Sarah Snook Almost Didn't Audition For 'Succession'

Fresh Air

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4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

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Summary

Snook, who played Shiv Roy on Succession, was just nominated for a Tony for playing all the characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray on Broadway. "I don't know what comes after this," she says. She talks about playing 26 different parts in Dorian, why she almost didn't audition for Succession, and the word she could never quite say in an American accent.

Also, Ken Tucker shares a remembrance of the leader of Pere Ubu, David Thomas.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from What Next, Slate's daily news podcast, with transparent, smart, and tongue-in-cheek analysis that you can only find at Slate.
0:08.8	It cuts through the noise and holds power to account.
0:11.6	Follow What Next Now, wherever you like to listen.
0:15.3	This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross.
0:18.1	Our guest today is Sarah Snook.
0:20.2	She's best known for playing Shiv Roy on the show's
0:22.5	succession. Now she's on Broadway in a one-person show, an adaptation of the Oscar Wilde story,
0:28.7	The Picture of Dorian Gray. Last week, she received a Tony nomination for Best Leading Actress in a
0:34.4	play. She spoke with Fresh Airs and Marie Boldinado.
0:38.6	It's hard to describe Sarah Snoke's performance in the picture of Dorian Gray.
0:44.0	Snoke plays all 26 characters in this stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel from 1890.
0:51.6	It feels like you're watching a two-hour sprint.
0:56.4	She's giving a non-stop monologue,
1:02.3	a crazy athletic solo performance. For those who don't remember this Gothic horror story,
1:08.0	it's about a young man, Dorian Gray, who falls in love with his own beauty when an artist friend paints a portrait of him. He loves his own image so much that he
1:12.8	makes a wish, a Faustian bargain, that allows him to stay young and beautiful while his portrait
1:18.9	ages and decays. The show uses pre-recorded snippets of Snoke, playing different characters,
1:26.1	projected on huge video screens. There are cameras,
1:29.7	iPhones, and lightning quick costume and set changes all used to tell this story that culminates
1:35.6	in Dorian's spiraling and ultimately facing his sins and his mortality. When Sarah Snoke did this
1:42.9	play for a run in London last year, it earned her an
1:46.3	Olivier Award, which is the British equivalent of a Tony. This isn't the only award that she's
	...

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