Video: Daniel Radcliffe discusses the differences between American and British audiences

Daniel Radcliffe continues to make the interview rounds for his play, The Cripple of Inishmaan, which is currently running in New York. He recently sat down with the Wall Street Journal to talk about how British and American theater audiences differ in their humor and reactions. He also discussed his upcoming role in Frankenstein.  See a shortened version of the interview below.

Dan says that although British audiences laughed in all the right places, they have a “natural reserve” that Americans don’t share.

It’s the gasps, the oohs and ahhs, and the vocalizations that when Americans are really into something, [they] show it vocally and engage with it.  It’s lovely as an actor on stage to get that feeling from the audiences.

In terms of differences in humor, Dan admits he was concerned that Americans’ tendency to be slightly more politically correct than the English might affect their reactions to certain jokes.

I was kind of worried about how some of the jokes would go, but overall, the people are laughing and lapping it up just like they did in London.

The only joke that doesn’t get a laugh here that did get a laugh in London is… there’s one moment toward the end of the play where my two aunties are just banging on at me and not shutting up, and I say to the doctor, ‘They just keep going on and on.’ And the doctor says, ‘I know they do, but they’re women.’

Every night in London, that got a big laugh, and here there’s, like, nothing. Just a lot of husbands looking at their wives like, ‘Can I laugh? No, I can’t laugh.’

When asked about his daily routine when doing a play, Dan says he both wakes up and goes to bed quite late because it takes him a while to wind down after the show.

Your day becomes oddly focused around the three-hour period towards the end of it, rather than a film set day, when you’re working solidly the whole day.  And weirdly, you end up just as tired as if you were on set.

He also talks about his film Frankenstein, due out in 2015, in which he plays the hunchback Igor. He found it to be a physically demanding part that was much more difficult than The Cripple of Inishmaan.

It’s definitely a very different look for me. He starts off not only hunchbacked but also working in a circus as a clown. There’s something I hope is quite sad about the way he looks in the beginning because he’s a bedraggled, dirty creature who Frankenstein then rescues from that life.

You can read the full interview here.

The Cripple of Inishmaan will be running at the Cort Theater until July 20. Click here for MuggleNet’s review of the play.

Have you seen The Cripple of Inishmaan, either in London or New York?  What did you think, and what were the audience’s reactions?  Let us know below.