‘Grotesquerie’ Star Lesley Manville Talks The “Utopia” Of Playing Two Characters For Ryan Murphy

Grotesquerie star Lesley Manville says she found working on the Ryan Murphy FX series to be a perfect challenge for someone in her line of work.

Talking with DECIDER after the Season 1 finale, the British actress shared that getting the chance to play both Nurse Redd and Redd — two versions of the same person, separated by a comatose dream state Lois Tryon (Niecy Nash-Betts) was in — was the thrill of a lifetime.

“For me personally, that is utopia, because it was one gig, but two characters,” Manville, who previously starred in Netflix’s The Crown, shared. “I love playing people that are not like me and I love playing people that are at sometimes odd, quirky, extreme ends of the kind of social spectrum.”

That may be an understatement for her characters in Grotesquerie as she plays both a seductive nurse who oversteps boundaries and tries to get Lois to sign over her power of attorney rights for Marshall, Lois’ husband. This happens as Marshall is in a coma — although the plot twist in Episode 7 ultimately reveals Lois to have been the one in a coma the entire time. On the opposite side of the coin, Redd is Marshall’s real-life mistress who runs an OnlyFans account and does strip teases for fans.

While Nurse Redd is a cold and headstrong woman who says whatever is on her mind, Redd is a more timid and warm character who deals with conflicts of the head and heart. The dichotomy between the two is what made the role a playground of sorts for Manville, who told Decider that she loved getting to be one of the actors on the show with two jobs.

“I thought, ‘How lovely to have the kind of craziness of Nurse Redd,’ because she was really kind of heightened and out there,” she explained. “People have said to me, ‘What the hell is she about, this nurse?’ Because really, she is a nurse, and I just have to keep saying, ‘No, just keep watching, keep watching, all will be revealed.'”

One could argue that Manville — even going from a forward nurse to good-natured OnlyFans account holder — had one of the smaller changes from character to character. Travis Kelce’s character, Eddie, went from smooth-talking and suave in Lois’ dream world to schlubby and pathetic in the real world. Micaela Diamond’s Megan Duvall also had a major adjustment going from nun to homicide detective and police chief.

The change from Nurse Redd to Redd was plenty enough for Manville, though, who found beauty in the smaller changes between the two roles.

“It was then so lovely that Redd was so different to Nurse Redd. She was warm, she was very human and very emotionally intelligent and heart in the right place,” Manville said.

Ultimately, it was also the more calm-headed character who made peace with Lois, who even admitted she was grateful for Redd taking care of Marshall throughout the years. Manville shared that she believed her character was not happy to be involved in a relationship with another woman’s husband but that the truth ultimately set her free.

“You know, [she] wasn’t totally comfortable with having the affair and the dishonesty that that meant for Lois, but she was open about it,” she explained. “And, as ever, the women came together and spoke to each other like human beings and kind of sorted it out.”

All episodes of Grotesquerie Season 1 are currently streaming on Hulu.