Actor Alan Cumming spins negative into positive

Alan Cumming describes himself as 'a Scottish elf trapped inside a middle-aged man's body'. Photo / Nick Reed

Scottish actor Alan Cumming says he has been surprised at a surge of support for his writing a personal memoir, Not My Father's Son, in which he detailed the vicious sadism of his father who died in 2010.

In New Zealand for two events on the Auckland Writers Festival programme, Cumming said he did not realise the effect the New York Times best-selling book would have on people.

"The reaction to it has been very positive," he said.

"I was speaking out about something terrible that had happened to me, something really shameful and kind of batting away that shame.

"But it has affected so many people in the world, who said it has helped them to have someone well-known to speak out about physical and emotional abuse."

Tomorrow at the ASB Theatre, in the Aotea Centre, Cumming will be in conversation with New Zealand actor Michael Hurst and today he is on the panel of eight writers for the festival's gala night event True Stories Told Live: Straight Talking.

The subject is a speciality of the New York-based artist, who achieves success in many different roles in theatre, movies, The Good Wife TV series, musicals, comedy and being a leading gay rights activist.

"I hope what comes through is my honesty and authenticity," he said.

"I do think that happens. The way you engage with an audience is direct evidence of that. I hope that people connect to me because of that."

Cumming says acting and writing gives him outlets for saying how he feels and what he believes.

"I think the best way I would like people to describe me is as a provocateur.

"An artist should challenge people's opinions about things and make them think again about stuff."

His current writing project is a book of his photographs and stories that will show he does not live a sheltered existence and that his his feet are very much on the ground.

It fits with his advice for struggling writers. "Maintain your own authenticity because your experience is the most interesting thing about you."

A proud supporter of Scottish independence, he said the British election result should remind UK Prime Minister David Cameron that so many in Scotland were dissatisfied and angry - "the Lion has roared".

But sometimes the 50-year-old is not so serious.

For example, he calls himself "a Scottish elf trapped inside a middle-aged man's body".

Asked to explain, he says this is "the difference between what you feel you are inside and when you look in the mirror".

What's on

The 15th Auckland Writers Festival - the country's biggest festival of words and ideas - includes the following events today:

NZ Listener Gala Night: True Stories Told Live: Straight Talking, at ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre, 7pm-8pm. Eight writers deliver a seven-minute true story, propless and scriptless: Michele A'Court, Amy Bloom, Alan Cumming, Peter FitzSimons, Aroha Harris, Ben Okri, Nic Low and Helen Garner.

The University of Auckland Free Public Lecture: Shakespearean Spinach. Notre Dame University's Professor Peter Holland - the University of Auckland's 2015 Alice Griffin Fellow in Shakespeare Studies - on pop culture's engagements with Shakespeare. 5pm-6pm at the Clock Tower 039, University of Auckland, 22 Princes St.

Rebecca Vaughan's latest hit: Dalloway is a stage adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway.
2pm-3.25pm, at Civic Theatre, Wintergarden.