IT’S HARD TO TOP ALIEN EROTICA-ENTHUSIAST AS YOUR BREAKOUT ROLE, BUT TANYA REYNOLD’S TURN AS TV HIT SEX EDUCATION’S SCI-FI-LOVING LILY IGLEHART WAS THE SPRINGBOARD FOR EVEN MORE EYEBROW-RAISING CHARACTERS SUCH AS THE PRETENTIOUS AND VULGAR MRS ELTON IN AUTUMN DE WILDE'S JANE AUSTEN ADAPTATION, EMMA; AND AS CHARLIE IN THE TV SITCOM, I HATE YOU, IN WHICH SHE SAYS THINGS LIKE, “GET READY TO HAVE YOUR MIND AND TITS BLOWN.” DON’T EXPECT ANYTHING LESS THAN SPIKY IN HER NEXT APPEARANCE AS LOYAL-BUT-NOT-REALLY SERVANT LICISCA IN THE PERIOD DRAMEDY FROM NETFLIX, THE DECAMERON, SET IN THE 14TH CENTURY AND LOOSELY BASED ON THE COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES BY BOCCACCIO. REYNOLDS IS ALSO NO STRANGER TO THE STAGE, HAVING STARRED IN SCENES WITH GIRLS AT THE ROYAL COURT, AND A MIRROR IN THE WEST END, FOR WHICH SHE RECEIVED AN OLIVIER AWARD NOMINATION FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS. HERE, SHE TELLS US ABOUT PLAYING OUTSIDERS, SHABBY CHIC AND THE BOOK THAT CHANGED HER LIFE.

In The Decameron, the characters within it are like the free-thinking punk rockers of their generation, but aside from all the debauchery, it’s a story about a time and place and the human stories behind it. Would you agree?

Yes, because it’s about a group of supposedly civilised people and what happens when they all believe they’re going to die quite soon, and having lost so many loved ones, you see some of them have this desperate scrambling for power, the need to survive at whatever cost; whereas others are like, “Fuck it, we’re all going to die, so I’m just going to do what I like in the time I have left!” As a group, through all the varied circumstances that brought them together, and their desires and fears, they realise at their heart, they’re not that wildly different from one another.

You play Licisca, she’s a devoted servant, but quite cunning and outrageous and maybe the heroine of the day. How would you describe her?

She’s spent her whole life working as a servant, devoted to this family and doesn’t know any other life. Gradually, the family die from the plague, and she’s left with her least favourite member, Filomena, having lost the only person she loved, Eduardo, the household master. She and Filomena travel to the villa [Villa Santa] and feeling like she has nothing left to live for and sick of being a servant, she makes a snap decision and then ends up on this journey of freedom. She’s unshackled from the chains that have bound her and she embraces that wholeheartedly. She’s mischievous, cunning and outrageous with a heart of bronze, and she’s real, in that at her core, she’s a good person, but she’s messy and complicated and makes the wrong choices and can be selfish, just like anyone!

Dress **Alberta Ferretti**, underwear **What Katie Did**, shoes **Prada**, earrings **Butler & Wilson**

Was it fun to play her, because there’s a myth that female characters have to be likeable… and she is, but she’s also unpredictable…

I loved playing her! It was so much fun for that exact reason, because she’s not likeable all the time, and I think that’s what makes the character, because nobody is likeable all the time. Human beings are messy and complicated and sometimes hypocritical and contradictory, and we make mistakes, and we all have spiky and soft sides, and she’s all those things as she’s had a tough life. She can be defensive and out for herself and has her quirks, but she’s a good person, and I would trust her. She doesn’t mean to hurt anyone unless they’re a baddie!

We’ve seen this format of a bunch of rich people living in mansions with servants before. But this puts an entirely new spin on it for modern audiences with some interesting ideas and personas. It makes you think and then rethink what’s going on, did you feel that reading the script?

I loved when I was reading the script, how you feel you’re going in a certain direction, and then the script would do a hard left turn, and suddenly you end up somewhere you really weren’t anticipating at all. I think that’s what is exciting about the writing and the show as you feel you’re maybe getting one thing, and you end up with many more things you weren’t expecting. I think on the surface the show can look like a kooky period dramedy, but it goes so much deeper.

The stories of these individual characters and their relationships with each other deliver some great moments and dialogue. Were there any pairings you could relate to or resonate with personally, in terms of the dynamic?

There’s a moment in episode five, where Filomena says to my character, “Why aren’t you scared,” and Licisca says, “Of course I’m scared, I’m terrified”, and Filomena replies, “You’re taking up all of the fear, there’s none left for me.” There is an energy in that conversation that I think a lot of people will relate to; when you’re with someone who is very raw with their emotions and you end up appearing a lot more stoic than you feel, having to counter that person’s terror and anxiety by being rational and calm, even though you don’t really feel that way.

It’s obviously set in a time around the black death, and now we’ve all lived through a pandemic and experienced that cabin fever setting in, this take on Boccaccio’s short stories will be even more relatable with modern audiences.

Yes, we’re all freshly familiar with that feeling of tip-toeing on the verge of madness, when you’re forced to remain indoors and it’s terrifying and people are dying. This show takes a bunch of rich people to a villa in the countryside to wait it out, who try to make something positive out of a terrifying thing, turning it into a holiday almost, because they have the means to. I think people will relate on many different levels.

Dress, gloves & shoes **Givenchy**, tights **Falke**

I couldn’t help but think that Lily, your much-loved character from Sex Education, would’ve absolutely loved being stuck indoors, probably doing cosplay or drawing erotic alien comics.

Oh, Lily would’ve used the pandemic to write some incredible graphic novel about a virus wiping out the entire human race, and lone survivors going up to Mars and starting an alien society up there, she would’ve been perfectly happy sitting in her room! [Laughs]

Lily was always portrayed as the outsider, but she ended up being the show’s real eccentric. Do you find it more interesting to play the outsider in a role, as they’re always more complex and challenging?

I love playing outsiders; someone who doesn’t feel comfortable in certain situations or environments, and outside of whatever society deems “normal”. I’ve always felt drawn to characters like that, on the outside looking in, and that’s how I’ve felt all my life, and I think everyone feels that way at some point. In fact, I think feeling like an outsider is completely normal, and there’s so much to mine from that experience of feeling like a fish out of water.

Knit **Loro Piana**, underwear **What Katie Did**, tights **Falke**, shoes **Malone Souliers**

Is that maybe why your Instagram bio says, “awkward hugger”?

Haha! I am an exceptionally awkward hugger! I feel like that description tells you everything you need to know, I’m that person where the greeting is going to be awkward and everything else following from that greeting will be awkward!

It’s hard to imagine that, as you’re so personable in real life, so I wanted to ask about theatre, because your play A Mirror, is like The Decameron in that the characters are not what they seem, with many layers. Whether it be a black comedy, or period drama, most of the roles you’ve played have engaged with people politics in some way. Is there a role or genre you’re hankering to try?

I don’t know if there is a particular genre, but it’s always about the script and if it’s exciting, or it thinks outside the box, or it’s a story that’s not been seen before, those are the things that really draw me in. I’ve been so lucky with the projects I’ve done, particularly A Mirror and The Decameron, as I had not seen anything like them, and couldn’t imagine what the final product would look like, as they were so well-written. That’s what made me want to go on the journey with both those characters and see where they end up.

Dress **Miu Miu**, gloves **Costume Studio**, earrings **Butler & Wilson**, knee high stockings **Falke**, shoes **Casadei**

Between stage and screen, do you prefer the intimacy and instant reaction you get with a live audience?

I love the instant reaction and there’s a lot about theatre that does suit my natural sensibilities more, like being in control of your own performance, putting blood, sweat and tears into it for the duration of the play, and then you go home, and you come back the next day and you can try it a bit differently, or rectify things that didn’t go as well the night before. I love that process of feeling like you’re constantly working on the same role and there’s a lot I love about working on screen too, but I think lots of actors start off in theatre, and that’s where their heart is.

Speaking of hearts, which playwright is closest to yours?

Sam Holcroft, who wrote the play A Mirror, She’s not only an extraordinary playwright and a kind, brilliant, funny, wonderful human being, but it’s fate that we worked together, as at the end of my drama school training, I chose one of her early and obscure plays as my showcase monologue for agents and casting directors, so it’s a beautiful 360 that I got to work with her.

What about other passions outside of acting, I know you’re a bookworm, thanks to those brilliant recommendations you share on Instagram. What were your formative books, and are there any you feel helped you begin the journey you’re now on in life?

Quiet by Susan Cain. It only came into my life a couple of years ago, but it really altered the way I see myself and the world for the better. It was the first extensive thing I read that said it’s ok to be quiet and introverted and that those qualities are strengths, whereas I had previously spent my life feeling that those things are weaknesses and I had to be a very different person. Now, thanks to that book, I realise having the ability to be quiet and listen rather than talk, is a superpower.

You’re a brilliant photographer too, with very mood-evoking imagery. How did you develop your interest and what’s your camera of choice?

I got into it because I was a teenager with all sorts of feelings and I didn’t know how to express them, and I knew I wanted to do it creatively. My aunt is an amateur photographer who inspired me, and I had this tiny point-and-shoot digital camera, and I started taking pictures and just loved it. As I got older, I’ve just bought better cameras and eventually found this film camera in a second-hand shop and fell in love with shooting film photos. I love the slow pace and thinking about every frame and the excitement of getting them developed.

Is fashion a big interest for you? You really rocked that Bardot-style gown on the red carpet at the Olivier Awards, it was stunning!

Thank you! Well, I like fashion, but not in a way that’s “fashionable”, most of my clothes are second-hand and from places like Beyond Retro and none of them fit me properly, which is the way I like it. For my 30th birthday, I was thrown a surprise party where everyone had to come dressed as me, and it was a rude awakening, to say the least! [Laughs] Everyone looked really shabby, and I turned up, and having got over the initial shock of seeing all my loved ones together in one room, my next thought was, why does everyone look so terrible, and realised after, yes, that’s how I dress! So erm, fashion…. Let’s say, I know what I like. [Laughs]