Richard Clay

Richard Clay arrives in the drawing rooms of old and new money alike with impeccable manners and an easy, confiding warmth. He is attentive, well-spoken, and quick to make himself indispensable to the people he meets, though what he actually wants beneath the charm is never quite stated aloud.

Patrick Page, a stage actor famous for command and menace, plays Clay's politeness like a held note — perfectly controlled, faintly ominous underneath. The pleasure is watching a room of characters relax into his charm while the audience is invited to wonder exactly what that charm is buying him.