Crawley actor makes West End debut alongside Star Trek and Homeland stars in play critics are calling ‘unmissable’

Saaj Raja appears alongside Star Trek star Zachary Quinto and Homeland actor David Harewood in James Graham’s award-winning political thriller Best of Enemies.

The play features a fictionalised retelling of the 1968 ABC TV debates between liberal Gore Vidal (Quinto) and conservative William F Buckley Jr (Harewood) during the Democratic and Republican Party conventions.

Saaj, who is part of the ensemble cast, said: “It was primarily the subject matter that attracted me to the project. I did my degree in International Relations, and I studied American politics so it was a big interest at school.

“To read something which is so politically and socially relevant to what we’re experiencing today, as a society, was very appealing.

“To be able to work on something that has a message, and commentates on what we’re going through as people, is always exciting.”

Saaj produced his audition tape in a ‘messy hotel room’ in New York while attending a wedding with his family.

He added: “I had a really nice moment of synchronicity, where I got the audition while I was in New York. I was attending a wedding with my family, and I went to the Rockefeller Center on my first night.

“I walked past the NBC Studios and then the next morning the script came through. I opened it, sat in a cafe, and started reading it, and it said ‘Act one, scene one, New York, NBC Studios’! The first scene was set literally in the first place I had walked past the night before! Sometimes it’s meant to be!”

After securing his part, Saaj had three weeks of rehearsals before the play previewed on November 14.

The Crawley-born actor had previously appeared in television and film productions, but was new to the world of stage acting.

Saaj said: “[The pressure of stage acting] is the thing I relish. It’s a living, breathing, organic experience with an audience that’s in there with you. You can feel their energy, which inevitably affects the performance.

“There’s no second chances! It works fantastically. Every actor who’s plied their trade in theatre knows it sets you up really nicely. It’s a brilliant process to be a part of.”

Best of Enemies has earned rave reviews from critics. The Guardian said the play was a ‘superb study of media and politics’, while, in a five-star review, The Times said Best of Enemies was ‘unmissable’.

Best of Enemies’ writer Graham won the Royal Television Society award for Best Single Film for 2015’s Coalition and was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie for 2019 TV drama Brexit: The Uncivil War.

Saaj added: “He [Graham] has created a masterpiece. He’s gone into the lives of these prominent characters and figures in American political history, and he’s used his imagination and his knowledge of the period to bring to life the conversations that might have been going on behind the scenes during the time of these debates.

“He doesn’t take sides in the debate. He allows the audience to come to their own conclusions. It’s what every great playwright does.”

Best of Enemies is playing at the Noël Coward Theatre until March 6.