Interview with Phillip Arditti and Nina Bowers
on Stage Play – English Kings Killing Foreigners and more…
Soho Theatre, London
Tuesday 16th September – Saturday 18th October 2025
interview by Louise Cannon
Bookmarks and Stages
I had the pleasure of interviewing Phillip Arditti and Nina Bowers about their new play, English Kings Killing Foreigners. An eye-catching title if ever I saw one, which we discuss as well as the topics of the play and what it’s really about – Shakespeare’s Henry V. We also take you a little bit behind the scenes to the rehearsal room, the state of the Arts, working with Olivia Coleman and Jed Mercurio in other plays and more…
As an Actor Nina has performed in a wide range of projects at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Kiln Theatre Royal Stratford East, The Gate Theatre, and the Barbican. Credits include: all 19 Characters in Anna Deveare Smiths’ Twilight Los Angeles 1992 directed by Ola Ince and Rosalind in As You Like It at the Globe in a “standout performance” (Time Out)
Alongside acting Nina writes and makes work that has been performed at The Yard, ICA, Camden People’s Theatre.
Having grown up in the Jewish community of Istanbul, Philip moved to London and trained at RADA. He first became known for his portrayal of Uday Hussein in the HBO/BBC mini-series House of Saddam.
He has since played leading and supporting roles on stage and screen. Most recently in Jed Mercurio’s Covid drama Breathtaking and opposite Sheridan Smith in No Return, both for ITV. He was a regular at the National Theatre between 2008 and 2018 and was part of Michelle Terry’s Globe Ensemble through 2019 where he played the title role in Henry IV.
Upcoming: Philip will return to The Spy Who Came In From The Cold for its Soho Place transfer this winter, following a sold out premiere at Chichester in 2024.
What inspired the title, English Kings Killing Foreigners?
Great question! Well we wanted something bold and brash and a bit clickbaity. Doing a show about Shakespeare’s Henry V could sound a bit blah and boring. But the show is the opposite of that it’s this wild edgy dark comedy and we wanted the title to reflect that and make a statement. Also the play is really about the process of actors who are having to assimilate in different ways to Englishness and asks the question; does the foreign part of you have to die to make way for Englishness? To be accepted? So the title is a nod to that.
– The play is inspired by your real-life experiences of starring in several productions of Henry V, including one at the Globe Theatre where you first met.
How do you feel those experiences have influenced your working relationship together?
This play really wouldn’t exist without us meeting at the Globe. It was an amazing experience, one that is so uncommon now, to have a company of ten actors do 5 plays together over the course of a year! Being together and living with Shakespeare’s History plays for that long allowed us to have long discussions about what his plays meant for us that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. We’re so grateful for that time and space, it’s so rare to get the space as freelance actors to reflect deeply on the work that you’re doing and your relationship to it.
– How did you choose which experiences to put into the play and how did working together assist in you creating and making the piece evolve into a brand new play?
Very few of our real experiences are in the play, but the events in the play have roots in our real lives if that makes sense? It’s kind of like fanfiction of our lives. Our approach to writing is about taking a very small moment or comment from our lives and then expanding it into a full drama. Kind of the opposite of de-escalation. We look at tiny moments where we may have felt, something was strange or interesting or funny and we push it to the most extreme. Then once we had all these great moments and scenes, we started knitting them together and the play grew really organically from there.
– The synopsis says: “… English culture with a frank and bold criticism of the institution of Shakespearean theatre in the UK…” How do you view Shakespeare, what are your feelings towards him and his work?
When you approach Shakespeare there’s two things you’re talking about; there’s the actual plays and then there’s the brand and the cultural resonance that Shakespeare has. Which is a legacy that is tied up with elitism and British exceptionalism. We’ve both had great experiences with Shakespeare and difficult ones, some of the parts we’ve gotten to play in Shakespeare are really liberating, and powerful. But we also think it’s worth being critical, especially when it comes to the ‘problem plays.’ Shakespeare isn’t going anywhere and as a fixture of the culture he can take some robust interrogation.
– With cultural identity being a hot topic just now, how did you set about turning what can be a heated debate into a piece of comedy and why do you feel this is important?
There’s plenty of anger and commentary when it comes to the topic of identity but there aren’t as many spaces to laugh about it. Both of us have many intersecting identities, cultures and have lived in different places, and when you’re in the position of being many things, you really can see the absurdity of rigid classifications of identity. Absurdity is a great source of humour, and humour is a wonderful way of highlighting absurdities so it’s a perfect match for us. The show gives space for people to laugh while also maybe feeling challenged and uncomfortable and we think that’s really powerful to have those things together. It allows people to engage in a different way and make discussion feel possible.
– There’s a glimpse in the play, within a play of the micro-aggressions within the rehearsal room, is this based on what you’ve experienced and/or witnessed? In what manner have you added it into the play?
We’ve both experienced our fair share of microaggressions in the rehearsal room but the ones you see in the play aren’t necessarily things we’ve directly experienced. Or some of them we have experienced outside the theatre world, it’s a real mix.
– What do you hope people take away from English Kings Killing Foreigners?
We hope people feel like they have more space to process the current political moment, we’ve had lots of people reflect that back to us after seeing the show and that’s been so amazing.
– Philip Arditti, you’ve previously worked with Olivia Colman, Omid Djalili and Gugu Mbatha-Raw amongst other famous, well-known people, what was that like and did you learn anything new or find yourself being influenced by them? Did they divulge whether you influenced them in a positive way in their careers?
Yes, all of them had such humility and authenticity which is inspirational, it must be difficult to hold on to a sense of self when surrounded by so much attention, so I’m always struck by how they manage to do that, I’m in awe. I’m so grateful to them that they came out to support a fundraiser I put together in 2023 for the earthquake in Syria.
– Philip Arditti, you acted in Jed Mercurio’s Covid drama Breathtaking, which was very moving. What emotions did you feel acting in a drama with such immediacy with a topic that affected the whole human race in varying ways?
It felt like it was a really important story to tell, what the health care frontline staff went through. The extent to which they were abandoned by the high echelons of power is really shameful and being part of telling that story in a small way felt important. Those people literally risked their lives to care for covid patients, and no amount of celebration would be enough.
– Nina Bowers, you were credited as all 19 characters in Anna Deveare Smiths’ Twilight, how did you ensure all of them were different from each other and remember your lines, accents for each one?
Well I had a great accent coach Hazel Holder to help me. Also, all of the people I played were real so I scoured the internet for footage of them and if I couldn’t find someone I’d find footage from the time (the play was set in the 90s) and try to model that person off of someone else. I also drew every one of my characters and had all the portraits pinned up in my dressing room, I used colours/styles that meant something for each person, the pictures were like little portals into each character. I also used key phrases and poses for each character.
– You’ve appeared on many stages many times, especially Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, how does it feel to have the experience of walking in the footsteps of so many thesps, dead and alive, with all that history running through a building and across the well-trodden boards?
One of the great aspects of our profession is camaraderie across generations and we have always cherished working with older actors, and being part of a long line of storytellers.
– Arts funding is increasingly under scrutiny and threat, theatre tickets in mainstream theatres, in some cases, astronomically pushing audiences further away from trying out new writing and actors, how do you feel this is affecting the future of theatre, what do you think the personal cost is to both audiences and actors/playwrights and all those behind the scenes and do you see a brighter future?
The structure of the buildings that we work in, the ecology of having loads of producing houses, was set up when there was more funding for the arts. Currently it feels hopeless because there aren’t the resources to keep that system going, and the expectation of the theatre community, including audiences, hasn’t shifted to accommodate that reality. However, we are hopeful that new structures will develop in response to these economically and politically challenging times. If we respond to the moment we are in, the work is bound to be exciting.
– Where can people follow you on social media?
@realfaketheatre
Realfaketheatre.com
English Kings Killing Foreigners is currently running at the Soho Theatre until 18th October. For tickets and more information, visit: https://sohotheatre.com/events/english-kings-killing-foreigners/
Bookmarks and Stages by Lou 