Game of Thrones stars Owen Teale, Ian McElhinney share Toronto stage in Gaslight

OwenTealeandIanMcElhinneyare both accomplished, veteran actors with lengthy resumes spanning theatre, film and television, but the U.K.-based thespians still grapplewith their newfound, late-careerfame since joiningTV hit Game of Thrones.

"It's weird...I've been an actor for a long time and you can walk around more or less anonymously," McElhinney, seen as thevaliant Ser Barristan Selmy on the HBO hit, told CBC News.

"And then you do something like this and you realize'Oh, I'm not as anonymous as I thought I was.'"

McElhinney,67, and Teale, 54, never shareda scene in the expansiveGame of Thrones (the formermostly filmedin Croatia, while the latterwas on set in Belfast), but the pairare poised to takethe stage together in the newMirvishProductions staging of the classic playGaslightin Toronto.

I stop and talk to people wherever I am, [even]if they jump out of restaurants with a knife saying "For the Watch!"- Owen Teale

"I have decided to embrace [the new lack of anonymity]," said British actorTeale, aTony-winner for a 1997 revival of A Doll's House.

"I stop and talk to people wherever I am, [even]if they jump out of restaurants with a knife saying 'For the Watch!'" he added, quotingthe line uttered by his GoTcharacter, Ser Alliser Thorne, and othersat an infamous moment ofthe show's fifth season finale.

"It's sort of bonded the two of us together.Yeah, we're both Game of Thrones boys, but apart from knowing of each other, we've never worked together before," saidMcElhinney.

Playing to type

Both actorsjumped at the chance to appear in Gaslight,the 1939 Patrick Hamiltonplaythat isa staple of London theatres, but more rarely staged in North America.

The play, also adapted into a filmby the same name that starred Ingrid Bergman, centres ona woman who hears noises in her house and is convinced she is losing her mind, only to discover that her husband is plotting against her.

British actress Flora Montgomery plays the lead, Bella Manningham, in the Toronto production. McElhinney appears as Inspector Rough, who comes to her aid and brings to light some of her husband's nefarious plans.

That leaves Teale, the Game of Thrones antagonist, to once again play the bad guy.

"You could read it one way that he's a black-hearted villain," Tealesaid of his character, Mr. Manningham.

"Or you could look at it in a more modern psychological sense and try to understand the behaviour of a psychopath, [or]sociopath, at the very least."

Celebrity draw

Regardless of whether they playheroes or villains, the two are aware their TV fame (or infamy) may lure in audienceswho wouldn't normally see a play.

"Look at what happened with Benedict Cumberbatch and Hamlet at the Barbican," notedMcElhinney, referencingthe mad rush for seats at the London arts venue when the superstar actor played the tragic Shakespeareanhero.

• Benedict Cumberbatch urgesfans not to film stage performance of Hamlet

"Therewere loads of people going to that that were going because they were fans of [Sherlock]or fans of him specifically."

Asked whether heand Tealeexpect to be similarly mobbed by Game of Thronesaficionados, the Irish actor laughed.

"No, we're too old for that!"

Gaslightopens Sundayat the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Torontoand continues through Feb 28.