Since rehearsals for her most recent play began, actress Tuppence Middleton claims she has “awoken wide awake in the middle of the night.”
The 36-year-old actress with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) blames “anxiety” for her condition.
Middleton portrays Elizabeth Taylor in The Motive and the Cue, opposite Johnny Flynn as her spouse Richard Burton, in her new play.
The actress’ OCD causes her to worry about caressing her co-star.
“Johnny and I have to kiss in this play, and one of my obsessions is being emetophobic,” Middleton explains to BBC News.
“Therefore, I become preoccupied with the thought, ‘What if Johnny has norovirus?'”
Middleton was diagnosed with OCD as a youth and spoke to the BBC about the “internal” and “hidden” impact it has on her career.
The outset of The Motive and the Cue rehearsals were particularly difficult.
She explains,
“The first day when you meet everyone and everyone shakes hands, I make a mental note of whose hand I’ve shaken, and then I have to remember to wash my hands while I’m talking to people.”
Middleton told One to One on BBC Sounds in 2021 that in addition to an intense dread of vomiting and a preoccupation with cleanliness and contamination, her OCD manifests itself in obsessive mental counting and compulsive checking behaviors.
Now, she says,
“As you age and become accustomed to it, you find ways to cope with it.”
What exactly is OCD?
More than 500,000 individuals in the UK suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder. As with many other medical conditions, OCD can worsen if left untreated, with sufferers experiencing apprehensive, intrusive thoughts.
Due to feelings and thoughts of guilt, humiliation, or embarrassment, OCD sufferers may conceal their symptoms, making it difficult to diagnose.
There are a number of common thoughts and behaviors that a person with an anxiety disorder may experience and frequently recognize as irrational. Examples include:
- a dread of mess or contamination
- intense fear of causing harm to oneself or others
- intrusive or disturbing thoughts or images
- repetitive ritualistic behavior
Tuppence Middleton has amassed an extensive film and television resume, most notably in science fiction, such as Black Mirror and Sense8, and costume dramas, including the Downton Abbey films and War & Peace. She was recently seen in the ITV drama Our House.
However, The Motive and the Cue is her first significant stage role. She admits it is “very daunting” to portray Elizabeth Taylor, an actress whose personal dramas were as well-known as her professional career. Taylor was married eight times and led a scandalous, alcoholic, and addicted existence in the public eye.
Taylor passed away in 2011 at the age of 79
Elizabeth and Burton are newlyweds in the film The Motive and the Cue, directed by Sam Mendes and written by Jack Thorne, who also wrote Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
The couple met on the set of Cleopatra and began an ardent affair despite being married to other people.
Long before Brangelina, Bennifer, or Kimye, they were the first “celebrity couple” and created a sensation wherever they traveled.
Nearly 60 years later, Middleton says it is difficult for younger generations to comprehend “just how famous they were.”
“They were similar to exotic animals in that people desired to be close to them,” she explains.
The play takes place in 1964 when both Burton and Gielgud were at the height of their fame and when Burton portrayed Hamlet in an experimental Broadway production directed by Gielgud.
“Every night of the run,” explains Middleton, “thousands of people lined the street in front of the theater, and the roads were blocked.”
This would never occur today because celebrity no longer possesses the same draw.
The Motive and the Cue runs from 20 April to 15 July at the National Theatre: Lyttelton.
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