometimes. It's good to do things without thinking, what will people think? I mean, I've been pretty good throughout my career at always, on stage specifically, of being really clear that I do this for me. I don't do this for any sense of like, I don't know, the shiny things that can come. I do it because I'm healing something each time in myself. And that's really important.

[11:12] William J Connolly: Do you think there's any part as well, because you mentioned the singing there, which was such a joy to be able to be like, oh, I didn't know Denise Gough sang, but you corrected me and said, actually, you used to be a soprano and used to sing when you were younger. So do you think there's any form of connection between why this felt right in a kind part to the younger version of you that did that and stopped and then other things in your life happened?

[11:32] Denise Gough: Yeah. So I didn't sing for 30 years. I found singing terrifying because when I was doing singing lessons, it was as a soprano and it was from the age of like eight or nine to 13, 14. And, you know, I'm in my little velvet dress with my clasped hands and trying to hit a high note. And if you don't hit the high note, you fail. And I don't think that's a very good, it's not a very helpful thing for an artist like me to fail, to feel like I'm failing. And so I hated it. I hated what it required of me, that kind of singing. And so then I just stopped. I sang once at an ex-boyfriend's, the funeral of his father, and I was so emotional that it was quite difficult. And so I never sang after that. And then I told Susannah Clapp that I would like to sing.

And she put it in an article about me. And I remember thinking, oh, God, I've put that out into the world now. But there's something about the way that this happened. So we went to the workshop and I didn't know there was singing. And then I sang one line of a song. We were all singing together. And I thought, well, this is nice, like singing in a group. And then in the workshop, myself and Priyanka, who played Helen, we were given a line each.

[14:42] Denise Gough: I'd met this beautiful folk singer Sam Adian and I'd spoken to him about singing and I asked him would he help me and he was very kind and said yes that he would and then I never called him and so if you're listening I will call you soon and yeah I because I loved what he I watched him in a dance piece and he sang and I was just so gorgeous and I thought maybe I could do something like that or and lovely Jessie Buckley like she does I just love how she just embraces all these things that she can do and her singing is so connected to something very deep and beautiful and she goes off and does these amazing things and like it's important to use the gifts you get and I feel like maybe I was I was asking for somebody to help me and ask and you shall receive well I think asking and the person that did respond is Thea who of course has a beautiful connection to Jessie Buckley because of Wicked Little Letters and all the success that she had which feels feels right but also do you think it's because Thea as you mentioned is such a special human and also very trusting human that you trusted her in order to be the person to say this should be the one where you do sing?

Well the thing is I when I met Thea I was I've been wounded a lot in my career by with directors and and giving my heart and then going oh god you get used a lot you know and and so I said to her I'm not a kid and I I don't trust anyone and she was like okay I hear that and we bonded over you know feelings that we'd both been through uh the artistic wars a little bit and uh so she navigated really gently with me and didn't expect you know you know when people say you can trust me and I immediately go well obviously I can't because you wouldn't have to say it and so she just did her thing and slowly slowly and it was Thea that got me to sing at the start of the show she didn't tell me that she had that idea till like three weeks into rehearsals she knew what she was doing but she did it so beautifully and the thing is with Thea, Thea has become one of my actual people she's not just somebody I work with she's um she's good people Thea Sharrock and she comes from good people like I love her mother I call her my mother too um Victoria Britton she comes from deep waters and and uh and she really helped me a lot I'll be like she Billy and I are like um we call Billy our Billy uh when we talk and we came into this thing together with Eric Roth and he his humility was really something to behold because he's such a giant in the movies and then he was in our rehearsal going I'm just I don't I've never done this before can you help and it was like wow everyone is coming from this from a place of such openness so my walls gently were taken down brick by brick and now I'll be forever grateful to these people for sort of putting me back together in a really kind and gentle way.

[18:07] William J Connolly: This seems like a very silly question but for people like myself that sit on the outer side of theatre that don't have that very important but very unique experience of an actor and a director thinking about some of the things that you've done for example Angels in America could easily be a brilliant piece of literature that is delivered in a somewhat heartless manner because a director doesn't understand not necessarily the piece but the relationship that it plays to the key people on stage and I wondered from your experience particularly with that project and Marianne Elliott who is insanely intelligent and understands the emotional heartbeat of everything that she does why does that skill why does that approach make a difference to the performance that you then go and give?

[18:45] Denise Gough: Well I think it's about creating safety right so that you can and none of that was perfect like I don't expect things to be perfect uh but I think for me what I have what I loved about Thea was that when I went to Thea with my insecurities and my she was available for that and when you've got somebody who does that it's really amazing you know it's really important and you do need people who understand what can happen when you're short-circuiting um certain um relationships like that can bring out I had a great conversation with Paula Wagner our producer the other day and she was saying you know over the course of her huge career she has seen that when actors are doing that it can bleed into real life and if if a director is not prepared to take that on also then you may get a great um production but the mental health of the actors can be uh really um at risk you know but I've learned also that it's very important for actors to to look after themselves like I learned a lot about that I've learned now not to rely on or expect that people will be available for those things so I have to be available for it myself and where I can if I'm in a cast like that I try as much as I can to be available for conversations that might be difficult but that are coming up because of the type of relationships people are playing I mean it's why with Billy on this it's so beautiful because we have a an open dialogue about everything and and also we're playing people who really love each other and so it when you play that kind of relationship it's gorgeous when you get the right person because it bleeds into the whole experience because the whole experience becomes about love and you know Thea's really able to hold Thea's really what I love about her is that she's really able to hold conflict um to she doesn't pretend it's not happening and I no longer I guess what I'm saying too is that I I sort of no longer I'm now old enough to be able to say you know what I don't need anything from anybody I would love if directors and other actors are available for um the fact that things might get difficult and because when you're on when you're working on great literature you should expect that things get very difficult sometimes I think that there's um this idea that we just can't talk about it is that's when things start to break down and I've witnessed that I've been in that over the times that I've worked and and I've also been not cared for when I should have been cared for by a system um that should protect actors from you know if you're having to do a certain thing in your body you should be made to feel very safe and I'm learning that you don't always get that and so I have to do that for myself but I would like the industry to start moving further in the direction of understanding that if you're asking people to put themselves through something over and over and over you have to you have a duty of care um but you know we don't I don't know if we're there do you think that that I'm like you know I'm able to afford a therapist I'm able to afford these things now but young actors who aren't who are kind of we're we're sort of conditioned to just be grateful to get a job and then put up with things and also some people I think like the um living in the murky waters whereas I don't I think we should be really clear about what's real and what's happening because of the play and how do we look after people when we ask them we ask them to do this thing to jump off the emotional cliff every night and then we just let them hit the floor and then they have to keep picking themselves up um the industry could be a lot kinder I think and a lot more courageous about facing what happens when actors are having to short circuit darkness within themselves.

[23:04] William J Connolly: It's interesting you say darkness as well because you forget that while your brain may know that this is obviously you going to work the emotional part of you doesn't and it does have to go there every night which means you have to create an element of protection for yourself. Like if you're good at what you do then you're going to be living in certain kind of like I'm not in any way method or any of that and I've got all my own little routines of how I look after myself but I was um I've been following Jessie on her journey with Hamnet and that experience and it sounds like Chloe Zhao really created a space a holistic shamanic space for them all to be able to create and for her to be able to go to a place of opening herself up into such grief for us all to witness and connect with and I think that's really important that we start working in the theatre in that way but too often you realize that directors are also on their career path and on their um and sometimes actors are used as a result and I think I would love that conversation to love for that to change a bit you know.

[24:17] Denise Gough: Do you think there's any element as well when you did People, Places and Things where your name was above the title people were coming to see?

[24:22] William J Connolly: But it wasn't my name wasn't even on the poster.

[24:29] Denise Gough: Really? Yeah. What? My face was there my big massive face.

[24:35] William J Connolly: Your beautiful face?

[24:41] Denise Gough: My beautiful face but at least I made sure that that was true. Yeah I mean People, Places and Things was the work of my life you know it wasn't easy the last time around it was uh different and but I'm glad I did it. I'm actually quite shocked that your name was on the post that's how dare they but um anyway we move on. I'm just curious.

[24:52] Denise Gough: Siwan and Olivia we all know that thank you very much thank you please but with that show when you know that you've got is it like seven slash eight shows per week and you're not in an emotional available state for you to be able to deliver that but to my point of people coming to see Denise Gough in this show how do you then find the right space for you to be able to go to a place that to be quite frank is pretty fucking rough for her throughout the whole thing?

[24:57] William J Connolly: Everybody knew.

[25:18] Denise Gough: Yeah but with that I did miss three shows which devastated me. I've I never had I've only ever done that. I've only ever missed one show before on Angels in America um and I think it was as a result of everything I was carrying but I think with People, Places and Things...

[25:33] Denise Gough: Things. I never had to search for that performance ever. That was gifted to me every single time, and that's how I know that it's a shamanic channeling. It's not. There's technique involved, of course, but there were nights, like the first time around when I did it in the golden days of doing it, there was a time when I was literally lying with my head on the dressing table going, how am I going to do this tonight? And then I would go out and she would be there. So it really solidified my belief that certainly the way that I work on a stage is in communion with something else, which means that the success and failure of it is not really important. What's important is the channeling. And so, you know, I did all the things that I needed to do and I stayed fit and healthy.

But, you know, I eat cheese puffs and cheeseburgers and like, you know, how many people get me bags of Marks and Spencer's cheese puffs for my opening night? I literally have a lifetime supply of it. It was hard the last time and missing the three shows was really hard. It was hard to admit that I had to. But my body, something happened that my body was just like in fear and in fight or flight and I knew I needed to rest to be able to do the rest of the run. Yeah, I had to say goodbye to her after that, you know, and that was quite tough. I thought I had another one in me, but it's over and I'll be forever grateful for the gift that she was, you know, and for Duncan Macmillan, you know, that writer, he really, God, he really, you know, I had a 40th birthday party.

It was a gratitude party and I brought all the people that I love who have helped me and supported me. I brought them to the last place I ever worked as a waitress and we had a dinner and at that dinner, Duncan told me, wow, the last time I was in this restaurant, you were my waitress. And I had never known that. I didn't know that I was his waitress because people think he wrote that play for me and we had never met as far as I was concerned before I got the part and yet we had met. I had served him and he had seen me in a play. I think I'd done a play at the Arcola that he saw me in and then he saw me as a waitress and he was like, why is this actress a waitress? And when he wrote the speech about what it's like to be an actress, he was, he said, on some level thinking about the waitress from that restaurant and then it was me.

So there are many magical, so that play brought into my life an artist like Duncan and the various people I met throughout it and also it allowed my body to do a part like that which means that the part that I'm playing now in Amy is so restful because she doesn't take up as much space. She takes up a lot of space in my heart, but she doesn't take up a lot of space in my body. So my body isn't having to do things that I had to do on People, Place and Things. But my God, when I think of that, when I think that I did that, I'm so proud of myself. It was very, very special.

[28:55] Denise Gough: Yeah, it was. It was a special time both times. But the first time had an element of, I was so looked after. It was so, because it was new and magic and something was happening, like an artist. I was being, something happened in front of everybody, right? You were there. But to revisit it as somebody who was considered, you know, I've had more success on screen and it wasn't as pure, but it was an absolute achievement. What I managed to do last year in spite of everything was extraordinary. Like, I cannot believe I did it under those circumstances. It's like, yeah.

[29:36] William J Connolly: Can I say it's really nice to see you talk about yourself and the shit bits as well as the good bits and to see the fact that the bits that challenge you the most brought the biggest smile to your face?

[29:45] Denise Gough: Yeah, yeah. I think that that's, I mean, I don't want to spend a life just in challenge, but certain challenges, when you process why they go the way they do or why they happen the way they happen, once you get through the processing of them, they add an element to you that allows you to become more yourself. I think it's, or to speak about myself, it has allowed me to become more myself. It has allowed me to see more clearly. It has allowed me to let go of patterns where I offer myself up to people that I think, you know, are responsible for the thing that I do. Somebody once told me it's like you're spinning gold, and then you realise that there's somebody besides you taking all your gold.

And actually, you have to spin that gold and keep, it's my gold that I share. I decide when I share that gold and who I share it with. And I now find myself, as a result of all my experiences as an artist, understanding that you give that gold away when you decide that you do, and you give it to people who know what to do with it. And I find myself, again, in a situation now, in an artistic experience now, with people who feel very grateful to be given that gold and who are then using that gold in a really beautiful way that I get to see. And, you know, and particularly with Thea and Billy, it's like a little triangle of gold, because they give me their gold too, and I really treasure it. You know, your gold should be treasured when you give it away, not spent on shit. What a way to end a really poetic way of speaking. Don't spend my gold on shit, guys. Shit, guys.

[31:41] William J Connolly: I'm going to make my next question seem such like a harsh U-turn.

[31:44] Denise Gough: Right, I love a harsh U-turn.

[31:46] William J Connolly: But from shit to gold, but no, that's... But do you think, therefore, that's why your emotional availability to be able to go to the darkest of places and seem somewhat limitless, as in where you can go versus where you're now on the journey of happiness with this part, but that seems limited? Do you see what I mean? Do you think that's why you've always felt like there's no limit to the places you could go to with the darkness, but actually you've said, no, the joy is also something I need to care for, and as you, you know, to use your analogy, spin for, and you haven't been doing that?

[32:22] Denise Gough: Well, I feel like, you know, sometimes you give yourself back something, like the universe says to you, I'm going to give you something really gentle now. And that's what I feel this piece is. But there is also torment in Amy, like, of course, I can't be all joy, that would be terrible. But I think my experience of darkness in my life or having to face up to certain things in my life means if I can use that for something good, then it has worth. But it is good for me now also to understand that love and joy and peace and all of those things, channeling those things are also really valuable.

[33:09] William J Connolly: One thing that I do really love and respect about you is the fact that, in similar to the example that you just gave, you do spend a lot of time talking about the great successes of theatre, talking for some, the great, this is such a serious question, the great challenges of, successes of theatre, but also the great challenges of it. I like the fact that you say like, yeah, it looks really fucking cool from the front, but it's actually really difficult backstage. And when we were speaking at the opening, you said like, this is kind of what I've always wanted to do. This space is, as you use the analogy, this is my church. You don't quote to be a religious person, but you say that this is special.

And you explained as I know you have spoken before about how you used to beg outside of theatres and how your journey has gone from that to where you are now, which we say about, I can't believe Denise's name is not above the title, but you are in this experience, you are the leading star of the show alongside a rather extraordinary leading man. Do you think often about that journey? And to be crude, did you truly believe that you would get here?

[34:09] Denise Gough: No, of course not. I didn't even think I would be alive. I didn't. And genuinely, I didn't. And I credit the Church of the Theatre for saving my life because it was the only place that when I got on a stage or got in front of, or got into a creative, a live creative space, I knew I was good at something, which gave me self-esteem. But also something happens to me on stage where everything else just falls away. And it's why it's, it can be difficult sometimes when I see people who do theatre because it's their time to do theatre to prove that they can do theatre. And I feel like theatre should be respected. You know, Carrie Coon has spoken recently about how she's the lead in a Broadway play now because she was in The White Lotus.

Carrie Coon is one of the greatest stage actresses of all time, in my opinion. And she had done a play off-Broadway that she, when I was on off-Broadway with People, Place and Things, we crossed paths a little. I presented her with an award, but I was too nervous to talk very much to her. And she won all the awards for this performance that she gave. And then when the play moved to Broadway, she was replaced. And now it's so exciting that, but it took her doing The White Lotus to become valuable enough to do this Broadway play. And we see it a lot, you know, and listen, some people who have never done theatre, like Jodie Comer, she steps on stage and proves the point that for some, they're just artists wherever they are.

You know, for me, the craft of theatre, and I hear actors talking about craft and go, but actually, in the old days, like I spoke to Arlene Atkins about this, because I said, I think I was just born in the wrong era for theatre. She said, when she was coming up, you had to apprentice. You had to study the women who were playing. I studied Helen McCrory. I studied her when I worked with her. I did everything that she did. And I watched and learned and understood and noticed that she would do certain things with her voice and how on each performance, and how she maintained a run. And listen, we had a lot of parties too, but it was like, but she was a theatre animal. And so I have a deep, deep, deep respect for theatre that I don't always see in people who come and do a play for the first time.

And more and more, we live in a world where culturally, everybody wants to be famous, or things happen very quickly. And it's like sugar, you know, they want the hit. It's like the hit of sugar, but actually, what we need is protein. And to me that theatre is like protein. And Tony Gilroy talks about that, the man who wrote Andor that I was in, he's a huge theatre person. And it's true. It's like, for me, I didn't know that I would survive my teenage years and my early 20s. But something, I don't know what it was, but like so many things happened to ensure that I would end up out, you know, when I walked up Shaftesbury Avenue and saw my poster outside of theatre, it was like I could also see across the road the little girl who used to pick up cigarette butts, you know, and it's not, this is not hyperbole.

This is like my life is, the reason I have such a connection to theatre is because I know that it can be life-saving because my life was saved. So, and then when I did People, Place and Things, I know what happened in that theatre. So, in a world where we're all talking about AI and being replaced and things, you know, being fixed in the edit and all of that, theatre is the last shamanic space. Like, it's the campfire. It's where we tell these stories and can change people. I truly believe that. And the fact that...

[39:20] Denise Gough: I think the thing that I love about theatre is that it is a place of profound healing. It has been for me, and I think it can be for so many people. I remember when I was younger, I would go to the theatre and just feel this sense of belonging, this sense of being held by something bigger than myself.

[39:50] Denise Gough: And I think that’s what I’ve always tried to bring to my work, this idea that we’re all in this together, that we’re all human, and we’re all struggling in some way. And if I can create a space where people can feel seen and heard, then I feel like I’ve done my job.

[40:20] Denise Gough: I’ve had the privilege of working with some incredible people, and I’ve learned so much from them. I think about Jessie Buckley, for example, and how fearless she is in her work. She inspires me to push myself further and to take risks.

[40:50] Denise Gough: And now, stepping into this new role in High Noon, I feel like I’m in a kinder, more generous space. It’s a different kind of character for me, one that isn’t driven by trauma, and that’s been really refreshing.

[41:20] Denise Gough: I’ve spent so much time playing characters that are deeply troubled, and while I love that work, it’s nice to explore something different. I feel like I’m grounding myself in peace, and that’s a beautiful thing.

[41:51] Denise Gough: Singing again after 30 years has been a revelation for me. It’s like finding my voice again, and it’s been such a joy to rediscover that part of myself.

[41:58] Denise Gough: I think about my performance in People, Places and Things, which I refer to as “the work of my life.” That role was so transformative for me, and it taught me so much about myself and my craft.

[42:05] Denise Gough: Theatre has always been a lifeline for me. It’s a place where I can express my deepest emotions and connect with others on a profound level.

[42:15] Denise Gough: I think that’s why I’m so passionate about what I do. It’s not just a career for me; it’s a necessity. It’s how I navigate the world, and it continues to save my life daily.

[42:25] Denise Gough: I feel so lucky to be able to do this work, to be part of a community that values storytelling and the power of live performance.

[42:35] Denise Gough: And as I step into this new chapter with High Noon, I’m excited to see where it takes me.

[42:45] Denise Gough: I hope that audiences will come away from the show feeling something, anything really, and that they’ll see a bit of themselves in the characters we portray.

[42:55] Denise Gough: That’s the magic of theatre, isn’t it? It’s a mirror reflecting our humanity back at us, and I’m so grateful to be a part of that.

[43:05] Denise Gough: I think we all have stories to tell, and I’m just honored to be able to share mine through my work.

[43:15] Denise Gough: It’s a privilege to step onto that stage every night and to connect with the audience in that way.

[43:25] Denise Gough: I truly believe that theatre can change lives, and I’m living proof of that.

[43:35] Denise Gough: So, as I move forward, I’ll carry that belief with me, and I’ll continue to strive to create work that resonates with people.

[43:45] Denise Gough: Because at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about—connection, healing, and the shared experience of being human.

[43:55] Denise Gough: I’m just so grateful for the journey that has brought me here, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

[44:05] Denise Gough: Thank you for having me and for allowing me to share my story.

[44:15] Denise Gough: I hope it inspires others to find their own voice and to embrace the healing power of the arts.

[44:25] Denise Gough: Theatre will always be a sanctuary for me, and I hope it can be that for others as well.

[44:35] Denise Gough: So, here’s to the next chapter and to the magic of live performance.

[44:45] Denise Gough: Thank you.

[44:55] Denise Gough: I appreciate the opportunity to talk about my work and the impact it has had on my life.

[45:05] Denise Gough: It’s been a journey, and I’m excited to see where it leads me next.

[45:15] Denise Gough: I hope to continue to grow and evolve as an artist and to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in theatre.

[45:25] Denise Gough: Thank you for listening, and I hope to see you at the theatre soon.

[45:35] Denise Gough: It’s a beautiful place, and I can’t wait to share this new work with all of you.

[45:45] Denise Gough: Until next time, take care and keep supporting the arts.

[45:55] Denise Gough: It truly makes a difference in all of our lives.