Christine Lahti: Reclaiming the Narrative

Ahead of her highly anticipated London stage debut at the Marylebone Theatre, Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning actor Christine Lahti sat down for a profoundly intimate conversation with us. In her new solo play, The Smile of Her, she strips away the immaculate veneer of 1950s American suburban mythology to confront the suffocating "silences" of her childhood. We explore the psychological architecture of bringing such an achingly personal piece across the Atlantic—treating the play’s titular "smile" not merely as a coping mechanism, but as a weapon of survival and a dramatic puzzle waiting to be unlocked on stage.

In a very special interview, Christine Lahti reflects on her evolution from pioneering modern television drama in Chicago Hope to making her way onto the Marylebone Theatre stage. Christine opens up about the dark moments of her childhood and aggressive patriarchy that still haunts her today. Indeed, she tells us about the internalised misogyny that she's still confronting today. Our conversation captures a legendary artist refusing to let Hollywood or history edit her past as she finally reclaims authorship over her own life.

The Smile of Her runs at Marylebone Theatre from 10th July - 29th August 2026.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Up close with Carl Oxide celebrating art, entertainment, and the human space.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Uh Christine Larsey, thank you so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

My pleasure. Nice to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Yeah, so um you premiered um the smile of her at the Barclay Theatre Group in it back in 2023. Um, when the show ended, did you feel like you were done with it or were you always planning on bringing the show back?

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Um the Berkshire Theatre Group. Did you say the Berkshire? And I thought you said something else. I'm sorry, I'm I'm just struggling with so many different accents. Um yes, um, at the time it was always meant to have another life. So I've been working on the play a lot, it's gone through a lot of changes. At that time, we had cast a 21-year-old actress to play eight years old, nine years old, the younger Christine. And that she was wonderful, but I thought I really want the innocence of a real 10-year-old. So that's one of the main differences of this production and compared to the Berkshire production, is that we have real 10 and 11 years olds.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah, I mean, I was curious about the title of the show as well. You know, it sounds slightly ominous, you know, whilst alluring, you know, at the same time, the smile of her. Um, is the smile, you know, a sort of mask or perhaps a weapon of survival as well in this case.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Wow, very astute of you, uh, Carlos. It is both. It is a smile of survival, of my mom in particular, but it then it's much a much more universal idea of what women have to do to get by. Sometimes it is a weapon in in terms of a life jacket. We need it to just get through the day, and sometimes it's a mask, and sometimes it's part of the denial of real feelings, is that we feel we have to cover what what's really going on.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you've you've done so much work on screen in film and in TV, and why did you want to make this story into a theater live show in particular?

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Well, I wrote a book, a series of personal essays, that was called Um True Stories from an Unreliable Eyewitness, A Feminist Coming of Age. This play is very loosely based on that book. Uh, I took some of the stories of the book, but mostly in it, and the strongest one I took from the book is about my mother. But I wanted to really explore the microcosm of my family growing up in the 50s and the 60s, and explore how that patriarchy on steroids of my family, that hierarchy of human worth, really affected the men and the women in my family as a way of exposing the potential harmful effects of the patriarchy at large. I don't think today, especially, that it is serving anybody. I think, you know, if I can just preach for a second, the play is not preachy at all. But in my what I hold in my heart is I think it's time to bring it down because it's not serving men or women. I mean, the men in my family, when I look at the when and this is part of the play, I look at the ways in which they were crippled by it, even though they think they're on top, the pressure to be successful in a certain way, the pressure to not ever be vulnerable, the pressure to not know what's in your heart, to not know how to love, to not be able to ask for help. The most human basic needs, I think, were denied my brothers. And of course, lots of things were denied the girls in my family, especially my mother. But it's by looking at that microcosm, I think it's a way for me to try to understand the ways in which the patriarchy of my family held me back, held my brothers and sisters back, all of us. And to look towards a future that is hopefully more equitable and allows all genders to fulfill their real human potential.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Yeah, for sure. I mean, your book, True Stories from an Unreliable Uh eyewitness, and it dealt with some really dark themes, you know, within your family. I guess when they're coming onto the play, do you see it sort of delving even deeper into those dark themes, or do you see it as being more celebratory now that you've come out of that situation?

SPEAKER_02 4:46

I think it's both. I mean, I think my task on stage is to uncover truths and to try to understand the ways in which that patriarchy, as I said, served or didn't serve us. And really, when I left home, how it stayed inside me, the internalized patriarchy, how women hold themselves back, how I held them myself back. So it's it's it's it's a deep dive into very some very dark territory, but by the end, I think there is a real celebration of what happens when we're able to tell our stories, that there is potential real healing in the telling. Um yeah, it goes to dark places, but I think ultimately by I think that's there's healing in the telling, and it's when people tell their personal stories, it so many people feel inspired to tell theirs and know that they're not alone. And I think that is a real important thing that I want this play to give other people is to if they can relate, if they can see the universality of what happened with my family, maybe they can know that they're not alone.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Absolutely, and you know, to tell the story night after night, you know, on the stage. Um, how challenging was it for you when you did it the first time, you know, having to sort of relive some of those really dark moments too?

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Well, it's interesting, it was therapeutic in a way, but I remember um I thought mid-mid-run in the Berkshires, I thought I think I need to start therapy again because it was having to relive a lot of trauma. And what does that do to your psyche ultimately? But because the play is so hopeful at the end, and because my character, Christine, goes through such a roller coaster journey to get there. I feel by the end so optimistic. I feel so hopeful. So I think if I didn't get to that end, it would be more traumatizing to do it eight times a week, but there is something so powerful in the in the hope.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Yeah, I mean, as you've been rehearsing this play as well, when you look at the Christine in the play, um, how much of that Christine do you still see within yourself, or do you feel like you're a completely different woman now?

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Oh no, this is a lifelong struggle. I still find internalized misogyny, internalized patriarchy. It's so in our blood, it's so, you know, ways in which I feel like, oh, maybe no one cares about this particular story, or maybe this thing doesn't really matter that was really that was traumatic for me. I mean, there was a there's a story in the play that even at this age, this late age, this old age that I am, I thought, I'm not sure it matters. What is that? That is an adult woman saying that something traumatic that happened to me doesn't matter, that maybe I don't matter. How is that still in my I mean I'm a real activist, a feminist, I'm a real passionate, you know, um believer in equal rights for everyone, and yet I still, there's something in me that sometimes says, maybe you don't matter. Maybe that doesn't really matter. That's powerful. I mean, that's scary, but also liberating to be aware of it and be mindful of it. You know, ways in which you've been conditioned as a man to go, okay, I can't express vulnerability, say, I don't know, vulnerability say. I hope that's not your problem. I doubt it's your problem because you're young. But boys in my generation, you know, I bet they're still, they have to be mindful of, oh, why is it why do I get shut down when I feel sad? You know, let me put if you're mindful of it, then you go, okay, that's an old tape. It's an old conditioning and brainwashing, and just break through it.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Definitely. I want to ask about um your relationship with um Melissa uh Annis as well, who's directing the show. And how has it been, you know, um handing your story over and you know, presenting the story through her creative lens too.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Um so she's a new director on this production. Um, Robert Egan directed the original production, and he was amazing, and I love him. But circumstantially he wasn't available for some workshops and on, so I started working with Melissa, and then I realized that just dramaturgically, because she had lived so many of the same exact experiences as me being a woman. Not that Robert isn't an incredible feminist because he is and he understands so much about the female experience. I just felt a kind of kinship with sisterhood with Melissa that I wanted to explore. And it's I just I love her. I mean, we we're kind of like our minds have meshed in rehearsal where she'll she'll have a thought and I'll finish it, and then she'll it was it's really kind of extraordinary, our creative process. Um, it's so fluid and exciting and productive and kind of like like little expl like explosions of creativity all day. It's been it's been amazing.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Absolutely. Uh I feel like over the last few years the word feminist has sort of turned into a bit of a dirty word. Um, I was wondering, you know, um, over your career, you know, how have you sort of seen feminism change and you know, where do you think we have made progress or do you think we are taking steps back now over the last few years?

SPEAKER_02 10:28

I don't know who thinks it's a dirty word, but I I hear you. I will say when I first became a feminist and I met my husband, my now husband, I would say, Well, you're a feminist, right? Because I've been like, I don't want to spend the rest of my life with you if you're not. And he actually said, Well, I'm a humanist. And I said, No, you gotta use that word. There's a reason that word is important. It's not just being a humanist. The reason we have to say feminism is because we don't have equal rights. And we want what all feminism means is having that we get equal rights to men. That's it. It's not taking away rights from men. So I think it's actually less of a dirty word now. I think there are more men identifying as feminists, more young men. And my I think my two sons would clearly identify as feminists. So I think that's important. And it to me it's really a sign of hope that it's not so much a dirty word. It's more like, oh, yes, of course we are. Of course we're men as men, we're allies to women to just balance, you know, the playing field.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Yeah, absolutely. Um, it's interesting at the same time, you know, when you look back over history, and when you look at women like Phyllis Schlafley, who was very against feminism, you know, women who were against the movement. Um, how do you sort of like, you know, explain that sort of juxtaposition as well?

SPEAKER_02 11:50

Okay, so I believe women, for example, like Phyllis Schlafley, like all the women that voted for Trump, a lot of white women, not so many black women, because I think they get it, they think that they're getting some goodies out of the patriarchy. So they don't want to rock the boat. They think, well, at least I get A, B, and C out of this hierarchy. I'm not at the bottom of the top of the totem pole, I'm not at the top, but at least I'm, you know, nearered to the top. And that kind of thinking, I think, is just in the long run, you know, how does it serve you to be a second-class citizen? You can accept it and kind of want, don't want feminine, you know, you're kind of anti-feminist, but then you gotta live with the results of being a second-class citizen. And what does that mean, really? You know, the ways in which you are trapped at home and cannot have, say, an income outside of your home. So you are trapped, maybe. I don't know. I just think it's after Hillary was defeated. I wanted to go around and and talk to and interview every white woman who voted for Trump and just say, why? What are you thinking? Do you want to keep this hierarchy? Do you want to keep get a man in office who doesn't like or respect women? How does that serve you? To really find what that mindset is, because I don't I don't understand it. I'm just guessing. Anyway, Phyllis Shafley was a piece of work because by the way, she would say, women, you know, stay at home. And she was a lawyer, and she was working and making money, and but she was telling all the other women that they should stay home.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Yeah, I mean it was it's fascinating and just seeing how these people think and how they act as well. Um, and I guess you know on the other side of it, and you've got people like Gloria Steinem, who you've played and who um is working on this production as well, from my understanding.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Well, she's uh yeah, she's producing a name only. She's a big supporter of me and the play. Um, yeah, people like Gloria Steinem who just changed my life. And to play her was the honor of my life. Um, when I was in college, um when I first went to college, I honestly thought that women were biologically inferior. That's how we were born. I didn't know that this whole gender hierarchy was made up. It's all made up. So when I learned about Gloria Steinem and I learned about second-wave feminism, it was so eye-opening and mind-boggling that it was just, you know, as I said, made up. So then it feminism became a life jacket for me. Gloria Steinon became a life jacket for me. All these feminists, um, Betty Ferdan and and and uh Robin Morgan and all these women that really showed me the way and inspired me.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Absolutely. And um yeah, can you tell us about the first time you met um Gloria Steinem and what was that like?

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Well, I told you know, I just fangirled out and I just said, You saved my life, and thank you. And Gloria, in her fashion, generous, loving, amazing fashion, always says, because so many women come up to her when we go out, we hang out together a lot. So many women go up to her and say, Thank you, you saved my life, you saved my sister's life, you saved my mom's life. And she always says, No, you save mine. She's so inspired by other women, so that she can't, it's very hard for her to take that kind of compliment. Yeah, she's the most generous person I've ever met with that kind of, you know, people are really grateful to her, but she's just grateful to other women and allies who are men.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Yeah, for sure. Uh, and you've been part of the fight for so long yourself as well. Um, have you had many young women, you know, coming up to you and you know, sharing their gratitude for you know the way that how you've paved the way as well in many ways, too.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Yeah, I mean, certainly not to the degree of Gloria Steinem, but yeah, I mean, I've been to many marches, I've spoken at the women's march twice. I've done I've tried to play as many characters as I can. Sometimes you just have to play pay the rent, right? But who are empowered women on the screen or in TV? You know, people who watch Chicago Hope, my first big TV series, sometimes they'll say, you know, she was so inspiring. That character, Kate Austin, was so inspiring to me because they'd never seen a female heart surgeon. And she was so kick-ass, and it makes me so happy when I hear that anything I've done has inspired uh men or women.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Yeah, I mean you also you know a highly decorated actress and filmmaker, you know, you've won an Oscar, two Emmys, a Golden Globe, you know, numerous other uh nominations as well. Um, what impact do you think in the awards still have? And you know, did winning those awards you know have much effect on your career too?

SPEAKER_02 17:03

They are a shot in the arm of support and excitement, but they've not really changed, I don't think they've changed my career to per se. I love them. I love I in fact I love them, I loved them too much because my dad was sort of his love was conditional upon success and awards and all that trophies. But because I was in the bathroom when I won my first Golden Globe and almost missed it. I don't know if you've ever seen that clip, but from that moment on, in a healthy way, I couldn't take them seriously anymore. So I had to laugh at trophies and you know at myself because perfection was always part of that patriarchal conditioning for men and women perfect, stoic, never failing. And to actually fail in that big way in front of a hundred million people was very, very healthy for me in terms of just not taking it so seriously.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Definitely. I mean, when you look back on you know all of these roles that you've played as well, you know, has there been one role which you feel particularly changed you or made you look at life differently?

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Oh, interesting. It's interesting that throughout my career I feel like the roles I'm given somehow I'm meant to do at that time because it's something I'm working out that I can infuse into the character. Um I think the role of Sylvie in housekeeping was my most impactful because she was so different from me. And I think that was I would say that would be a character I really learned from in terms of her ultimate freedom and her she I mean she was she was very radical, and I think that yeah, she every role teaches you something, but probably because she was so different, I learned the most from her. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Was it hard to shake her off as well, you know, when you finish playing house?

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Yeah, I mean it's it's was always hard to shake off a role until I had kids, and then there was no hanging on to a role because I had to go immediately into mom. And there is no time to decompress. You go, okay, now I'm I've been so focused on this, and now I need to be here and so happily, so happily uh needing to be here with my kids.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Yeah, for sure. It's amazing as well, you know, looking over the last few decades, um, you've not really stopped working at any point. You've pretty much worked very consistently, uh, even at a time when you know most people will be slowing down. Um, how do you sort of like keep up that stamina? And you know, what sort of like gets you up in the morning and makes you want to go to work?

SPEAKER_02 19:59

Coffee. A lot of coffee. Um, well, I you know, I work out a lot. I go to the gym is every day. I think that helps so much at this age for my bones, for my energy. I eat a lot of protein. Um I don't drink alcohol hardly ever. Um, you know, I'm really having because I am old, I really have to be very mindful of getting enough sleep and just, you know, being as healthy as I can because yeah, this is a marathon, this play. And basically, you know, I don't stop talking for 90 minutes. So in so many ways, I have to, it's like boot camp. You know, I don't think I don't see myself while I'm in London this summer going out much. Uh maybe on a Sunday night, but that's it. There won't be any after the play, I'll probably go right home, go to bed, you know, wake up, drink my green juice and my protein. You know, it's it's very, very boot campy. But I've I've always I've done that the last I would say 10 years at least, um, when I do theatre. When I do a film, it's a lot, feels a lot more chill. But this is this is a marathon.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Was there any reason why he wants to do the this play in London in particular as well?

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Okay, so first of all, it I love theatre in London. I mean, I there's something different about theatre here. I think it's cheaper to put on, and that's an honest answer. It was a cheaper production. The tickets are cheaper so that people more people can come, not just the rich elite. Um and I feel like there's there's such a um openness to uh feminist messages here. I mean, look at Prince Andrew Epstein Files, okay? I don't know what's gonna happen. I don't know if there'll ever be any real accountability like I don't know. But in our in America, there's been nothing. Trump just wants it to go away. Cover up has been enormous, in my opinion. I feel like in this country, like the teenage boys who just got off from raping those three women. Were they teenagers or high school boys?

SPEAKER_01 22:19

I think they're teenagers.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

Yeah, they got off, they got like a slap on the hand. The outrage, the outpouring of support for the victims in this country, I just feel is different now in America. Not that I can't wait to do it in New York. I can't wait to do it in New York. But right now, the climate here just feels like it's it wants display. I think in in, especially if I do it in Washington, like, oh, there's gonna be a lot of people going, I it's uh too too uh too dark, too scary, too honest, too personal. And you know, a lot of men, I think, especially are would not maybe want to see it. The manosphere will not run into my play. I'm sure you have the manosphere here. I know I love the the series Adolescence so much, but again, adolescence was done here because you know your people, artists in this country know how dangerous it is, and made this incredible mini-series about something that is worldwide and hurting our boys and obviously killing our girls. The epidemic of violence against women and girls right now has never been more dire and more urgent. And I don't know, I just feel like this country has got their fingers on the pulse of that more. And because of Trump and because of the MAGA people, then of course there's much fewer of those now, thank God. There's still, I guess, 32% who support them. I don't know who they are, but anyway, um, I just feel like this is an exciting place to be doing this play right now.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Absolutely, and um the Marlebane Theatre is so beautiful as well. Um, I think it's an amazing venue and so intimate as well. Um, are you someone who's looking forward to you sort of like looking directly into the audience's eyes, or do you sort of like prefer the audience to be like voyeurs looking through a keyhole into the story?

SPEAKER_02 24:28

I am pretending to look in everyone's eyes because I want to really make you understand I need your help. I really want to connect with you on a very personal level, but I really hope you're in the dark so I can't really see your eyes. Because honestly, you know, here's the thing. I have experience looking directly at people and they're lit up, or God forbid their phones are lighting up their faces. And invariably you're gonna see somebody who's texting or making some kind of you know expression that you that you go, oh shit, I didn't want to see that. Or God forbid they're asleep, right? Then you're dead meat, then you're like ah. Um, so I I like knowing they're there and I like trying to really connect, but I like that they're not that easy to see.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I wanted to touch on, I mean, you sort of brought up phones and also like in adolescence as well, you know, the rise of social media and you know what that's doing, you know, for the manosphere and how that's also upholding the patriarchy as well. Um, are you like concerned about you know what technology is doing, you know, also the rise of AI as well, and you know what that could mean for the creative arts as well in the future, too?

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Yeah, I'm terrified of AI. I don't know what it could hold. I mean, it's potentially gonna put actors out of a job, musicians out of a job, singers, songwriters out of a job, so many people, right? Um I guess it's helpful for medical stuff. People are using it. I don't I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet. I'm very boomered, like with my apps and my phone still, but um my son uses it for um medical advice and you know tips. I guess doctors love it because it it can really help them with research. And yeah, so there's oh I mean, sure, there's positive things about it, but I don't know. I I can't yet get into a uh Waymo. Do you have Waymo's here? Waymo driver driverless cars.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Oh, I think they're coming. I think they're still like waiting to approve them in London.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

Yeah, they are so weird, they're so creepy. I can't get in one. My daughter drives them, goes in them all the time. And and actually, my son says they are safer than a human being-driven car because they are completely computerized, right? And there's no chance for human failure, obviously. There's no human in in the car. So I don't know, I don't trust it, but um some people love it. I don't know. What do you think about it? What do you think about AI?

SPEAKER_01 27:12

What do I think of AI? Um, I think initially I thought it was going to be like a fad, like it'll be something that's around for like a few months and then it'll disappear. But like I'm noticing more and more like on social media, seeing you know, these videos for like trailers for like an upcoming film or series. And then I look closer and like all of the actors are AI, like it's a completely AI-generated video. And it just yeah, it makes me very concerned because a lot of the time, as well, um, you know, you're seeing very beautifully created people, and you know, what does that do to body image and our perception of you know what beauty is as well? So um, yeah, I'm concerned about it.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

Yeah, me too. I mean, certainly for for girls, and I guess now for boys too, all the filters and the AI and the the pressure for to look a certain way is so messed up. And um oh yeah, so those trailers, are they are they illegal or are they sponsored by the film companies?

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Do they well I think a lot of these creators they are AI content creators if there's someone who has there are actors now who are fully AI, but I'm not sure who they are and like how they're creating them either. So there's a lot of like anonymity there as well, from my perspective.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

Oh, I see. I do think the actors' unions in the states have outlawed uh doing an AI copy of actors, and yet there are AI, actual AI entities that are you know seeking representation by agents. I know there are agencies who are refusing to sign these robots or whatever they are, but I don't know. I mean, if a film company can save millions of dollars by hiring a fake human, why would they want to spend millions of dollars hiring? I mean, it's not me, but you know, hiring Jennero or whoever. I don't know, it's it is really scary. Um honestly, I I go on TikTok or Instagram and I can't tell that things are AI. So I will I'll send my kids, whoa, look at this cat! It's so animated. And they'll go, Mom, that's AI. Just look like a really smart cat.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Uh amazing. Um, yeah, I think we're coming up to the end of our time. Um, I guess just as a last question, um, what do you hope audiences take away with them when they come and see the smile of her?

SPEAKER_02 29:40

I hope they take away um a sense of hope that we can change. That we need to change, we can change, but we're all in this together. You know, women can't do it by themselves, men can't do it by themselves. We need to be allies for each other and to lift each other up, each other up. That is you know, then a new definition of power would be that. A new definition of leadership instead of needing to put people down. How about we do that for those who need it? That is to me a hope for the future. And by sharing our stories, by sharing things that we've been through that maybe others will know they're not alone.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Absolutely. Uh Christine Lassia, it's been so lovely talking to you.

SPEAKER_02 30:38

Thank you. I feel the same. Thank you so much for this time. I really enjoyed it.