Reflections on Failure and Performance

You might know the star of Rivals for his revealing role in the hit Disney+ show, but did you know about his dramatic allium allergy?! I thought not.

Alex Hassell might be best known for his portrayal of the dashing bounder, Rupert Campbell-Black in the Emmy-Award winning TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals but his career spans the Royal Shakespeare Company, a leading role opposite Anya Taylor-Joy in The Miniaturist, HBO’s His Dark Materials and co-founding the pioneering Factory Theatre Company.

In this conversation, Alex reflects on the role therapy and his marriage have played in weathering early-career rejection. We talk about his struggle with self-confidence, his unlikely ’failure’ to get into trouble and the rebellious streak that defined his youth - including that time he took acid at Alton Towers. Plus: having to spray tan his own private parts.

This episode was recorded live at the Barbican earlier this year.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Intro

03:17 Season Two of Rivals

04:35 The Challenges of Acting

05:28 Therapy and Self-Reflection

11:17 Overcoming Self-Doubt

13:31 School Experiences and Bullying

20:13 The Factory Theater Company

23:31 Reflecting on Early Career Challenges

23:57 The Onion Allergy Struggle

28:16 Balancing Historical Accuracy and Sensitivity in 'Rivals'

29:30 The Pressure to Be Good

33:12 Family Influence and Personal Growth

40:57 The Actor's Vulnerability and Connection

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

To withstand being an actor, you have to have very, very thick skin.

I am really drawn - for some perverse reason - to parts that intimidate me and that I think I'm probably not capable of playing.

I think that acting sometimes can be a bit like being in an abusive relationship in that you feel like the most important and the best... And then it's just taken away and no one wants you and they're not interested and it's like you're a piece of shit.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/

Head shot credit: Morgan Robins

📚 WANT MORE?

Dame Jilly Cooper - on bonking, class, adoption and the real-life inspiration for Rupert Campbell-Black https://link.chtbl.com/rjl6Slav

Andrew Scott - on bad auditions and his failure to be heteronormative https://link.chtbl.com/18dVhMb_

Sharon Horgan - on the impact of divorce and the liberation of being in your 50s https://link.chtbl.com/hR7kycoN

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

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Elizabeth and Alex answer live audience questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

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Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

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