Jonathan Pryce

Speaker 20:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

Speaker 20:08

The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen ninety, and the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:29

My castaway this week is an actor. Since the early seventies he's been entertaining us in a wide variety of parts. He was called the New Brando when he appeared on Broadway, received great acclaim for his Hamlet at the Royal Court, and was thought controversial as Macbeth at Stratford. It all represents considerable success for a man who became an actor by chance and who's not only played many classical roles but starred in television plays and feature films as well.

Presenter0:55

He's lately given us, and possibly himself, another surprise by taking on an all singing role in the West End's biggest musical hit of the year. What's more, he's won an award for it. It is called Miss Sigon. He is Jonathan Price.

Presenter1:10

How amazed are you, Jonathan, to find yourself the award-winning star of a musical? I mean, does the idea still give you a thrill?

Jonathan Pryce1:17

I suppose it it would sound terribly immodest of me if I said I'm not surprised, but I I'm not, and I don't see it as different from what I normally do in any acting role.

Jonathan Pryce1:26

Except just uh this time I happen to be singing it.

Presenter1:29

But had you ever

Presenter1:31

Be before starring in Miss Saigon, had you ever stood up in public professionally and and sung a song, not as part of a an acting role, but just stood up in front of an audience and belted it out?

Jonathan Pryce1:42

A few years ago George Martin put together a tribute to the Beatles with the London Symphony Orchestra and the John Dankworth trio.

Jonathan Pryce1:50

And this was to be performed at the Barbican in front of a couple of thousand people.

Jonathan Pryce1:56

He asked me if I would go along and read some of John Lennon's poetry.

Jonathan Pryce2:01

As part of this evening. And.

Jonathan Pryce2:03

We got together, I looked through the poems, and they didn't really

Jonathan Pryce2:06

Stand up to being read out loud. I mean, they were very funny, uh, quirky little pieces.

Jonathan Pryce2:13

But didn't warrant a full production. So then we started looking at the songs, and George said, Well, you could say some of the lyrics.

Jonathan Pryce2:19

And I tried that through, and it all sounded a bit naf. It sounded a bit sort of.

Jonathan Pryce2:25

Rod McEwanish.

Jonathan Pryce2:26

And I said, Well, I could sing them.

Jonathan Pryce2:28

And he said, Well, can you sing?

Jonathan Pryce2:30

And I said, Yeah, yeah, well yeah and I said, Why don't I go away and and work on a couple of songs and then

Jonathan Pryce2:37

And then we see what I can do. So then it came to the morning of the the concert.

Jonathan Pryce2:42

And we came to rehearse my bit, and I said to George and John Dankworth, what am I going to do about singing them? and he said, Oh, oh, yeah, and he'd completely forgotten that I might sing them. So they

Jonathan Pryce2:52

Sat down at a piano. John Danquith accompanied me, I think it was, and I sang them, and they it was.

Jonathan Pryce2:57

It was like, hey, well, you know, he can sing. So that night in the concert, I was singing.

Jonathan Pryce3:03

On stage at the Barbican Concert Hall, backed by the London Symphony Orchestra and John Dancworth and the Spanish.

Presenter3:09

In front of two thousand people.

Jonathan Pryce3:10

What did you see?

Presenter3:11

What did you see?

Jonathan Pryce3:12

Across the universe and All You Need Is Love.

Presenter3:14

With practically no rehearsal.

Jonathan Pryce3:15

No rehearsal, no. Well it j no no. That's the way of things.

Presenter3:18

That could have been the way of madness.

Jonathan Pryce3:21

Yeah, but I had the best time possible. I I remember we went out for dinner afterwards and I didn't stop grinning for hours. I mean, trying to eat well facing Erictus was difficult. But it uh it was then, Sue, I knew that this is what I want to do.

Presenter3:37

So music is important too. I think we we've gathered that much.

Presenter3:41

Have you chosen any one particular kind of music to take to your desert island, or is it a kind of eclectic bunch?

Jonathan Pryce3:47

It's quite a bunch.

Presenter3:48

So what's the first one?

Jonathan Pryce3:50

Well the first one is J. J. Kale. You could almost choose any track off any album because they all sound the same, but this is one that I love. It's called Don't Cry, Sister.

Speaker 44:00

Don't cry, sister cry, it'll be alright any morning Don't cry, sister cry Everything'll be just fine Don't cry, sister cry It'll be alright I tell you no lie Don't cry, sister cry

Speaker 44:17

Don't do it, don't do it When old man Trump knocks on your door Don't give no peace, he just wants more He turns your life to misery You can't get now

Presenter4:29

J. J. Kale and Don't Cry, Sister Cry.

Presenter4:33

Jonathan, we've exclaimed at your turning musical star, and I want to hear more about that in a moment. But let's go back earlier than that to marvel really at your getting into acting at all, because it wasn't really meant to be, it seems.

Jonathan Pryce4:46

No, it wasn't what I had intended to do. I'd always wanted to paint and draw and that that's what I did. I mean, I went to art school when I was sixteen.

Jonathan Pryce4:55

Uh did that for a couple of years.

Jonathan Pryce4:58

I didn't.

Jonathan Pryce4:59

Do too well on that.

Presenter5:01

You mean you fail?

Presenter5:03

Well is it?

Jonathan Pryce5:03

It was at a time when there was huge upsurge in the large numbers of people applying for art school.

Speaker 25:09

Oh yeah.

Jonathan Pryce5:10

And as much as they liked my folder of work.

Speaker 25:10

And as much as

Speaker 45:10

Uh

Jonathan Pryce5:13

I uh

Jonathan Pryce5:14

Couldn't quite make it. But I I desperately wanted to go on to uh college.

Jonathan Pryce5:18

in whatever shape or form. And a lot of my friends have gone into teacher training.

Jonathan Pryce5:23

And that's what I did. I applied for a course at Edge Hill, Ormscote.

Presenter5:28

But you had, just nipping back for a second, you had in fact been expelled from school, hadn't you?

Jonathan Pryce5:33

Now I wasn't exactly expelled. It was suggested that I didn't return.

Jonathan Pryce5:37

By my then Headmaster, Mr. Sidney Davis.

Presenter5:41

Why did he suggest that?

Jonathan Pryce5:43

Well, we didn't get on for

Jonathan Pryce5:45

For five years I was at school, I think most of our meetings were on the corridors of the Hollywood Grammar School, where I was usually standing outside the class. I was very often sent to stand

Jonathan Pryce5:56

Outside his room, price go to my room was his uh

Jonathan Pryce6:00

That sorta came full circle of

Jonathan Pryce6:03

Quite some years later, almost twenty years later, when I was appearing for the first time at Stratford.

Jonathan Pryce6:09

I'd just done a matinee of Taming the Shrew.

Jonathan Pryce6:12

And the call came up from the stage door saying there's a mister Sidney Davis.

Jonathan Pryce6:15

Here to see you.

Jonathan Pryce6:17

And I remembered that this was my now retired, quite aged ex headmaster. And would you come down to see him? And I said, No.

Jonathan Pryce6:26

Send him to my room.

Jonathan Pryce6:28

And then we had this very what I think we both found quite touching, moving meeting after all those years when he'd enjoyed the performance, but he he also said I always knew you'd make it

Jonathan Pryce6:40

quite the story he told me.

Presenter6:42

So you went off anyway after Mr. Sidney Davis to teach a train in college. So where did the drama come in?

Jonathan Pryce6:48

That was advice from friends who said the I had to do a subsidiary course to the art course and I was

Jonathan Pryce6:54

Advisor the easiest thing to do.

Jonathan Pryce6:56

was the drama course, it required the least amount of work and that that

Jonathan Pryce7:00

suited me'cause I I really did just want to paint and get on with that side of it.

Presenter7:04

But had you done any acting before, I mean, at school or at earlier schools?

Jonathan Pryce7:08

At infant school I remember the my first role as an elf. I remember I had the immortal line of come brothers, for it is cold.

Jonathan Pryce7:16

And all six or seven years I I tried to give it all I could and I remember saying k k k k k k come

Jonathan Pryce7:23

brothers for it is k cold, and I had the line taken away from me.

Jonathan Pryce7:27

We're overacting.

Jonathan Pryce7:29

I think that's what's given me the determination for the following sort of forty years.

Jonathan Pryce7:34

Determined to get this line back.

Presenter7:36

The indignity of it.

Jonathan Pryce7:37

Yeah.

Presenter7:37

And you also, I think, experienced the thrill of performance on the seafront at Rhyl in North Wales, didn't you?

Jonathan Pryce7:43

That was my earliest uh public singing.

Jonathan Pryce7:47

I'd wandered away from my Auntie May and her family on the sands at Ryl and wandered into what I thought was a children's sort of concert party game show and went up on stage to join other children to play games, I thought. And then we were all put in a line. The compere started down the far end of the line asking the children what they were going to do, and I realised I was in some kind of talent competition. I ended up singing.

Jonathan Pryce8:11

Lonnie Donegan smiled man at Sadasman.

Jonathan Pryce8:14

and won that competition. I'd always been a huge fan of Lonnie Donegan's. How I've missed him from my list today, I don't know, but...

Presenter8:20

And you're not going to do him for us today? Didn't think you would. We better have your second record.

Jonathan Pryce8:26

Not too many years ago I spent a day as a as a house guest.

Jonathan Pryce8:31

in the country, and found myself in the company of a fairly old lady.

Jonathan Pryce8:36

Who we spent the day talking to, and it I transpired that she was actually a singer.

Jonathan Pryce8:41

She was born.

Jonathan Pryce8:42

Around about the same year as my mother.

Jonathan Pryce8:44

And in South Wales rather than North Wales.

Jonathan Pryce8:47

and had started singing to the uh miners when they came up from the the pits after their shifts singing in the pub to them when she was sort of uh six, seven years old.

Jonathan Pryce8:58

I then discovered that this lady was Mabel Mercer and went to see her perform at the then Playboy Club and was just extraordinarily moved by her.

Jonathan Pryce9:08

And um

Jonathan Pryce9:09

If I still had my mother, I think this is the.

Jonathan Pryce9:13

She's uh she's an image I have my mother, except Mabel's.

Speaker 29:14

Is that

Jonathan Pryce9:16

Black, but um

Jonathan Pryce9:18

It's the kind of song I'd like her to sing to my daughter.

Speaker 49:22

Jenny Rebecca

Speaker 49:25

Four days old.

Speaker 49:27

How do you like the world so far?

Speaker 49:32

Cheddar Becker

Speaker 49:34

Four days old.

Speaker 49:37

What a lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky girl.

Speaker 49:44

Uh

Presenter9:44

Uh

Presenter9:46

Mabel Mercer singing Jenny Rebecca.

Presenter9:49

So it was nineteen sixty nine, Jonathan, and um you won a place at Rada, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. But even then, as I understand it, at Rada, it was hard going because your your acting style didn't immediately um win acclaim, did it?

Jonathan Pryce10:04

I had a personal tutor, called David Perry, who had a terrible dislike of uh my style of working, to the point where he told me I would make him personally sick if I carried on.

Jonathan Pryce10:16

So I carried on uh playing yago as I was doing it, I remember.

Jonathan Pryce10:20

Um, he couldn't watch. He told me that I would never do anything. All I would ever do was play villains on Zedcars, I seem to remember.

Jonathan Pryce10:28

And later went in w what is called a Chekhov term, and I was giving my excerpt of uh Vashinin.

Jonathan Pryce10:35

And I was pursuing what I thought was the the great personal truth of the character and the the tutors in this open critical session afterwards didn't quite see it the same way as I was seeing it and it was kind of suggested that I was on completely the wrong track and maybe I should uh

Jonathan Pryce10:49

Try something else.

Presenter10:50

So were you on the point of giving up?

Jonathan Pryce10:52

I I wanted to give up. I made left I said to them then I was going to give up, and I left the room.

Jonathan Pryce10:57

But I was followed out of the room by a

Jonathan Pryce10:59

Man who'd been directing at Ridicul, John Harrison, who ran Leeds Theatre for

Jonathan Pryce11:05

Number of years.

Jonathan Pryce11:06

And he caught me in the corridor, put me on one side, and said, You mustn't give up. You are right, they are wrong.

Presenter11:14

You were saved for the nation.

Jonathan Pryce11:15

So thanks, John.

Jonathan Pryce11:17

Yeah.

Presenter11:18

So what did you do? Where did you go then after Radha?

Jonathan Pryce11:20

My first job was at Liverpool Everyman, Alan Dosser who was then directing he saw my final show, Atrada.

Jonathan Pryce11:27

Anne gave me a job because I could sing, oddly enough, it was to play the singer in Caucasian Chalk Circle, and I stayed there for eighteen months.

Presenter11:35

Very much a forum for for political plays.

Jonathan Pryce11:38

It was then, yes, it was a socialist-based theatre.

Presenter11:41

But were you are you a political animal?

Jonathan Pryce11:45

I think that during that period it was the politicising of me. Yes.

Presenter11:49

I suppose some people would say that that Miss Saigon in its way is a political piece. I mean, it's it's set against the fall of Saigon for a start, isn't it? And it's a tragedy about a much

Presenter11:59

used and abused race, the Vietnamese. Do you see it like that?

Jonathan Pryce12:03

I do, and I think I think the writers have have struck a very good balance between the truthfulness of the situation and setting it within the context of being a sort of large scale entertaining musical.

Presenter12:15

It's it's a piece of theatre though that that has a lot of power, isn't it? Uh you can make the audience both laugh uh and cry, and indeed do. Do do you enjoy that power?

Jonathan Pryce12:26

I I do very much. I mean, it's why I wanted to do a musical. This sort of instant appeal music has for an audience and the ease wi if it's done correctly, the ease with which you can manipulate an audience to laugh and cry.

Jonathan Pryce12:39

I think the laughter's slightly more difficult than the crying, but it uh and that's always the case.

Presenter12:44

Do you because you can hold the audience, as it were, in the palm of your hand and evoke those emotions, do you get closer to them than you can do in a classical piece of theatre?

Jonathan Pryce12:55

The only thing you get closer to, I think, is you get closer to their uh emotional nerve center if there's a closeness, but I think you're kind of less aware of it in a musical.

Jonathan Pryce13:05

because of the the sort of the constant sound or the almost constant sound of the orchestra. Whereas in a classical piece or a straight play you you're sort of more aware of the audience because of the silences which you can create and the stillness which you c hopefully create in the in the theatre.

Jonathan Pryce13:23

And often in the musical, you that that's an immediate response. You're only aware of it if they laugh, or there's some huge reaction.

Presenter13:31

So are there times then um on stage in a musical when you're flying blind, as it were?

Jonathan Pryce13:36

Well, it's not so much that, but it's it's kind of you're taking on trust what you're the effect you're having.

Presenter13:42

Let's have another piece of music.

Jonathan Pryce13:44

When I'm in my dressing room before shows, I usually play

Jonathan Pryce13:48

some kind of music. It's funny with Miss Saigon it's very difficult to find music that uh puts me in a mood for a musical. I end up playing kind of disco. I play a lot of Lisa Stansfield and some very up music. But when I've been doing Chekhov, and when I was playing Tregorian, who is a kind of fractured genius,

Jonathan Pryce14:07

Sound not too pretentious here. I used to play a lot of Miles Davis, who is slightly imperfect and I think he's wonderful for it.

Presenter15:11

Miles Davis playing part of Blue in Green.

Presenter15:14

Your first big hit, Jonathan Price, was, of course, in The Comedians by Trevor Griffiths, in which you played Gethin Price, a a kind of skinhead stand up comedian. Now there was a chap, contemptuous of Showbiz values, wasn't he?

Jonathan Pryce15:28

Yes.

Jonathan Pryce15:30

You imply that I am contemptuous of showbiz by his name.

Presenter15:33

No, I'm saying that he he might have thought twice about the difference between Hamlet and Miss Saigon.

Jonathan Pryce15:39

Would he I don't I don't know. That play was examining the nature of truth in uh comedy.

Jonathan Pryce15:45

From what I was saying before about Ms. Saigon, I think there that I, in my character, pursue an element of truth about the political situation in Vietnam.

Presenter15:54

You won a Tony for the Comedians for Best Actor on Broadway. I mean, that four years out of drama school, weren't you, at the time? Must have been fantastic.

Jonathan Pryce16:02

What's the best?

Jonathan Pryce16:04

It was, it was uh it was a a a good experience, yeah.

Presenter16:09

They talked about you at that time, with the comedians being the new Brando, and then a few years later back home.

Presenter16:15

When you were playing Hamlet, which we've mentioned, they started comparing you to Olivier. What they meant, I suspect, was this.

Presenter16:22

element of dramatic surprise which you have on the stage, this feeling that you're dangerous. Anything might happen as you prowl and pace the boards. Um do you do you work on that? Do you know about that? Are you aware of that?

Jonathan Pryce16:37

No. I mean what I

Jonathan Pryce16:38

Hopefully pursuing a character is uh

Jonathan Pryce16:41

Well the word again is the truth of the situation, and but I tend to play people.

Jonathan Pryce16:46

I have tended to play people who have that element of danger within them and it would be

Jonathan Pryce16:51

Wrong of me not to recognize that within myself at the same time.

Presenter16:55

But how do you begin when you approach a character? I remember Michael Gambon saying that he had to get them right physically, that it was once he got the walk and the movements, then he could play the character. How do you approach it?

Jonathan Pryce17:05

Yeah.

Jonathan Pryce17:07

What I tend to do is to examine how other people perceive the character, how they talk about.

Jonathan Pryce17:14

him or how they react to him.

Jonathan Pryce17:16

It does mean I rely on other people a lot more.

Jonathan Pryce17:19

than they want to be relied upon. It makes for difficult rehearsals, I think.

Jonathan Pryce17:23

Because I tend to wait and quietly do my own work in my head.

Jonathan Pryce17:29

And then react.

Jonathan Pryce17:30

And uh it does put a terrible burden on people because they want to get on with their work as well, I think.

Presenter17:36

Perhaps they're waiting to react to you.

Jonathan Pryce17:37

Absolutely.

Presenter17:38

Tell me about your Hamlet, because he was rather unusual, wasn't he? You you you played the ghost, too.

Jonathan Pryce17:44

This was a production I did with Richard Eyre at the Royal Court.

Jonathan Pryce17:48

And

Jonathan Pryce17:49

It was after my father died.

Jonathan Pryce17:52

And um

Jonathan Pryce17:53

Reading the play again, I began to see.

Jonathan Pryce17:56

of similarities between my experience and my father's death who

Jonathan Pryce18:01

He'd been two years in the dying, but it was

Jonathan Pryce18:03

It was brought about originally by an attack on him, a violent attack on him.

Jonathan Pryce18:08

And he suffered a series of strokes.

Jonathan Pryce18:11

And

Jonathan Pryce18:13

My initial reaction w when he'd been attacked was to go in on myself, not to feel anger, not to feel a need for revenge.

Jonathan Pryce18:21

After he died there were times when I had uh I'd seen him.

Jonathan Pryce18:26

and sort of almost conjured up images of him. And they were always good.

Jonathan Pryce18:30

images and it was in comfortable, happy surroundings.

Jonathan Pryce18:34

But I did feel as if I was uh it was like a wish fulfilment that I saw him.

Jonathan Pryce18:39

So putting those two things together, but Hamlet.

Jonathan Pryce18:42

This in action.

Jonathan Pryce18:45

of Hamlet said he hadn't revenged his father's death immediately.

Jonathan Pryce18:49

and that this ghost had appeared to him.

Jonathan Pryce18:53

Taking it upon myself to be my father's voice as well, to conjuring up my father's voice from within me, was a kind of wish fulfilment that I think Hamlet could possibly have gone through. And uh that's what I did.

Presenter19:08

And it worked very well.

Presenter19:10

We better have your fourth record.

Jonathan Pryce19:13

Well, it isn't my father's voice, but it was something that my father used to sing. At home, in the bathroom.

Jonathan Pryce19:20

It's I'll take you home again, Kathleen.

Speaker 419:23

I will take you home again a Capill across the ocean wild and wild

Speaker 419:37

Where your heart has ever been, Since far still my bonny bride.

Speaker 419:51

The wounds are fallen and have left your cheeks. I'm single and a fail of

Speaker 420:03

Your boy's heels, sir, whenever you see

Jonathan Pryce20:03

Yeah.

Speaker 420:10

Find the tears in your lock

Presenter20:14

I'll be

Speaker 420:14

Yeah.

Presenter20:17

Kavan O'Connor, singing I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen, and memories for Jonathan Price of his father. What did he do for a living, Jonathan?

Jonathan Pryce20:26

Ah, he was a a shopkeeper.

Presenter20:28

This was in North Wales.

Jonathan Pryce20:29

Yeah.

Presenter20:30

Tell me about this this attack on him. What happened?

Jonathan Pryce20:33

He was in the shop one day by himself and a b a boy went in and um

Jonathan Pryce20:38

I'll hit him across the head.

Jonathan Pryce20:39

And stole a packet of cigarettes, I seem to remember.

Jonathan Pryce20:42

And it wa it was very sad, but he, um

Jonathan Pryce20:45

As I said, a number of strokes and he uh lost his power of speech and

Jonathan Pryce20:50

Oh, it's it's it's a terrible, debilitating.

Jonathan Pryce20:54

thing to happen.

Presenter20:55

Had had he come to see you act professionally? I mean, had he seen your success?

Jonathan Pryce20:59

Well, both my mother and my father they'd seen because Liverpool was very close to North Wales they'd seen practically everything I'd done at Liverpool.

Jonathan Pryce21:07

And the term irony is the sort of last

Jonathan Pryce21:10

The thing that he did see in mind was comedians.

Jonathan Pryce21:12

in which there is this

Jonathan Pryce21:14

An extraordinary relationship on the stage between the the teacher.

Jonathan Pryce21:18

who was then played by Jimmy Jewell and uh and myself

Jonathan Pryce21:23

I remember my father coming after he'd uh

Jonathan Pryce21:26

This was after the event, but before the sort of a major final.

Jonathan Pryce21:31

Yeah.

Jonathan Pryce21:34

He came and saw the production.

Jonathan Pryce21:37

and afterwards said

Jonathan Pryce21:39

very little to me about it, but uh I I kept catching his eyes, sort of staring at me.

Jonathan Pryce21:44

And I asked my mother the next day what he thought, and he he

Jonathan Pryce21:49

He regretted that he'd never actually had that uh

Jonathan Pryce21:52

Or that we had never had uh had that relationship.

Jonathan Pryce21:56

And

Jonathan Pryce21:57

The terrible irony is that that wh when I we could have

Jonathan Pryce22:01

Grome

Jonathan Pryce22:02

From that he uh

Jonathan Pryce22:05

But he then lost his speech completely.

Presenter22:08

You obviously were still very moved by what happened. Is there is there an element of anger as well, though? Do you feel anger?

Jonathan Pryce22:15

No, not not anger, I just f a terrible sense of waste.

Presenter22:18

Yeah.

Presenter22:18

What what about your mother? Did she live to enjoy your success?

Jonathan Pryce22:21

Yes, yes. Uh she I'm afraid my mother died uh what four years ago now.

Jonathan Pryce22:27

And she got uh

Jonathan Pryce22:29

Great joy and great comfort from the success as it were. Yeah.

Presenter22:33

Let's have some more music.

Jonathan Pryce22:34

Well, you see, there are two old ladies in my choice. We had Mabel Mercer and I recently went to see Ella Fitzgerald at the Albert Hall.

Jonathan Pryce22:42

And uh was incredibly moved and um inspired by this uh now frail lady.

Jonathan Pryce22:51

It gave me another ambition. I want to play the Albert Hall, but not until I'm uh...

Jonathan Pryce22:55

In my mid-seventies.

Speaker 422:56

Yeah.

Speaker 422:57

Always new.

Speaker 423:02

I would live life through

Speaker 423:10

With a snow in my heart.

Presenter23:24

Ella FitzGerald with a Song in My Heart

Presenter23:27

What will you play at the Albert Hall when you play the Albert Hall, Jonathan? Old as you will be by then.

Jonathan Pryce23:33

I think I'll sing all my greatest hits.

Presenter23:37

Now, how are you going to cope on this desert island? You you'll sing, obviously, and you will declaim, no doubt. But can you could you cope with all the um the fending for yourself and the building the shelter and the the wild animals and the creepy crawlers?

Jonathan Pryce23:51

Yeah, I could do all those bits, yes, yeah.

Presenter23:54

You're a brave chap.

Jonathan Pryce23:55

No, but I could build a a shelter and uh do a spotted fishing.

Presenter23:59

Are you naturally gregarious and do you need lots of people?

Jonathan Pryce24:02

It's an awful thought.

Jonathan Pryce24:05

Status Island to contemplate neither.

Jonathan Pryce24:09

I've actually tried to put it at the back of my mind'cause I I don't think I'd have come here if uh if I'd had to go into the reality of it.

Jonathan Pryce24:17

I couldn't stand it being by myself.

Presenter24:18

Don't like being alone.

Jonathan Pryce24:20

I enjoy it for uh

Jonathan Pryce24:23

very short periods of time. I've never really been alone.

Jonathan Pryce24:27

I mean, I'm definitely one of those people when you're you're away filming, I'm

Jonathan Pryce24:31

I've got to know what the group are going to do that night. We're going out for dinner or something. I uh

Jonathan Pryce24:37

I won't wander off by myself and find a little place.

Presenter24:39

You don't want to be left out.

Jonathan Pryce24:41

I don't want to be left alone.

Jonathan Pryce24:43

It's a bit different I think.

Presenter24:46

Are you difficult to live with, would you confess?

Jonathan Pryce24:49

I've no idea. I don't uh I try not to be.

Jonathan Pryce24:52

Arist.

Presenter24:53

I read that you're a dedicated family man. You've got three children, haven't you?

Jonathan Pryce24:56

Yeah.

Presenter24:57

Who and how old are they?

Jonathan Pryce24:59

Patrick, who's seven, Gabriel who's four, and Phebe, who's five months.

Presenter25:04

And their mother Kate.

Jonathan Pryce25:06

Yeah.

Presenter25:07

Um who's also an actor?

Jonathan Pryce25:09

Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Pryce25:10

We met in Liverpool.

Jonathan Pryce25:11

When we were both working at different theatres, I was at the Everyman of Capes at the Playhouse. And

Jonathan Pryce25:17

I saw her onstage.

Jonathan Pryce25:19

I'd gone with an another friend and she Kate was a friend of a friend and I asked, Which one is your friend? and it was turned out to be Kate and I uh it was kind of love at first sight really.

Presenter25:29

And you've been together for years and years.

Jonathan Pryce25:31

Yeah, desperately long time huh?

Presenter25:33

But you never bother to get married.

Jonathan Pryce25:36

Well, it's not never bothered. I mean, it's a positive decision not to. We're uh we're very happy.

Jonathan Pryce25:41

Very happy.

Presenter25:42

Are there no pressures on you to to do so? I mean, do people make comments? I don't know.

Presenter25:47

who or where, but I mean, are there any pressures, or is it a simple thing to achieve now?

Jonathan Pryce25:52

Quite honestly, something I don't thi the only time I think about it is when uh

Jonathan Pryce25:56

One does interviews.

Jonathan Pryce25:58

And uh you don't know what to call each other.

Jonathan Pryce26:01

But that some

Presenter26:02

What's your thoughts?

Jonathan Pryce26:02

What you told her?

Presenter26:04

My partner.

Jonathan Pryce26:06

My partner, my wife.

Presenter26:07

You call her my wife.

Jonathan Pryce26:09

Depends what I'm talking to. Now I'm talking to the nation, my wife, yes.

Presenter26:13

Your sixth record.

Jonathan Pryce26:15

Well this it comes from something that uh Kate and I did a T V series together called uh Roger Doesn't Live Here Anymore and John Fortune, who wrote that series.

Jonathan Pryce26:24

This record was a present for Kate.

Jonathan Pryce26:28

And it became her favourite piece of music, and it's uh it's certainly one of mine, it's uh Schubert's cello quintet.

Speaker 426:43

Uh

Presenter27:32

Part of Schubert's cello quintet in C, played by Pablo Casals, Shandor Wag, Chandor Zeldi, Georges Janser, and Paul Sobo.

Presenter27:43

We've mentioned Miss Saigon several times, Jonathan, but I still haven't asked you how you came to be offered the part. How did it all happen?

Jonathan Pryce27:51

I was looking for a musical to do. I'd s as I said, I'd had this experience with uh George Martin and I'd I'd been to see Les Misrabe.

Jonathan Pryce28:00

And I found myself caught up with the whole experience and began to think this.

Jonathan Pryce28:07

Kind of theatre was for me, I enjoyed it, sir.

Jonathan Pryce28:11

Power to move.

Jonathan Pryce28:12

And um

Jonathan Pryce28:14

It's the classic actor's story I talk to my agent. And.

Jonathan Pryce28:18

He started looking.

Jonathan Pryce28:20

And initially there was talk of uh the possibility of my replacing Michael Crawford in uh Phantom of the Opera.

Jonathan Pryce28:28

Then we we didn't pursue it'cause it it didn't seem right for me to.

Presenter28:32

Why not? Why didn't you want it?

Jonathan Pryce28:32

I didn't

Jonathan Pryce28:33

Well, mostly because the work had been done, really. Michael had uh had created the part.

Jonathan Pryce28:39

The production seemed very set. And then it was a kind of I think it was a kind of ignorance of mine that.

Jonathan Pryce28:45

I didn't know how musicals worked, but knowing what I know now, I'd be less of

Jonathan Pryce28:50

afraid of taking over a rogue because of the

Jonathan Pryce28:53

There is an input you can have and things are

Presenter28:55

It's not quite the same though, is it stepping into someone else's shoes? The the glory's kind of gone. Absolutely. You don't very often hear people.

Jonathan Pryce29:00

Absolutely. You don't build a lot of the money.

Presenter29:04

And you don't very often hear people saying, Gosh, you must see so and so, he's much better than the original.

Jonathan Pryce29:09

No.

Presenter29:10

It doesn't have to be a

Jonathan Pryce29:10

Yeah.

Jonathan Pryce29:11

And my fear was that that wouldn't happen. That was fear.

Presenter29:16

So you got Miss Saigon.

Jonathan Pryce29:17

But having

Jonathan Pryce29:18

Done that, th then I the Cameron McIntosh who produced Miss Saigon, then knew I could sing and then Saigon came along.

Jonathan Pryce29:27

And

Jonathan Pryce29:28

I've I've done Saigon for seven, almost eight months now.

Presenter29:33

And you're committed to it until the autumn, and then it transfers to New York. Do you transfer with it?

Jonathan Pryce29:39

Uh it's very likely that I go it's it's uh

Jonathan Pryce29:42

We would open in April of next year.

Jonathan Pryce29:45

Yeah.

Presenter29:45

So you might do that.

Jonathan Pryce29:46

Yeah.

Presenter29:47

This is a this is a programme of choices, and you're making some as we go, but let me ask you another one. If you could only do musicals for the rest of your career, or you could only do classical theatre, which would you choose?

Jonathan Pryce30:02

I think um musicals.

Jonathan Pryce30:05

Very Hobson's, isn't it?

Presenter30:06

You're looking doubtful. Is is there is there a classical role al although you've done the biggest and the best, you've done Hamlet, you've done Macbeth, is there one that you covered?

Jonathan Pryce30:07

Uh

Jonathan Pryce30:16

and it Lear the Musical.

Jonathan Pryce30:18

Is the next one.

Presenter30:19

In the Alvatore.

Jonathan Pryce30:19

Yeah.

Presenter30:20

Yes, seventh record.

Jonathan Pryce30:23

This one's a favorite of my uh my two boys, who whenever they're asked what music they want on, they always choose uh Penguin Cafe and then they go off dancing to it.

Presenter30:56

The Penguin Cathy Orchestra and Beanfields. So the chances are, Jonathan, you'll open on Broadway next April. What about in the interim then, between August and April? What do you get to do?

Jonathan Pryce31:07

Um

Jonathan Pryce31:08

Let unrest.

Presenter31:09

Your success in in Miss Saigon means presumably that you can afford to to rest in the full sense of the word, not just to be resting as actors.

Jonathan Pryce31:17

No, no, you didn't. You obviously didn't hear. I was working for a Cameron Macintosh.

Jonathan Pryce31:21

Can't afford to rent.

Presenter31:23

Do you want to broadcast that?

Jonathan Pryce31:26

That's it. I think I just did.

Presenter31:26

I think I just

Jonathan Pryce31:27

Yeah.

Presenter31:30

We said earlier on that you wanted to be a a painter. Um perhaps you've earned the time to re-indulge that talent, have you?

Jonathan Pryce31:38

Well, I suppose what I hope will happen is that the uh Muse will revisit and I will uh I will become the painter I'd always dreamt of being.

Presenter31:48

So we've seen Jonathan Price the classical actor, the musical star, Jonathan Price the artist next in line, is huh?

Jonathan Pryce31:55

Yeah. Yeah. I think so.

Presenter31:58

That's what I want.

Presenter32:00

Final record

Jonathan Pryce32:01

Now, I don't know how to describe Keith Charit. You either know him or you don't. He's uh this particular piece of music is uh very long. It's

Jonathan Pryce32:11

Jarrett improvises his music. This is the uh

Jonathan Pryce32:15

Cologne concert and you can play it again and again and again. I've lived with it for uh how is it not fifteen years now and it's definitely something for a a desert island.

Presenter32:51

The opening of Keith Jarrett's Cologne concert in nineteen seventy five. So, mister Price, you have to choose one of those eight records which is more important to you than the others.

Jonathan Pryce33:03

Oh, um

Jonathan Pryce33:05

Lee Schubert

Jonathan Pryce33:07

Yeah.

Presenter33:08

and members of your partner Kate.

Jonathan Pryce33:11

Very much so, yeah. Yeah.

Presenter33:13

And a book, because you've got the complete works of Shakespeare and you've got the Bible.

Presenter33:17

What's your book?

Jonathan Pryce33:18

You could give me any book and I I could guarantee you not to have read it. I mean I am the world's worst reader. I don't know what happened to me in my youth, but I didn't really get hold of the love of reading.

Jonathan Pryce33:31

Maybe it's'cause I deal with the the word all the time, I don't know. And I wouldn't need much else supposed.

Jonathan Pryce33:36

Beside the Shakespeare.

Jonathan Pryce33:37

That's practically got everything. So, what would I take?

Jonathan Pryce33:41

Vernon McClavity.

Jonathan Pryce33:43

Short stories, a large volume of

Presenter33:46

And a luxury. Have you thought of one of those?

Jonathan Pryce33:49

I thought of lots of them. Lots of them. They

Jonathan Pryce33:52

As it's a desert island, I

Jonathan Pryce33:54

You wouldn't give me the all the ingredients to make rum punch nightly, would you? So I could sit under the stars and

Presenter33:59

Yes, why not?

Jonathan Pryce34:00

Good. I didn't think you'd give me that. Great.

Presenter34:02

Jonathan Price, thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your desert island discs. Thank you.

Speaker 234:13

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.