WHO HASN’T BEEN OBSESSED WITH HBO’S OSTENTATIOUS COSTUME DRAMA, THE GILDED AGE, SO MUCH THAT EVEN INSTAGRAM HAILS IT AS THE ‘DYNASTY OF THE 1880S’. SO, IMAGINE OUR GLEE WHEN THEATRE-LUVVIE-TURNED-BREAKOUT STAR OF THE SHOW, ACTOR BEN AHLERS, YES HUMBLE FOOTMAN JACK TROTTER HIMSELF, CAUGHT UP WITH US TO TALK ABOUT SHINY DREAMS, INNER HAPPINESS AND NEW YORK, NEW YORK.
Hey Ben, let’s talk about how things have taken off for you. Theatre is where it all started before you jumped onto our TV screens. How did the acting bug begin?
Hey, what’s good! Well, theatre was the natural path to start, since that’s where I got the bug growing up. Like many artists, I didn’t mesh too well socially when I was a kid. Performing gave me an identity. It also gave me the attention and love you so desperately crave when you’re young. We still crave that, I guess. But once I got to college for my study in musical theatre, I felt a bit limited in how I wanted to express myself. I dove into student theatre and short films, so when I got out on my own professionally, moving into TV seemed like the clear next step. I’m aching to do theatre again though. That’s where I feel most free and myself.
Why is that?
Theatre is a sacred place to me. I miss the live connection to the audience. Over the last year and a half, I’ve been developing a reading workshop that’s turning into a bit of an incubator for new work with my extremely talented friends. We have some plans for bringing a few of the pieces to production this year. We need more consistent, risk-taking, accessible theatre that lives outside of the existing model.
Are there any inventive or risk-taking stage or screen directors you would love to work with then?
I’m a big fan of Sean Baker and Chloé Zhao. Sam Mendes is the North Star for both filmmaking and theatre directing. And I’m a huge fan of Yorgos Lanthimos. He’s so inventive with his story telling, and there’s a size, peculiarity, and urgency to his filmmaking that I find so inspiring. Dogtooth is a masterpiece. Poor Things was superb and will really stretch mainstream audiences’ understanding of what’s possible through cinema. I remember seeing The Florida Project and Nomadland and thought, “those are the stories I want to tell.” This country is so big, and I hope my work can reflect as much of that diversity as possible. There’s a lot of healing to be done.
Did any of your own experiences growing up in the US, in Iowa, inform any of your passions and dreams?
People back home really work so hard. Maybe too hard. One grandfather was a small-town lawyer, and the other was a cattle farmer. They were role models for the daily grind, and made it clear to me that process was more important than product. I think dreaming sometimes gets in the way of what’s right in front of you, the steps to accomplishing that dream. And that Iowan discipline and humility instilled a work ethic that I can trust while everything else sorts itself out.
So, you find yourself in the big city (New York), right in the heart of an opulent period drama, in The Gilded Age.
Period dramas always felt daunting to me, especially an era so distant from our lived experience. You can find videos and interviews from the 1930s or 70s. But it’s a different time of creative leap to do something from so long ago. We had the most in-depth research assistance from our historical experts on set. And every element of the productions design from Bob Shaw and costumes from Kasia Walicka Maimone did all that imaginative work for us. We got to focus on the heart of these characters and their journeys. There’s a universality in their experience that makes the show so compelling and the performances accessible.
And your character Jack is really of the modern age too, as he’s kind and empathic and a real optimist, Gen Z’s idol! How’s it been embodying this character and bringing him to life?
I’m such a big fan of Jack. He’s taught me a lot about how to get through the chaos we’re going through right now. Be good to the people around you. Do your job. Find hope and embody it. The best part about this job is that your characters get to unlock different parts of yourself, and I have a lot to thank him for.
What do you hope for him in Season 3, he’s got such a rich backstory?
We’re coming back, baby! Well, the season ended on such a high note, and we’re all itching to see what’s next. I’m so glad we get to give our audience what they deserve. They’ve been so loyal. That said, I have no idea what’s coming, so I’m just as eager as everyone else! I want to see how Jack navigates success. We see two extremes between the Old Money and New Money. But Jack has such a distinct POV, and to watch him rise as the embodiment of the American Dream could give a fresh and nuanced take on the joys and pitfalls of that journey.
Can you imagine if WhatsApp existed back then? I mean, the group gossip those footmen of the upstairs / downstairs would share having been privy to everything!
Who needs reality TV? The servants had a front row seat to the original Real Housewives. The gossip had to be their number one form of entertainment. With the wealth disparity, too, I wonder whether the servants took inspiration or harboured resentment toward their employers. Jack certainly couldn’t help but get caught up in the dream of something greater.
Do you like a good gossip, or do you prefer to keep a secret?
I’m too sensitive. Gossip and secrets stress me out.
Speaking of social media. I noticed on your IG that you’ve travelled to Europe a fair bit, with its rich architectural history, much like those amazing homes we see in The Gilded Age which have all but disappeared now. Do you enjoy discovering the past through travel?
Good question! That’s exactly why I like to travel to those places. Everywhere you go in Europe you get a much clearer sense of what’s come before you. I’m filled with gratitude and humility for how small I am in the grand scheme of things. There’s a sense of responsibility, too, to make your life mean something. When you’re standing on streets hundreds of years old, you realise how fast this thing goes. New York is constantly revolutionising itself. But you lose a lot in the process.
Someone once told me about being a New Yorker whether you’re born there or not - that you just know when you are one, and you can certainly spot someone who’s not when you meet them! Are you a New Yorker now?
I think you either become a New Yorker or you end up leaving town. And if you leave, I totally get it. There’s an armour you have to wear in order to get through all of the madness. The highs are so high, and the lows can be so low. But if you can make it through the resistance, there’s a deep feeling of possibility and importance in a place like this that I haven’t found anywhere else. I’d say I’m a New Yorker now. If your bodega guy knows your order when you walk through the door, you’ve made it!
If you weren't an actor, what would you be doing?
I’d probably be living on a beach somewhere teaching yoga and selling homemade jam or something.
Yes, you’re very into practising mindfulness in nature, right?
I definitely feel most whole when I’m in harmony with nature. I think human beings generally feel separate or above the natural world, and that’s led to most of our problems, on the individual and collective levels. So, any chance I get, I try to find a forest or a beach and turn off the worldly distractions that lead to nowhere. Happiness comes from within, no matter the cliche.
Interview by Kate Lawson
Photography by Hadar Pitchon
