AS THE ACTRESS PREPARES TO TREAD THE BOARDS OF LONDON’S WEST END, WE CHAT TO HER ABOUT APPEARING ON STAGE AND SCREEN, AWARD-NIGHT NERVES AND, OF COURSE, HER UNFORGETTABLE TURN IN GREASE

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WORDS: TIM HEAP

FOR ALMOST 40 YEARS, Stockard Channing’s characterisation of Grease’s Rizzo has delighted viewers and definined the career of the now-veteran actress. To many, Olivia Newton-John’s sickly sweet Sandy wasn’t someone they could relate to, but Rizzo, with her bad-arse attitude and the bravado hiding her flaws, was someone who seemed much more grounded in reality.

It’s a role that Stockard, now 73 (she was in her thirties when she played the high-school girl), hasn’t been able to escape since although she’s followed it up with award-winning performances on stage and screen.

Her turn as Ouisa Kittredge in John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation on Broadway and in the West End garnered her Tony and Olivier Award nominations, while the film version secured Oscar and Golden Globe recognition.

Stockard’s latest gig brings her back to London for a 16-week run in Apologia, gay playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell’s dark comedy-drama about a family and its secrets.

It is Campbell’s third play, following his critically-acclaimed LGBT+ drama The Pride, which opened at London’s Bush Theatre in 2009. Stockard will be joined on stage by Downton Abbey’s Laura Carmichael and Doctor Who and Sense8 star Freema Agyeman.

How long have you been in the UK for Apologia rehearsals?

I got here the day before yesterday — right in time for the heat! We’re starting rehearsals, then performing from late July.