As Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress Helen Hunt prepares to make her Goodman Theatre debut in Harold Pinter’s iconic love triangle play Betrayal, she sits down with CS to talk Pinter, Mad About You and what she’s enjoying most about her career these days.
What drew you to this project?
I’ve always been interested in this play. Who wouldn’t be? The play and Pinter are nothing if not fascinating. I was offered a Broadway production many years ago and wasn’t able to do it, so it has remained something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve also seen a production or two that didn’t quite touch what I think is in here, so that helped motivate me to take a swing at it myself. No fun doing a part that you’ve seen someone do exactly to your liking. I felt there was room for me to give this a try.
What are you looking forward to most about the experience?
We’re a week into rehearsal, and so far working with Susan Booth is a dream. It's as if I've known her for years. And my two fellow actors are so smart, interesting and interested, already so collaborative and open. What more could you ask for?
What are your thoughts on working with Robert Sean Leonard and Ian Barford?
I’ve known Robert forever, and his love of the theater has always—since we were in our early 20s—struck me as being such a beautiful thing. Ian I’m only now getting to know, but he knows a lot about this play, and the excitement the three of us feel about working on it makes the process all the more delicious.
Mad About You catapulted you to stardom in the ’90s. Looking back, what was the biggest lesson you learned from that era of your life?
I learned to be grateful for the great jobs when they come. I count Betrayal among them.
What are you enjoying most about this stage of your career?
I'm loving that I finally feel like I have enough mileage, on the stage in particular, to approach the work on steady feet. We can always fail or succeed, but I feel now, after doing a good deal of work on stage, especially in recent years in very large spaces (City Center in New York, the Old Vic in London), that I can skip the intimidation part and go right to some combination of experience and humility.
Betrayal runs Feb. 8-March 16 at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., goodmantheatre.org.
Photography by: Courtesy of Goodman Theatre
