Q&A
The 32-year-old actor went from last years hottest TV show to this years hottest play.
Sarah Snook is doingDorian Grayand Brian Cox was doingLong Days Journey into Night.
J. Smith-Cameron is about to be in the West End.
Peter Friedmansabout to be on Broadway.
Hes so great in the play.
Hes so funny and sort of released from being Kendall.
With the success ofStereophonic, Canfield is released fromSuccessionsshadow, too.
What happened has exceeded all expectations.
Its been so nice that all those fears were kind of misguided.
Youre onstage inStereophonicfor more than three hours every night.
Do things ever go wrong?
Im really bad at hooking my bra on both of the hooks.
In fact, I can feel right now that both hooks are not on.
Its just interpersonal vibes.
Yeah, its brilliant.
We talked a lot about Robert Altman movies and the sort of roaming way those movies unfold.
Its just people talking about things.
OK, tell me about your experience in drama school at Yale.
I recently sawInvasive Species, which is byanother Yale alum, and it sounds intense.
Oh, Maia [Novi] is a good friend of mine.
Yeah, we were all so odd.
I felt like we were a group of homeschooled kids.
None of our clothes looked good.
Everything was very unconsidered.
It was all very downtown aesthetic cynical, cool.
And we popped off in our Adidas sneakers, in weird, mismatched thrift store-looking outfits.
We were very wholesome, very bright-eyed.
But I loved drama school it was just dreamy.
Do you see yourself primarily working onstage?
Each medium has its own compensations and shortcomings.
I like doing television.
Ive done really small parts in movies and Id love to have a bigger go at it.
Every story about you talks aboutSuccessionandStereophonicbeing this grand arrival.
Did it feel that way?
It kind of did turn out that way.
I think its very rare that something feels so much fun to do and people like it.
you’re able to tell in the junkets when theres just no chemistry between the cast.
Though perhaps even more entertaining to watch.
Thats when the real acting begins.
I read you and Jeremy O. Harris talk about the petty dramathat comes with being in a play.
For those of us who were never theater kids, what does that involve?
I didnt know how we were going to learn to do it in under 12 hours.
I want to be able to change them.
I cant say W.C. that quickly.
I cant say it as quickly as you want to be.
I love that accent, by the way.
Its so humiliating to be around Brits after the play.
I felt like I knew exactly what punch in of Brit you are based on the accent.
Thats really thrilling to hear.
A lot of Americans are like,I thought you were British.
And Im like,Well, what do you know?
Ive been to a few shows lately where the behavior of the audience has been pretty distracting.
Is that something youve dealt with?
Weve had some alarms and things like that, but its been pretty good.
Sometimes in the romantic fights, theres a little commentary in the audience.
You tell him, or Uh oh, or some of those.
[Laughs] So I think the commentary has been pretty benign and kind of sweet.
That was a very wild thing.
I mean I had such imposter syndrome.
Everywhere I turned it was princess so-and-so, heir to the Estonian throne, real royalty all around.
I find a lot of that stuff in my role difficult too.
Yes, the actresses are trying to make friends with everyone in the room.
Its just wanting people to like you.
What do you do when youre not working or attending those parties?
Im on Goodreads Im trying to do 52 books this year.
In fact, in the play, theres a part where my characters reading.
And then David [Adjmi] had this great idea of having Holly readSula.
Ive read it three or four times.
The only other book that Ive reread isMrs Dalloway.
I think I read Woolf at 18 and was like, I want to studyliterature.
I was such a cliche.
But also, I mean, its cliche for a reason.
So whats next for you after this?
I would love to take a break.
I would love to take a little vacation.
We just got extended until January.
How do you feel about that?
It definitely feels daunting.
I think with any other project I would be horrified, as well as terrified.
I just feel like together we can do no wrongs.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
