Living it up

There's currently a lot of buzz around Chiwetel Ejiofor. His performance as an illegal immigrant in Stephen Frears's new film Dirty Pretty Things was singled out for particular attention at this year's London Film Festival. He's about to open in Michael Grandage's production of Noel Coward's The Vortex, opposite Francesca Annis at the Donmar. Both performances come hot on the heels of his highlyacclaimed role as a mental health patient in Joe Penhall's awardwinning play Blue/Orange. Oh, he's hot all right. And he's still only 25.

Not that you would know it from talking to him. Having starred in his first Hollywood film (Spielberg's Amistad) at the age of 19 and been barely out of work since, Ejiofor seems unfazed by success. 'I never thought I wouldn't make it as an actor because I wanted to be one so much,' he says. 'If something had happened to make that difficult then maybe I would have thought again. But nothing did. I've been lucky, I guess.'

It's not just the growing interest in Ejiofor as an actor, however, that surrounds his forthcoming performance as the louche, drug addict Nicky Lancaster in The Vortex. When the casting was announced, two national newspapers ran pieces on the fact Ejiofor was a black actor playing a white, quintessentially English aristocrat. Even Coward's estate had to think 'long and hard' before conceding that the playwright's work had to 'move with the times'.

That it was an issue at all raises eyebrows, but Ejiofor couldn't care less. 'I'm an actor,' he says wearily. 'I choose parts on whether I feel an affinity with the character or not. If I do, then it makes sense to tell their story. Quite where race comes into it...' He trails off.

One gets the impression Ejiofor has been fielding this question rather a lot recently. No wonder he's far more interested in the fact that Coward's play is itself so surprising. 'It's very brutal,' he suggests. 'It's not what you would expect from Coward.'

No it isn't. The Vortex was the play that made Coward both famous and infamous. His lacerating send-up of a degenerate upper-class family, headed by the supremely selfish Florence (Annis), with her unorthodox love affair and a drug addict son to boot, led to it being banned by the Lord Chamberlain. The play sealed Coward's image in the public eye as the theatre world's most flamboyant player thanks to a publicity photograph of him dressed as a Chinese Assassin.

These days, The Vortex has lost none of its satirical savagery, but it's the play's psychological depths that intrigue Ejiofor. 'I admit the satire has a moral weight,' he nods. 'But I think its message is overshadowed by Coward's devastating investigation of psyche. It's about family intimacy and the relationship between people and their environments. He strips all that back. What he reveals, I think, is something many people will relate to. And, of course, it's about the distinction between casual drug use and addiction. That is an issue that never loses its relevance.'

It's impossible when talking to Ejiofor not to feel conscious of imposing upon him a set of ideas and preconceptions he holds no truck with. He's almost blissfully casual about the sudden press attention, dismissing the round of high-profile interviews he's done in the last few weeks as 'no pressure'.

It's more modesty than arrogance, I think, that makes Ejiofor so calm. Nor has he any comment to make on whether he sees himself as a black role model, saying instead: 'I never think about that kind of thing, but if me being on telly and stage makes more kids decide they can become actors, then great.' He doesn't do much when he isn't acting: 'But that's because I only ever seem to be acting', and admits he gets nervous before going on stage but thinks everyone does.

Ejiofor is just a regular guy and an excellent actor who doesn't see himself or his life as more complicated than that. Long may it continue.

The Vortex, until Feb 15, Donmar Warehouse, Earlham Street WC2, tonight 7pm otherwise Mon to Sat

7.30pm, Wed and Sat mats 3pm, £15 to £25. Tel: 020 7369 1732.

Tube: Covent Garden

Vortex Comedy Night