Photo: Karolina Wojtasik/HBO
Is there any facet of The Gilded Age more emblematic of the show’s unique charms than Kelli O’Hara’s performance as Aurora Fane? A Tony winner who has starred in beloved productions like A Light in the Piazza, South Pacific (2008), and The Bridges of Madison Country, O’Hara is one of the most iconic theater actresses of the 21st century. But on HBO’s delightfully inane drama, she has largely been tasked with background work: furtively frowning and occasionally breaking the rules by, say, keeping a small secret. In season three, creator Julian Fellowes rewards O’Hara’s patience with a juicy scandal: The season opens with Aurora’s husband Charles (Ward Horton) asking for a divorce, a request that would render her persona non grata among her peers. Aurora tells him no, then delivers the line reading of the season thus far: “How strange, when I bedecked myself in these geegaws, I was looking forward to your coming home.” The fact that eight-time Tony nominee Kelli O’Hara was made to say “bedecked myself in these geegaws” did not go unnoticed online.
In tonight’s episode, Aurora has more to worry about than mere frippery. Charles sabotages her attempt to keep their news a secret by bringing his mistress to a society function, a slight Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy) clocks immediately.
How did you initially approach playing this storyline?
Julian Fellowes had a really nice talk with me about the fact that this would be happening and that it was important to him to historically capture it correctly. As an actor, you go, “Great, I’d love an arc.” I had just come off doing Days of Wine and Roses and The Hours, so I was playing a lot of sad women. The important thing when you take on storylines like this is to tell the truth about historical moments so we can learn from them. Women had so few choices, were so locked down, and we’re seeing a lot of it reenact itself in our modern day. It became the job to say, This is what happened and there was no choice but to succumb.
It’s interesting to watch Aurora use the one piece of power she does have, which is that she has to divorce him.
To do the divorcing is to ruin yourself in society because of a choice that he is making. It affects her so greatly. But yes, there is some agency in the fact that she’s going, “I don’t want to.”
We haven’t seen a ton of the Fanes’ marriage on its own before this season. What do you think their dynamic was like?
We’ve thought about this a lot. Ward Horton, who plays my husband, is the sweetest man that ever lived, and so he’s horrified that he’s the villain right now. In the first season, we really invested in this scene where I said, It’s my father’s money, mind what you say about my father. The money has come from my side.
This season threw me for a bunch of loops. Aurora, we learn, didn’t have children. I was not told that. I built her myself a little differently. I started to invest in the Aurora Fane that fell for the beautiful guy, the beautiful look of the situation, the importance of society, how important she takes this role, and what her family would look like. I had a hard time receiving the news that we never had children, because that would have also been seen as something strange. This is what I love about episodic television: You have to build yourself a story, but then you’re also given facts to contend with. I was forced to let go of what I thought was the picture-perfect marriage.
So, now, what does Aurora Fane get to do in her freedom? And what is her new choice? What kind of choices does she make that she never allowed herself to make?
Do you think she loved him?
There is this ability in some females I know to live in denial about a lot of things until they are forced to wake up. Aurora has a lot of that in her. I am not one of those people. In fact, I go more toward the truth and pain, maybe even making things harder for myself. Where I bring myself to her are the times where she crosses the street and goes to the other party and lies and digs into an experience that is probably not seen as perfect because she is more interesting than that.
There was a line last episode where Aurora says that she “bedecked herself in these geegaws.”
I love it. Everybody is all about geegaws.
So you’ve seen the discussion about that line?
I’ve had it sent to me. When I got the script I went right to my dictionaries and researched, what in the hell is this? It’s exactly what you think, it’s jewels and fanfare. I just loved that in this absolutely guttural moment that I was to pull out these words: “When I bedecked myself in these geegaws.” It’s such a challenge in a modern vernacular to be sincere about such things.
How did you approach the combination of needing to tear the audience’s heart out and also needing to say, “bedecked myself in these geegaws”?
Aurora is able to do it and so I did it. It’s ridiculous, but if I don’t believe in it, it doesn’t work. I also think there’s a little sly bit of ridiculousness in the word in that moment: When I was getting ready in this lavish costume of a life, when I was putting myself into this fantasy, I was making myself believe I was excited for your coming home. The word geegaw was carefully chosen, I’m sure, as an example of the ridiculousness of this thought.
My two biggest scenes of the season, the scene from the first episode and another one, were on one day. I was so anxious to see what this episode looked like because I had the worst stomach bug I’ve had in years. I almost couldn’t come onto set, but we had Lindhurst Castle booked that day. They plied me with anti-nausea medicine, and I was lying down in the corset for eight to 10 hours. That’s a theater mentality and I’m proud of it. I liked the way the episode ended up although I don’t remember shooting it.
What was it like to play the moment when Mrs. Astor realizes what’s going on and Aurora starts crumbling?
That’s a good word. Crumbling. When she looks at me and I’m basically found out, the word “crumbling” is really important. As an actor it’s way easier to chew the scenery and fall apart, but I decided Aurora Fane has this inner strength that has protected this facade her whole life. She was raised to do it. Even in that crumbling moment, she’s holding on for dear life. But she knows she’s found out.
The housewife whose life goes south is kind of a specialty of yours, in Days of Wine and Roses, in The Bridges of Madison County, in The Hours. Does Aurora have any of those women in her?
We have to know ourselves and we have to know what we pull from and who we pull from. It’s not so much that those characters are in Aurora as much as there are characters in my life that are in all of those characters.
Do you bring the same women into all of those characters?
I know who I’m playing. Then, when I’m finally asked not to play that woman, I can bring more of myself and it’s delicious. But if I’m asked as an actress to play something like that, I know exactly who I’m playing. Now, they have different backgrounds. They have different histories. The truth of that particular woman is something I know deeply.
Does your work playing Aurora and acting on TV affect your stage work?
It definitely does. These genres are very technically different, for sure, but I’ve always deeply felt that finding the truth in a human story is the same across genre. I’ll even stand by that comment for opera, although that’s not my first favorite genre. I’ve got to find the reason that I’m telling the story and the truth of it. That’s the first thing I go toward in television and I would go toward it in theater.
But also, speaking brass tacks, I sort of feel I need to do television in order to keep up my theater habit. You want to create more of an audience. You want to have more of a reach so that you can do theater. I’ve been very lucky — you started out the conversation with the fact that I’m mostly a theater person, but in this day and age, producers aren’t going to let you continue unless you have the ability to create an audience. I want to do more television and film because I love the genres, but I also want to expand my career and my reach so that if there was a big play or a musical, the producers could feel confident in my doing it.
I know a lot of extremely talented theater artists, more talented than anybody I know. But if a producer doesn’t feel like they can sell tickets, they won’t get the role. This is part of the obligation. It’s not only a joy and a privilege, but it’s also part of the job: Expand your repertoire, be more versatile. That’s what I feel I’m doing. When I walk onto a television set, I’m here to do the work. I’ve got my stuff learned. I’m ready to go. I’m not going to waste time. That’s what I love about The Gilded Age.
Do you like episodic television? Does it give you the same excitement as doing theater?
I mean, the answer is no. I’m a theater beast. I’m addicted to it. I love it with every ounce of my being. I was born to do eight shows a week until I’m exhausted. I thrive off of it. I actually worked on this project called The Accidental Wolf with Arian Moayed for eight years off and on. It was so indie, and in that particular experience, I was so allowed to dig in and learn more about lenses and the structure of television and get into why I’m passionate about it. There are definitely jobs I’ve had where I think my days are being wasted because there’s not that adrenaline rush. But that job and this one, I was part of a story, and part of a group of repertory theater actors that know exactly what they’re doing: Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon. Nathan Lane comes in, he knows this stuff, we do one take. It’s that mindset of, We’re here to do the work and we’re not going to waste anybody’s time. Being in rooms with them has been so fulfilling to me, more as a student than an actual player. And at this age I want to be learning for forever. I could do The Gilded Age for a long time.
Are there revivals you’ve got your eye on, that you’re doing TV to make sure you’re considered for?
No matter how much I’ve tried, my voice just leans classical. I’ve sat in my shower and tried to sound like Whitney Houston my whole life. It’s just not going to happen. There are certain revivals that of course I love, but there’s a part of me that’s like, Is that going to be a vocal fit? I’ve done so many revivals, I often feel like my next steps will be new works, because they have to be created specifically, like Bridges was or Days of Wine and Roses was, or Light in the Piazza was. Those things have been the highlights of my personal career, though some not necessarily some commercially. There are a couple that I would love to do, but some of them get snatched up. I would have loved to have done Sweeney, but that came and went.
Is Follies on the list? I think a lot of people would love to see your version of Sally.
Yeah. Laura Benanti and I used to dream a little bit about switching roles between Sally and Phyllis nightly.
Like in Little Foxes?
Yes. That could be a conversation to pull back out.
