“I
DIDN’T
GO
into
this
liking
Katharine
Hepburn
very
much,”
says
actor
Kate
Mulgrew,
who
is
currently
touring
in
“Tea
at
Five,”
a
one-woman
show
in
which
she
plays
the
legendary
movie
star.
“She
wasn’t
one
of
my
favorites,”
she
acknowledges.
“But
the
beauty
of
this
business
is
that
you
sometimes
fall
in
love
with
a
character
that
you
initially
don’t
like.
I
fell
in
love
with
Hepburn,
and
that’s
why
it
works.”
Written
especially
for
Mulgrew
by
gay
playwright
Matthew
Lombardo,
“Tea
at
Five”
explores
Hepburn’s
life
at
two
crucial
times
in
her
career.
In
the
first
act,
it’s
1938,
and
the
31-year-old
movie
star
has
just
been
dubbed
“box
office
poison.”
The
second
act
presents
Hepburn
more
than
40
years
later,
suffering
the
effects
of
a
serious
car
accident
and
contemplating
her
retirement
from
films.
All
of
this
is
set
in
Hepburn’s
Connecticut
home
at
teatime.
The
play
opens
at
Baltimore’s
Hippodrome
Theatre
on
Jan.18
and
closes
on
Jan.
23.
Lombardo
says
he
was
struck
by
Mulgrew’s
Hepburnesque
quality
in
her
voice
and
looks,
and
vowed
then
and
there
to
write
“Tea
at
Five”
for
Mulgrew,
with
whom
he
was
already
acquainted
socially.
“PLAYING
YOUNG
KATE
is
difficult,”
Mulgrew
says.
“She
was
an
agile
athlete
with
boundless
energy.
Her
invented
vocal
quality
is
hard
to
sustain,
and
I
keep
it
up
the
entire
first
act.
“She
was
not
a
self-examined
young
woman,”
she
adds.
“That
might
have
gotten
in
the
way
of
a
career
that
she
wanted
more
than
life
itself.
As
the
older
Kate,
she
is
far
more
reflective,
and
I
like
that.”
The
Hepburn
legend
hangs
on
cheekbones,
fierce
Yankee
independence,
wit,
and
wearing
pants
long
before
it
was
fashionable.
Off-screen,
gay
screenwriter
Arthur
Laurents
remembers
Hepburn
as
maintaining
a
slavish
devotion
to
her
own
contrived
persona,
and
having
almost
zero
sense
of
humor.
“You
will
hear
any
number
of
things
about
this
woman.
And
that’s
exactly
the
way
she
wanted
it,”
says
Mulgrew,
49.
“I
have
devised
my
own
truth.
Through
my
research,
instincts
and
sheer
examination,
I’ve
let
her
sink
in.
I’m
very
interested
in
what
defines
a
person
and
in
her
case
it’s
sorrow.
Really,
she
was
a
brave
little
soul
who
made
herself
into
a
silver
arrow.”
From
an
early
age,
she
was
determined
to
be
exceptionally
strong.
“I
so
admire
her
for
not
having
attempted
to
raise
a
family,”
says
Mulgrew,
who,
unlike
Hepburn,
is
married
with
children.
“She
wanted
only
to
be
a
great
star
and
nothing
else.
“Her
career
endured
but
not
without
its
slings
and
arrows,”
she
adds.
“She
had
terrible
down
times
and
dark
lows,
particularly
because
all
she
had
was
a
career.”
In
February,
Mulgrew
will
have
performed
“Tea
at
Five”
for
three
years,
and
she
admits
she’s
grown
weary.
She
says
it’s
not
the
time
on
stage
that’s
tiring;
what’s
hard
is
the
isolation
that
comes
with
touring
in
a
one-woman
show.
Foremost
in
her
future,
Mulgrew
wants
to
spend
time
at
home
in
Manhattan
with
her
politico
husband,
Tim
Hagen,
who
suffered
a
serious
heart
attack
in
September.
And
she
wants
to
take
a
little
time
to
reflect
on
possible
future
projects.
