Formative Performances: Sian Phillips in “I, Claudius”

[Women’s History Month, Day 30]

If I were an actress, I would want to play Livia in I, Claudius. It’s such a meaty and rewarding role that I couldn’t resist playing it if afforded the opportunity. At the same time, I would be terrified of playing Livia because there’s no way I could possibly live up to Sian Phillips.

Livia is…not a very nice person. She will gladly kill anyone who stands in the way of her plan. If someone in her way happens to be someone she loves…well, she’ll still kill that person, only she won’t be glad about it. She is the ultimate pragmatist, poisoning the people she can poison and arranging the deaths of the people she couldn’t poison herself.

What makes Livia so fascinating to me is the way she rises above the role of “entertaining but evil villain.” Livia does many cruel, terrible things in her reign as the emperor’s wife, many acts that can be considered evil – but is she herself evil? I can’t say that she is. She always believes that she is serving in the best interests of Rome. If the best interests of Rome happen to coincide with her own selfish interests, well…so much the better for her, and so much the worse for anyone else.

This is a woman who murdered or arranged the murders of so many people, some of them much younger than herself, and one of them her own son. And yet, when she’s in the twilight of her life, months away from her death, feeling afraid of being damned for all eternity, I still want her to be deified and become a goddess, to avoid suffering in the afterlife.

Keep in mind that Livia shows no remorse for what she did. She is vulnerable because she’s afraid of being damned, but she doesn’t regret the actions she took. She still thinks she was right. And I still want her to be saved. I still want Claudius to protect her soul.

That takes a talent and skill far beyond anything I could accomplish, and far beyond what most actresses could accomplish. Sian Phillips in I, Claudius is my single favorite female performance on television, and I doubt any other performance will take her place in the near future.

I’ve included two clips of Livia. The first is when she addresses the gladiators about to fight in the games she arranged for her late son (whom she wanted dead, mind). It’s hilarious: “These games are being degraded by the increasing use of professional tricks to stay alive, and I won’t have it!” The second scene is one she shares with Derek Jacobi (who is also wonderful and my favorite actor, but this is Women’s History Month, so this post isn’t about him), where she shows real fear for the first time. Bow down. She wants to be a goddess, Claudius, and when she’s in your presence, you believe that she is one.