Interview: Peter Jacobson Has the Theater Bug Again

When Peter Jacobson received an offer to appear in Death of a Salesman earlier this year, his first thought was that he was too old to play Biff. Then came the realization: The offer was for Willy Loman.

The House actor’s turn in Arthur Miller’s tragedy at Hartford Stage in February rekindled his enthusiasm for theater, where his credits include Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Four Dogs and a Bone. Now he’s playing writer Abe Burrows in Eric Bentley’s Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? directed by Anna D. Shapiro at Arena Stage’s Kreeger Theater, through December 6.

Built from testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, the play gives Jacobson another serious assignment with room for his comic instincts. He spoke with TheaterMania about his stage homecoming, the trouble with memorializing real people, and the roles he’d love to tackle next.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

You started in theater before spending so much of your career on television and in movies. What feelings did doing Death of a Salesman bring back?
It was like I was coming home. I know that sounds sort of dorky. I feel like I’m at a bit of a turning point. I started out in the theater. That’s what I did, and spent years in New York and other places just, ‘doing plays.’ Then I started to get more work in TV and film, and that has its draw. I forgot about the more intense camaraderie of the theater. You’re rehearsing, you’re diving in and exploring every moment and every page, every relationship. You all just have to have each other’s backs, and you’re all just living it together in a very intense way. I’ve just got the bug back.

What made Abe Burrows someone you wanted to explore?
You read scripts, and sometimes something just goes, “Yeah, that’s me.” He popped out in the script as this funny character who is very self-composed but also really on a very specific neutral track, which in these hearings is very difficult to sustain. He comically and tragically tries to ride this line.

Burrows, more than anybody in the script, just shows up and really sort of blurts himself out. Seems like he was a guy who really couldn’t help himself. I really like that energy. That’s how I talk.

The play uses actual hearing transcripts. What’s tricky about turning those words into a performance?
The syntax of Abe is very confusing for me at times. It’s not written with the ear of a playwright who wants to have a specific sound or can build a comic moment. It’s what this guy said in the moment, under duress, energized, and he just talks.

As we all do, we speak in half sentences and words that aren’t connected. There’s nothing perfect at all about his speech. I want to get it exactly right, and it’s proving to be very, very difficult to memorize.

Does all that medical jargon you had to memorize on House help?
Yes. But as you get older, it gets a little bit harder and a little more intimidating. It’s very rare in TV and film when somebody really holds court and blabs. I would rather have a lot of really difficult medical terms spoken quickly than a page of ongoing dialogue.

What has working with Anna D. Shapiro been like?
I had never worked with her, and the minute she sat down and started talking, I was like, “Oh my God, I so get it.” There’s such a confidence and such a sharp intelligence and a deep understanding of this play. She’s also very frank about what works and what doesn’t, and I appreciate that. We’ve only had two weeks for this. So, it’s helpful to get a lot of feedback right away.

What does performing this play in Washington, D.C. add to the experience?
It takes place in Washington. It is of Washington. It is the seat of government. It is the seat of power. I can see the Capitol Dome from the rooftop of my apartment here, right across from Arena Stage. There’s something at home about it here. This is where it all happened and where it stemmed from.

In today’s political climate, there’s a lot of stuff going on with these very questions that the play throws in our face: government overreach, persecution. I’m hoping that, even though it’s a period piece, everybody will see just how real and across time these issues are.

Now that you’ve got the theater bug back, are there dream roles you’d like to take on?
I would love to do some Shakespeare again. Richard III is a role I’ve always wanted to play. Iago. We know what the great characters are in the theater, and there’s tons of them out there that I would love to take a crack at. I love doing comedies. Willy Loman, my first instinct on him was what a sort of clown. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, but just what was so sad and funny about him. This part I’m playing now is very serious, and yet there’s something sort of clownish about him. So maybe theater will provide me an opportunity to explore my comic chops more.