Ray Stevenson as Edward Teach (a.k.a. Blackbeard) in Black Sails. Photo copyright of STARZ.
Variety has certainly been the spice of choice when it comes to Ray Stevenson’s acting career. The handsome, talented and versatile entertainer has played roles ranging from a knight in shining armor, to the fictional comic book antihero The Punisher, and even Jesus Christ. This month, he takes a step back in time and into the boots of Edward Teach a.k.a. Blackbeard, the notorious English pirate and captain of the Queen Anne’s Revenge in season three of the STARZ historical drama Black Sails. While no stranger to working in front of a camera, the actor had quite the eye-opening experience when first starting work on this project.
“I hadn’t fully comprehended the scale of the production until I arrived down in Cape Town [South Africa] and walked onto the film studio lot there,” says Stevenson. “I’d watched the making of documentary on Black Sails, but seeing full-sized galleons along with the backdrop and Nassau sets [the pirate port], it just blew me away. It’s colossal. Everyone involved in the show has put all their resources and more into this project, and you can see it not only right there in person but onscreen as well. It just takes your breath away and leaves you standing there in awe.
“So that was my first impressions of Black Sails, Then, of course, I loved seeing and hearing the reactions of my fellow actors as well as the crew when I got all dressed up, bearded up, geared up, and strolled onto the set as Blackbeard. People were like, ‘There he is. Look at him; he’s big, isn’t he.’ It was just a delight, and I was made to feel incredibly welcome right from the start.”
Following events that unfolded during the attack on Charles Town in the season two finale, the third season of Black Sails opens in the aftermath of the city’s destruction. The ambitious and cunning Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) has become even more dangerous, and someone who John Silver (Luke Arnold) is trying his best to rein in and reason with. Meanwhile, Blackbeard returns to a much-changed Nassau. He is looking to advance his own agenda, and in order to do so must reevaluate old alliances and wisely choose new allies. Blackbeard used his infamous reputation to elicit fear in his enemies, and Stevenson relished the chance to breathe life into such a colorful historical figure.
“Edward Teach was actually 6’4”, so back in his day, he was genuinely larger than life anyway, and he was quite a charismatic individual as well and carried himself with a certain presence,” says the actor. “So for me, every day was an adventure insofar as finding out new facets of the character to add to my performance as well as develop Blackbeard’s various relationships with the other characters.
“To be honest, this experience has been a thrill, because the writers constantly surprise as well as delight me, in that they write with an incredible emotional intelligence for these characters. Amongst the backdrop of these great swarthy tales, sea battles, swordfight, etc., there’s an honesty that they write with. There’s this space within the dialogue between these people for a human being to exist, change their way of thinking, be part of the entire story and show their vulnerabilities. It’s a great piece to work on and I can’t wait to read the next script and see what’s in store for me.
“Acting-wise, the only acting challenge would in all fairness be coming into a third season of a show that has already been so well-established by a wonderful crew and cast. You’re going into that world as an outsider and a new character, but you’re already part of the story, if you know what I mean. Blackbeard was one of the original founders of Nassau and one of the original drafters of the pirates’ charter. So that was the challenge for me, to be this ‘new’ element, and yet still fit right in as part of the entire historical fabric. That was, however, no challenge at all, as it was made quite easy by everyone around me.”
Crossing Lines, Rome, Waking the Dead, Dalziel & Pascoe, The Bill, Holby City, City Central, Peak Practice and Band of Gold are among the actor’s other TV credits, while his feature film work includes roles in Some Kind of Life, The Theory of Flight, King Arthur, Punisher: War Zone, Thor and Thor: The Dark World. In addition to playing Christ in the York Mystery Plays, the actor has also performed onstage as Roger in Mouth to Mouth by Kevin Elyot at the Albery Theatre in London, and The Cardinal in The Duchess of Malfi at the Royal National Theatre. Born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, Stevenson was eight years old when he and his family moved to Lemington, Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England, and then to Cramlington, Northumberland, where he was raised. He became enamored of acting as a child, but it took a while before those dreams eventually became a reality.
“From a young age, I was drawn to programs about movies, cinema shows and things like that, but my family and I never went to the theatre,” he says. “We were too busy getting from week to week. That’s why I’d always felt like other people were actors, and that there would never be a possibility of me becoming one.
“So I didn’t tell anyone about my dreams. I kept them all to myself, and although I pursued a career in the arts, it was an entirely different line of work. I because an interior designer for an architectural firm in London. However, I still ended up going to the theatre on my own, where I bought a 10 pound ticket and stood at the back to watch a show. It was actually a play called Burn This that clinched it for me. I was so mesmerized by John Malkovich’s performance, and this was at a time where I was asking myself, ‘Is this [acting] a valid choice for a profession?’ When you entertain such an idea, but then all around you are gossip magazines and newspapers with all these rubbish stories and other nonsense about the business, it’s tough to find validity in it. This play, though, was one of the main factors that finally helped me decided that this was something I wanted to do. I began studying at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School when I was 27, and when I graduated two years later I was basically a professional actor. So I was a bit of a late starter and I’ve got a ways to go, but I’m still here and could not be happier,” he enthuses.
Steve Eramo
Season three of Black Sails premieres Saturday, January 23rd @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST on STARZ. As noted above, photo copyright of STARZ, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
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