Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss and Steve Pemberton are performing in three of the most celebrated shows in London
On Halloween 2002 The League of Gentlemen's third and final series came to an end. Written and performed by Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss and Steve Pemberton, it seared into comedy history such grotesque characters as Pauline, the sadistic, pen-obsessed restart officer; Les McQueen, formerly of the band Crème Brulee, whose embittered verdict on the music industry was "it's a shit business"; and the inexplicably terrifying Papa Lazarou, who wore blackface and had a collection of wives, all called Dave.
Though the show originated on stage, and spawned a successful tour, few predicted that the League's trio of actors would go on to illustrious theatre careers. Yet for the past few weeks they have simultaneously been performing in three of the most celebrated shows in London. Gatiss is starring as Captain Brazer in The Recruiting Officer at the Donmar; Pemberton is Mr Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer at the National; and Shearsmith plays Colin in Ayckbourn's Absent Friends.
This is far from the first time they have appeared in the West End. In October 2002 as the League's third series was ending, they took part in the final production of Yasmina Reza's long-running comedy Art. "That was the point at which we all got separate acting agents and thought 'Right, this thing we've been doing for 10 years isn't going to last for ever and we need to look at doing other stuff', but it's been completely coincidental that we've all ended up on stage at the same time," Pemberton told the Guardian.
They were not immediately embraced by the theatrical establishment. "When we first did Art, a review said 'Yes, but can they act?' and that made me angry," said Shearsmith. "I remember thinking 'What have we been doing in The League of Gentlemen? It's not standup."
"I did one audition and the director looked at my CV and said 'Oh, do you act as well?'," added Pemberton.
Yet all three said that playing multiple characters in the show, of both sexes, proved useful to casting directors. "When I did All About My Mother at the Old Vic, which was a transsexual part, I had a lot of experience of dressing up as a woman," Gatiss pointed out.
Shearsmith said that the League served as "a massive showreel for all the different things that we can do as actors", though he added that the three are still reasonably anonymous. "We never courted the idea of being celebrities – we're the vessels to present the characters to the world."
In tandem with their extensive TV work (including Sherlock, which Gatiss co-created, and Shearsmith and Pemberton's dark comedy Psychoville), the three actors have steadily built up a CV of illustrious theatrical parts. Last year Gatiss starred in Ayckbourn's Season's Greetings at the National while Pemberton was in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at the Donmar. Shearsmith, meanwhile, has been in the West End for 18 months, first in Ghost Stories, which was co-written by Jeremy Dyson, who wrote for the League of Gentlemen but did not perform; then in the musical Betty Blue Eyes; and now in Absent Friends.
All three have chosen their projects carefully. "I turn down vicars," says Gatiss. "I've only done two and last year I was offered three gay vicars in one day. I thought, 'Hang on, there's a Nimmo beckoning here.'
"I think Reece gets a lot of parts with simmering anger in them and Steve probably gets a mix of bossy women and slightly crazed men."
Pemberton acknowledged that casting known actors makes Restoration comedies such as The Recruiting Officer and She Stoops to Conquer more attractive to mainstream audiences: "People will be going to see shows because myself or Mark are in them."
However, Josie Rourke, who directed Gatiss in The Recruiting Officer, said there was no longer any scepticism among theatrical casting directors about whether TV actors can deliver on stage. "We've got a much more sophisticated understanding in this country than in America of actors' ability to move seamlessly between film, stage and TV," she said. "It would never have occurred to me not to consider those guys for a stage role." She described Gatiss as "an absolutely astonishing actor. He's a great joy to have in a rehearsal room. He's a complete polymath. I'd work with him again in a heartbeat."
Occasionally, fans of the League have overstepped the mark by shouting out catchphrases mid-performance, most recently during a performance of Absent Friends. "It happened in the middle of the show, but you can't do anything," said Shearsmith. "In this show there's a lot of pauses and when there's a cough in those pauses it ruins it, literally. Certainly someone shouting 'Hello David!' in the middle of it would slightly take your mind out of the moment but what can you do?
"Then they come to the stage door and say 'That was me, you know' as if you're going to say 'Thank you so much'," said Pemberton.
Gatiss says there are other downsides to working in the theatre, namely the money. Shearsmith adds that performing every night is physically taxing, particularly in musicals. In 2006 he played Leo Bloom in The Producers for a whole year. "It does eat into your existence," he said. "Two hours a night should feel like it's nothing but it does hang over you. But my brother's a trawler fisherman and if I said it was stressful or draining he'd smash my face in."
Pemberton said there were no plans to return to the fictional town of Royston Vasey for a revival of The League of Gentlemen, but the three actors are still good friends and go to watch each other perform, though Gatiss and Shearsmith have not yet seen She Stoops to Conquer.
"We're very supportive – it's a lovely thing," said Gatiss, though he added that once they have seen each other's work, "I'm quite pleased it's out of the way. Thus far we've always been able to be quite honest about enjoying the thing rather than worrying that anyone's made a mistake."
Would he be honest if it was awful?
"We haven't had that yet."
Coincidentally, Gatiss and Shearsmith's plays end on the same night, while She Stoops to Conquer closes a week later. To mark the end of their run, Gatiss says that the three will have a celebratory dinner in time-honoured theatrical haunt Joe Allen's. "There's something very old-fashioned about coming in, glinting with eyeliner and sweat."
Though no further stage work is planned, Shearsmith said: "If something good comes along I'll be tempted back like a shot. I love the whole atmosphere and the rehearsal process. I love it."