Jesse Tyler Ferguson is playing Truman Capote in London.
And he says the role feels personal because he is a gay actor playing a gay literary icon.
Ferguson is starring in Tru at the Menier Chocolate Factory, an 85-minute solo performance about Capote.
The famous writer was known for watching how he behaved, finding freedom in New York and building a life outside the world that had first constrained him.
Ferguson sees something familiar in that journey.
He grew up as a gay boy in Albuquerque and knew he would eventually have to leave to find a bigger life.
He also points out that some of the most famous actors to play Capote before him, including Robert Morse and Philip Seymour Hoffman, were not openly gay.
That difference matters to Ferguson.
And then there is the perfect little detail.
Another gay boy from Albuquerque used to beat him for local theatre roles.
His name?
Neil Patrick Harris.
Ferguson has recalled that Harris, who attended a nearby rival school, regularly won the roles they were both competing for.
The Guardian has praised Ferguson’s performance as five-star, even while finding the play itself much less convincing.
So this is Modern Family, Truman Capote, gay theatre history and a childhood rivalry with Doogie Howser — all in one story.
📷 @jessetyler
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