Enjoy these fantastic photos of Hugh taken at the stage door, including two snapped while I met him by my mate Heather (my face is pixelated). If you have any photos you’ve snapped of Hugh, feel free to submit them and they will be posted to the site.

• 14 x The Pride: Stage Door

Starring Hugh Dancy and Ben Whishaw and directed by Joe Mantello, “The Pride” opened on Tuesday to favorable-to-mixed reviews, and the producers said that the run is already 85 percent sold out. Box office business for “The Pride” on Wednesday broke the single-day ticket sale record for MCC Theater, the producer of the show.

MCC Theater’s “The Pride” featurette, which features a few more and the same clips from the play, as well as interviews.

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Village Voice – The acting, by all three principals as well as Adam James in a series of small roles, is first-class, with Dancy, subtly differentiating his two roles, casting the most intense magnetic field.

San Francisco Chronicle – Dancy is equally fine, particularly as the buttoned-up Philip of 1958, an anguished individual who even considers aversion therapy to “cure” himself from an attraction to men.

New Jersey Newsroom – Dancy naturally depicts a tightly-repressed gentleman of then and a well-adjusted fellow of today.

The Faster Times – Hugh Dancy has to my mind the more difficult role of the conflicted Philip, and if some may see the coldness that frames his intensity as the actor’s discomfort in such an explicit role, I see it as a choice to show the damage (self)inflicted on a man in denial.

Backstage – Dancy’s mightily repressed 1958 English alpha male, whose inherent masculinity is undermined by his desires, confidently embraces that same masculinity as part of his modern-day gay identity.

Variety – Even at his most affable, Dancy is wound tight with the discomfort of suppressing his true nature. He bristles with conflicted feelings as the mood switches from hostility to desperation to violence to cold dismissal. The actor’s ability to convey the longing beneath his harsh behavior is especially moving, and the raw directness of Whishaw’s reactions gives the scene an arresting brutality.

Reuters – The comparatively underplaying Dancy also is highly effective, well conveying Philip’s inner turmoil over his true nature.

Theater Mania – Dancy manages the difficult task of remaining sympathetic as his 1950s-self, even as Philip’s words and actions towards Oliver and Sylvia can be quite cruel. Philip tries very hard not to let his emotions show, sometimes seeming maddeningly aloof. But his outward appearance belies both a fear and a strong passion, and a scene in which he goes to a psychiatrist (Adam James, in one of three roles, all played to perfection) is absolutely heartbreaking as you see the emotional toll that living a lie has had upon Philip.

New York Times – Mr. Dancy, who was excellent in the Broadway revival of “Journey’s End,” has two thankless roles. Both Philips are most notable for their disapproval of the Olivers, though for different reasons. And while Mr. Dancy stylishly conveys the severity of his characters, he provides few glimpses of the passion beneath the priggishness.

Bloomberg – The play is well acted. Dancy (Philip) is equally good dominating and disturbed.

Time Out New York – Whishaw and Dancy craft masterfully shaded dual roles, alternating the body language of the two periods quite confidently.

North Jersey – … while Dancy, the war-damaged young captain in “Journey’s End,” makes the earlier Philip’s silences as powerful as anything anyone says.

New York Post – Disappearing within his two Philips, Dancy forgoes ego, suggesting the 1958 character’s torment in a particularly economical, chilling way.

New York Daily News – Dancy (“Adam,” “Journey’s End”) is particularly good as the controlled 1950s Philip, who can’t acknowledge his same-sex longings but mourns losing touch with them.

NY1 – Hugh Dancy as the pragmatic Philip, Ben Whishaw’s more sensitive Oliver and Andrea Riseborough’s spunky Sylvia are sensational, expertly crafting characters that tie them to their counterparts across the generational divide. [video featurette at link]

Please also see The Observer, which features a review but no specific note of Hugh’s performance.

• 11 x The Pride: Stage Photos

You’ve said you agreed to appear off-Broadway because The Pride was such a good script. What made it stand out?
The structure is brilliant. On the page, not yet taking into account how well it works on stage, you immediately notice this is bold and provocative writing. But for me, the most remarkable thing was the dialogue. In every scene we find both an exchange of ideas and the characters fighting for their lives, but the dialogue remains natural, convincing and, at the same time, incredibly eloquent.

The Pride is a fairly dark show. Was that part of the appeal for you?
I think there are elements of darkness in the play, but I personally don’t find it to be a “dark” show. There are certainly unsettling moments, but there’s a tempered optimism too. I think it leaves you with hope—it just does it without boldly stating, “Hey, everything’s fine and aren’t we all so great?” What appealed to me was that balance between dark and light.

“Unsettling” is the right word. As a fellow actor actor, has it been hard for your wife [Claire Danes] to watch you go to such uncomfortable places nightly?
As far as my wife goes, I think she’s pretty brave to ever watch me on stage. If you’ll forgive me though, I do think there’s a sort of unspoken question in there, [one that] lies in this show dealing with gay themes. Without giving too much away, there is one scene in the first act that is really unsettling, but to me whether it’s homosexual or not is irrelevant. What I’ll say is: I’ve been asked a lot about playing a “gay” character, but not once has someone asked how I feel about playing the sort of character that might brutalize another character! I find that frustrating and amusing in equal measure.

How draining is it for you personally to go to the places emotionally that that scene, and this play, requires?
The nature of this show is that the better it goes, the more draining it is. I think all the characters are pushed to fairly extreme places that, if you commit, require that. So if you get to the end of the evening and don’t have that drained feeling, it’s actually a bit unsatisfying.

How do you detox once the curtain comes down?
If anything, I think I tend to “tox” at the end of the night! [Laughs.] It’s a mixed feeling. That tiredness comes with the feeling you’ve hopefully done your job right. When the scenes that are the hardest or the bleakest work well, you feel you’re really doing justice to the play, which is what we’re all aspiring to.

What has been the biggest challenge for you in this role?
The fact that the play jumps between these two time periods, 1958 and 2008, adds a level of challenge. And the stakes are very high for everyone on stage all the time. To get to that place every night without exhausting the audience can be difficult.

Watching this play, it’s easy to forget you’re the same guy who’s played princes [in Ella Enchanted] and sympathetic indie-boys [in Adam]. How do you account for such a diverse resume?
I don’t know. It’s always funny, trying to analyze your choices after the fact. You can never predict what’s going to speak to you when you pick it up. I can say that regardless of style, theme, whatever, the dialogue is key. Really good material is rare. I guess most actors are kind of plying the ground between what is mainstream and what appeals to them on a personal level. But I think it comes down to what comes through your personal door. I’m not really concerned with making a piece of super-broad, lowest common denominator entertainment, but if I find a romantic comedy where all the people involved are the best at what they do? Sign me up.

Your career has been mostly in film, but you started in theater. Did you want to do one over the other growing up?
Doing theater in school is that’s what hooked me [on acting]. Once I started working professionally, as is not uncommon, I just found myself working mostly in TV and film. I sort of strangely had to do a curve to get back to what it was that I first enjoyed, which was be on stage. And I’m really, really glad that I did.

Do you remember your first time onstage?
I was about 10, in the chorus of Bugsy Malone, as a down and out boxer. I also had a cameo as a barber. The first bigger role I had was in Waiting for Godot. I played the boy, though! It’s not one of the great roles of the canon, but the play at least… [laughs]!

How significant was your Broadway debut [in Journey’s End] to you?
It was incredible. Understandably, people who are rooted in Broadway sort of feel that Broadway is unique, while people who are rooted in the West End think of the West End as being unique, but of course they share more than they differ. That play specifically was incredible for everyone involved, and not just the work. Personally speaking, it was a stand-alone experience. I’m having a wonderful time with The Pride as well! But Journey’s End created lasting friendships and was an all-round good time.

You got excellent reviews in a challenging role in Journey’s End, but were not nominated for a Tony alongside co-stars Boyd Gaines and Stark Sands. Did you feel robbed?
I really didn’t! That show truly felt like an ensemble, and I felt I was resting on everybody’s else’s shoulders. I know they’d say the same about me. So I mean it when I say all of us taking the stage together to accept the Tony for Best Revival felt like the most appropriate thing that could have happened.

You’ve spoken about how plays like Journey’s End and Black Hawk Down required a great deal of research. Did The Pride require similar legwork? And I don’t mean going to gay clubs.
Because the show’s partially set in 1958 in Britain, the culture of that time and place and how they viewed gay men then is important to understand. The character I play [in that portion of the show] certainly believes he is “sick,” and knowing that that was not uncommon for men of his era is sort of key. Alexi, our playwright, had done a great deal of period research and was an invaluable resource, but it was also about reading a lot.

What did you read?
For example, in 1957 the Wolfenden Report came out, which was the British government’s investigation into female prostitution and male homosexuality. Out of that report came various recommendations that weren’t applied until years later, including the legalization of homosexuality. Reading about that report tells you a lot about the assumptions of the time, as well as pressures on the government from the church and media to handle things a certain way.

There’s been a lot of focus The Pride being a “gay” show, but that’s an easy, almost trite, label.
It’s true, and I think this play is more about identity. Assuming the right to define your own identity is a difficult responsibility for anybody—I’m not talking about sexuality so much as who you are in life. It can be very easy to let people’s perceptions define you. So, more than sexuality, it is about the possibility that you can address who you are and then do something about it. That’s a huge idea! And the flip side of that, and what the play also rather brilliantly examines, are people who are terrified by that idea, for whom the idea of change is unbearable.

Which is an even more timely a theme than sexuality, in a lot of ways.
Exactly. There will always be people, in 1958 or 2008 or whenever, who will be terrified by change. I mean, all of us have been there at one point or another. And that’s probably the third component of this show: how a set of [out-dated] cultural assumptions or rules can still be in play 50 years later, just [manifested] in totally different ways. That’s what I meant when I said the structure of this play is brilliant, because it lays that point bare for everyone to see.

See Hugh Dancy in The Pride at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

Previously scheduled to start Jan. 27, the MCC canceled its first preview “due to wardrobe issues.” Costumes for the work, which is set in 1958 and the present, were not ready.

Joe Mantello (Glengarry Glen Ross, Take Me Out) directs the production that is still slated to open Feb. 16 for a run through March 10.

Hugh Dancy (Journey’s End, “Adam”) stars with Adam James (“Last Chance Harvey”), Andrea Risenborough (Ivanov – Donmar Warehouse) and Ben Whishaw (“Bright Star,” “Brideshead Revisited”).

“Oliver, Philip and Sylvia are caught in a kind of erotic time warp,” according to MCC. “Their complex love triangle, replete with conflicting loyalties and passions, jumps from 1958 to the present and back in a maelstrom of fantasy, repression and rebellion in this innovative new drama.” The play premiered in London at the Royal Court in 2008.

The Off-Broadway run of The Pride features the design team of David Zinn (scenic), Mattie Ullrich (costume), Paul Gallo (lighting) and Jill DuBoff (sound).

Tickets to The Pride at the Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street) are available by calling (212) 279-4200. For more information, visit mcctheater.org.

(Time Out New York) For an actor frequently described as “dreamy,” Hugh Dancy seems surprisingly well-grounded. In the past few years, Dancy’s star has been rising both in his native England and in the U.S.—an ascent that has not been impeded by the sharpness of his cheekbones or the softness of his sea-gray eyes. But it is his sensitive turns in such plays as 2008’s Journey’s End and such films as 2009’s Adam and that have really sealed the deal. This month, Dancy—who married fellow actor Claire Danes in September—opens in the American premiere of Alexi Kaye Campbell’s The Pride, directed by Joe Mantello for MCC Theater.

Did your agent raise any concerns about your taking three months off to do an Off Broadway play on gay themes?
If those thoughts ever arose, I’m grateful that they weren’t expressed to me. I was sent the play by MCC in June, and I thought it was one of the best new pieces of writing I’d read or seen onstage in a long time. January through March is a relatively short commitment. And theater is something I enjoy; it’s something you come away from a little richer, in every sense other than the literal.

Your father, Jonathan Dancy, is a well-known moral philosopher. Was there ever any pressure to go into the family business?
No, not at all. I don’t think—I’m trying to think of a polite way to put it—I don’t think he would have considered the effort worthwhile.

How do you think that growing up with a philosopher shaped you?
My dad encouraged us to ask questions of ourselves and our assumptions. One of the things I enjoy about theater is the experience you get in rehearsal: to sit with a play and beat it until the blood comes out of it, and figure out what the hell it’s about. You have to have that curiosity, and I guess in some ways that was instilled by my parents. Unfortunately, in film that’s not a given. You film everything out of order, and you haven’t often had a chance to bounce your ideas off other people. We’re none of us so good that in solitude we figure everything out.

The action of The Pride alternates between two time periods, right?
Yeah, it takes place in 1958 and 2008. There are three characters, Philip, Sylvia and Oliver—I play Philip—whom you see in ’58 and then you see again in ’08, played by the same actors. They’re different incarnations of the same people, with different dynamics between them, but in each era it’s a triangle of sorts.

So the ’08 Philip is openly gay, but the ’50s Philip is in the closet?
I don’t think of him as a closeted gay man. He thinks it’s a perversion, it’s criminal, it’s a sickness; he truly can’t conceive of the notion that it’s part of who he is. And being in denial is not the same as being in the closet. Truly, truly not. Somebody who has built up an incredibly complicated series of defenses around his whole psyche to prevent even himself from looking at it—that’s catnip for an actor.

The closet is being dismantled in a lot of places these days, but it is still in force for many actors.
It still seems to overwhelm people’s sense of the rest of your identity. If an actor is gay, then they are a “gay actor.” It’s not like being a blond actor or a very short actor—those things can be dealt with in people’s imaginations. And there is this strange cultural obsession, this eagerness to unmask people.

You have had to deal with a few such rumors yourself.
You could spend your whole life just trying to clear up other people’s perceptions of you, but it would be a great big waste of time. I just can’t bring myself to care very much. It’s a kind of self-preservation: You cannot hope to control what other people think or say about you.

Outing used to be largely about conservatives going after supposed subversives; now it’s often gay people calling out people who they feel are not being subversive enough.
Yes: that they’re hiding, that they’re sacrificing the greater good for the sake of their careers. It’s a subject that people are incredibly passionate about. But when I read this play, that’s not what grabbed me about it; it’s all there, but I didn’t think, Oh, fantastic. It’ll be so interesting to get into sexual politics. I just thought that this one man—and the construct and lies that he’s created for himself—would be very rewarding to examine. Maybe some people will feel we’re not making the right argument on behalf of gay rights or whatever. But I’d like to think we’ve all got beyond that.

The Pride is at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

• 19 x January 7th: “The Pride” Photocall