Broadway Newcomer Cush Jumbo on Relationships, Hugh Jackman, and The River

British actress Cush Jumbo made a big splash last year when she played Roman general Mark Antony in Phyllida Lloyd's production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, which saw St. Ann's Warehouse transformed into a women's prison. Now she's back and making her Broadway debut opposite Hugh Jackman in Jez Butterworth's The River. Laura Donnelly, who starred in the original 2012 production at London's Royal Court, rounds out the cast of this spooky three-hander, which begins previews (appropriately enough) on Halloween.

Shrouded in secrecy, the characters in The River don't even have names. "It's about a fishing trip," Butterworth (who penned 2011's Tony-nominated Jerusalem) explains in a straightforward, no-nonsense tone. "A man and a woman, late on a moonless night, are trying to catch wild fish in the middle of nowhere…and trying to catch one another." For Jumbo, the simplicity and intrigue were part of the play's initial appeal.

TheaterMania spoke with Jumbo about The River, her other recent roles, and her costars.

What is The River about?

On the surface, The River is about a guy who takes his girlfriend fishing for a weekend. But I actually think The River is about relationships between people. When you take people out of their hectic daily lives…take away their phones, iPads, computers…and put them somewhere that's dark and quiet in nature, what do they actually end up talking about? What can come about in those situations?

Do you think those material trappings and the way they keep us occupied are actually what hold many relationships together?

You wonder, don't you? When you first meet someone, you always meet in a situation, or through friends. We're always going on dates where we go to do something. We can't just be together in a room. That's too scary. It's interesting that we surround ourselves with stuff, but we don't get to do a lot of talking nakedly with each other.

Has this play made you reexamine your own relationships?

It only makes me examine things in a good way, I think. When you're playing someone with a lot of issues, it makes you step back and realize, OK, maybe I don't have so many problems. My boyfriend is back in London. He's coming over quite often to visit. You take that into the room with you, because you're carrying a bit of yourself every time you go in.

Whom are you playing in The River?

I'm playing The Woman. She's a bit of a hectic city girl. She's very excited to be going away and to be with this guy. She doesn't realize what is going to happen to her inside and out until she gets there. And then she's there.

You recently portrayed Josephine Baker in London, right?

Yes. We did Josephine & I at the Bush Theatre in London. It's a one-person show that I wrote a couple of years ago. We first workshopped it and put it on at a pub theater in London. Then Phyllida Lloyd, who directed Mamma Mia! and Julius Caesar, directed it at the Bush. We did tons of research. It was a story about Josephine's life, but also the story of a modern girl. The story jumped between the two.

Mark Antony, Josephine Baker, and The Woman are very different parts. Do you seek out roles that are dissimilar from roles you've played previously?

I'm somebody who enjoys pretending to be other people. I don't want to play someone really close to myself. I want to really investigate someone else. I think that's what has kept me away from roles I've been offered in the past that have been continually the same person or something I didn't think I could learn something new from. I'm just trying to learn something new every day.

What have you learned from this experience?

It's a three-hander, which I've never done before. There's a balance to be had between people. I also learn something new from working with Hugh every day. He's incredibly experienced and works so hard. He brings an energy to the room that somehow makes you never feel tired. I'm mainly learning how to keep my energy levels up to match that.