Imelda Staunton

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. The programme was originally broadcast in two thousand and five, and the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:29

My castaway this week is an actress. She has a no-nonsense approach to her profession, the reason why perhaps she's encompassed so many roles so successfully. Most recently, she won a BAFTA and an Oscar nomination for her performance in Mike Lee's film Vera Drake, playing the eponymous heroine, the caring Cockney Mother, who's also a Backstreet abortionist. On stage, she's been nominated for a massive Olivier Awards, from Guys and Dolls to Uncle Vanya, and she's won two for roles in an Akeborn and a Sondheim, so she's nothing if not versatile.

Presenter1:00

Born in North London of Irish parents, she enjoyed a happy Irish childhood, which included playing the spoons, went to Rada and did her turn as a stalwart of provincial rep before her career took her to the West End and continued success. She works hard and thinks carefully about the parts she plays, but she says I can't be doing with people whitering on about their acting. In some respects there's not a lot to it. She is Imelda Staunton. I'm sure I'm misrepresenting you, Imelda, in quoting just that, but there is an element of that, isn't there? You know, actors can whiter on. It's not what you do. No. Um, I try to keep it to myself and um just do all my sort of wittering or whatever that is, just sort of talking about, you know, just keep that to myself and do it at home. I think there seems as if there's a lot to it if you talk it up. Um you know, if you're gonna build a wall, you have to know how to get the cement and do it, you know, you have to know how well, in one way, technically how to do it, but any, I think, emotional input, the things that you have as an actor, that's up to you. No director can give you that. But at the same time, I I do just like to

Speaker 32:05

Uh

Imelda Staunton2:05

Uh

Presenter2:09

quite quietly.

Presenter2:10

think about it and do it. Of course, and you have to dig deep for those kinds of roles. I mean, I mentioned Vera Drake and obviously she went deep, and I want to talk to you about all of that in a moment. Very complex character, really. And um one remembers your Sonia in uh Uncle Vanya back in nineteen eighty eight. I mean these

Presenter2:28

These sorts of characters, you've got to go away privately and work on them, haven't you? Or just empathise, or just

Speaker 32:33

Uh

Presenter2:35

You know

Presenter2:36

I think I do empathize with those people who

Presenter2:39

maybe have sadness in their life or are just those hard working people, you know, Sonia's a hard worker, Vera's a hard worker, um, those people who just get on with their life and actually don't really moan about it.

Imelda Staunton2:51

Yeah.

Presenter2:52

Maybe recognise that there may be better things, but not a lot can be done about it. Like the downtrodden wife, you played in the Akeborn play, which you won, I think, Best Supporting Actress. Well, that was your first Olivier, wasn't it? Let me mention another one: Peter's Friends. You were the one person who had grief. You were the young mother who'd suffered a cot death, weren't you? Again, a memorable performance. You do seem to have this.

Imelda Staunton2:56

Tash.

Imelda Staunton3:01

Does that

Imelda Staunton3:02

Mm, I mean

Speaker 33:05

You

Speaker 33:10

Do we get

Presenter3:15

Direct access to a a bit of pain.

Imelda Staunton3:18

Yeah.

Presenter3:20

Hell, I don't know. Um I don't know really. Is it the Irish? I don't know. Is it? I suppose I d I I just empathise with that and I can feel it. And hopefully sorrow without sentiment. That's what I that's what I strive for. That's exactly what you got in Vera and I want to talk to you about it. But let's pause for your first record. Tell me about that one. Ah, now, not a lot of people would, I suppose, if you hear your husband introduced you to Lonnie Donegan. Do you marry that man? I don't know. I did. Um well my husband talked to me about how he loved Lonnie Donegan. I thought, oh, for God's sake

Presenter3:56

But of course then I just started listening to his music and a while ago when I did the revival of Guys and Dolls and I finished doing that, I thought, well I'll never sing again and I'd love to sing and I got a cabaret together and Jim said well you've got to listen to old Lonnie you know and see what he can give you and his version of Frankie and Johnny I nicked and I did that in my cabaret and I just love it and I love a song with a story. I do love a story and this is a great story.

Speaker 34:22

She said no

Speaker 34:23

Oh, Mr. Johnson.

Speaker 34:27

Give me please. I want to kill you all this time. But I'm dead.

Presenter4:30

Yeah.

Imelda Staunton4:30

Uh

Speaker 34:33

I shot you up my

Speaker 34:38

Hey, but doing me wrong, sure, wrong. GC, I'll forgive you, friend. GC, I'll forgive you, no.

Presenter4:49

And Frankie and Johnny recorded in nineteen fifty six. I can't imagine what your version was like, but we won't have it now in Alberta. Tell me about Vera Drake instead. Oscar nominated last autumn Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival The BAFTA and Song, the job of your life. Why?

Presenter5:05

I mean, I've always liked doing new plays. I've I've never been one for do you want to play Hermia and the Dream? Do you want no, I want new I love new writing. Of course, this is the ultimate in new writing because you and Mike are writing it. Mike Lee, that is. And it's improv famously that this is how he does it. He develops the character. So you research.

Imelda Staunton5:17

Yeah.

Imelda Staunton5:20

Yeah.

Presenter5:22

How did you research Vera Dray? Well, you don't, you create her. And literally from the you know, we create her and vett her from the day she was born. Now the research is to do with

Presenter5:32

the thirties and forties and fifties and the war and all the pr you know, all the things about the time.

Presenter5:38

But for me it felt like

Presenter5:40

He had a canvas.

Presenter5:42

And it in some way I think he knew the picture he wanted to make.

Presenter5:48

And then we are the colour and the shape, and he sort of puts us on to that canvas. So it was set in nineteen fifties London. She's a a cleaner, a middle-aged mum, a wife, a caring daughter, looking after her ailing mother and so on. But she has this secret occupation, doesn't she? Helping girls out, as she puts it, which is

Imelda Staunton6:05

She puts

Presenter6:06

Of course, aborting their babies with a a douche and carbolic soap. And she's got her little black bag in the top of the wardrobe, hasn't she? Did the rest of the cast, your family, know that that's they just knew they were cast in nineteen fifties London.

Speaker 26:16

Never that sweet. They just

Imelda Staunton6:17

Uh

Presenter6:20

Well, yeah, that's all everyone we just thought.

Imelda Staunton6:20

Yeah.

Speaker 26:20

That's all this.

Imelda Staunton6:21

Yeah.

Presenter6:23

You know, I mean I was in part of my rehearsals was going off and improvising with the women that I had to deal with.

Presenter6:29

But Mike creates a situation. We rehearse in a disused hospital where people are rehearsing one end and and no one meets. You know um I had no idea there were any actors playing police. I had no idea there were ever going to be any police. You didn't know the police were coming, because that's of course what happens at the end. The police come for Vera Drake, and she's sitting down to a

Imelda Staunton6:34

Yeah.

Imelda Staunton6:41

Early

Presenter6:47

Beautiful, lovely family tea and celebrating the daughter's engagement and the announcement of

Imelda Staunton6:51

Engagement and

Presenter6:54

A baby in the family. Indeed, there's the irony. And the knock comes on the door. So you didn't know? No.

Imelda Staunton6:57

And the not

Presenter7:00

You didn't know in rehearsal. No, when we rehearsed it, which we didn't know was going to be the last day of rehearsal six months in.

Imelda Staunton7:01

In rather tape.

Presenter7:08

We were rehearsing we'd been doing this lovely family scene for about three hours or so, you know.

Presenter7:13

And in it, lovely and I heard a knock and on the door

Presenter7:17

Now ninety nine percent of my head is Vera. There's one percent of Melda, thinking, Well, who's that? We don't know anyone else, it's only the family.

Presenter7:24

And when Phil, Davis, playing stand, came in and said it's the police, he it not only he was white.

Presenter7:30

And I got a pain in my chest and I thought I mean I r honest to God, I thought I was gonna have some sort of heart attack. I've never had such a pain.'Cause you knew they'd come for you. Yeah.

Presenter7:41

I was so frightened. I was so genuinely frightened and as as we all were. And it was extraordinary. And we carried on for another four hours. I was taken away. I was interrogated. That's when the actors play my family found out what she did.

Presenter7:55

That you know it was

Presenter7:57

The most exhilarating experience, I think, of all our working lives. Because it was real feeling. Totally. I mean, if you got yourself so deep into this character.

Speaker 38:04

I mean you'd got yourself

Presenter8:07

But it's so ephemeral. It's gar it's extraordinary. But why didn't you rehearse on film, as it were? No well, because then, you see, you then film that six or seven weeks later. It's all there.

Imelda Staunton8:07

But if so is that

Presenter8:17

No one wrote anything down. I remembered every single word I said, as we all did. And you remember the feeling. You just reinvestigate it. So for Mike to set this up for us to investigate is just extraordinary.

Speaker 38:22

Okay.

Presenter8:29

Sweet, sweet woman. You could have

Presenter8:32

invested her with far too I mean, it would have been easy to play her with a kind of, I don't know, too much sentimentality, cheap pathos. How do you draw the line? Where do you

Imelda Staunton8:39

How do you

Imelda Staunton8:41

Bye dear.

Presenter8:41

Well, Mike draws the line.

Presenter8:43

But, you know, I'm not that sort of actor. I wouldn't go down that road, you know

Presenter8:48

willingly or or or you know, unknowingly. And but if there was ever a moment like that, Mike would would, you know, adjust it. So you live with her for what, six months, a year? How long's that? So what happens when she's gone?

Speaker 28:57

So what happens?

Presenter9:01

Yes. Um

Presenter9:03

Well, I felt that was a job well done, and we finished it, and it's time we finished. We've been doing it long and hard.

Presenter9:11

And I knew the experience I had had was the most fulfilling of my working life. And I thought, well, I've had it, I've got that.

Presenter9:20

Next piece of music.

Presenter9:23

Now this is Elvis, Heaven. Um as a kid really this was the first music I I I mean there was Irish music in our house, but Elvis, you know, did it for me and uh still does actually.

Speaker 39:39

My tongue gets tired when I try to speak. My inside shake like a leaf on a tree. There's only one cure for this body of mine. That's to have that girl and her love so fine. She touches my hand and what a chill I got. Her lips are like a volcano that's hot. I'm proud to say that she's my buttercup. I'm in love.

Speaker 310:03

I'm all shook up.

Presenter10:05

All shook up with Elvis, taking you back to Archway, North London, the Melda Staunton, in the late 50s. Well, what when was that recorded? 1957. Where you lived with your mum and dad. She was a hairdresser and you lived above the shop, yes? That's right. What did your dad do?

Imelda Staunton10:20

What?

Presenter10:21

He was a building contractor, you know, worked on the roads, um, driving machines.

Imelda Staunton10:24

Yeah.

Presenter10:26

And you were an only child. And you said that this

Imelda Staunton10:26

And you

Presenter10:29

But well, I don't think it was a completely solitary childhood, but somehow in that made you an actress, you said. Why? What do you mean?

Imelda Staunton10:36

Okay, what you

Presenter10:37

Well, I was on my own a a fair amount. I think in the evenings, you know, I'd come home through the shop, you know, and that was great and ev you know, that was lovely and busy. But then I'd, you know, I'd go upstairs and, you know, you're on your own. And I think, you know, I maybe created

Presenter10:52

Yeah.

Presenter10:53

A world for myself, and I think that may have something to do with it. I mean, you know, I wasn't up there miserable on my own, but I think it's interesting. I have an only child now, but we have lots of friends in the street with the kids, and I find that a great comfort because actually I do think it's important for kids to have other kids around them. So, what did you watch as a child? Did you see that? Do you see ball? Oh, yes.

Imelda Staunton11:16

Did you side ball?

Presenter11:18

Well, it's all those American shows. I love Lucy. I love Lucy. Anything with Bette Davis.

Imelda Staunton11:20

Mm-hmm.

Imelda Staunton11:22

Yeah.

Presenter11:25

Yeah.'Cause I remember thinking because, you know, all those film stars were so glamorous and gorgeous and well, she was a bit o off looking, wasn't she? It wasn't the most beautif and I used to think, God

Imelda Staunton11:33

Yeah.

Presenter11:35

you know, I I th thought her acting was so wonderful. And I thought and she's not beautiful and yet she's, you know, she's a wonderful actress and and that voice. Oh, yes. Yes, I loved the black and white films. Absolutely adored them.

Imelda Staunton11:42

And then I've

Imelda Staunton11:46

Mostly

Presenter11:47

And you went to school locally, to a a local convent school, not the kind of sinister cliché of a convent school, a very happy convent school. Not at all, absolutely. And did the nuns therefore discover your acting talent?

Speaker 311:52

Conno

Imelda Staunton11:52

Yeah.

Speaker 311:54

Not a dr

Presenter11:58

Um, no, they didn't. Um, but, you know, again with m a lot of people, if you're lucky you have an inspirational teacher.

Presenter12:05

And I had Jacqueline Stoker, who at the time was our elocution teacher. Who's a lay teacher now? Yes. But she also did drama after school, and she said, I think you should come along. I think you should do some of this. So I used to do drama festivals that kids did and you do a monologue or a duologue, and uh then she again she said, I think you must audition for drama school.

Speaker 312:24

Hmm.

Presenter12:25

Right oh. And she knew you say that you should go to drama school. Did she talk to your parents about it? Well, I think she convinced them, yes. You know, they'd seen me do school plays and they'd seen the festivals and they

Speaker 312:28

I'm a scorpion

Presenter12:35

They knew I could sort in I and I enjoyed it and I could do it and uh our Imelda being good on the stage at school is one thing. It becoming your profession is quite another, isn't it? I mean, they wouldn't have known any not at all I mean maybe they thought

Imelda Staunton12:39

Yeah, do they mean

Imelda Staunton12:46

Yeah.

Imelda Staunton12:48

At all.

Presenter12:51

I mean, a as probably I did, that you go to drama school, but then you have to go and get a job.

Presenter12:57

I didn't know that I'm going to drama school and I'm going to be an actress. You know, at the time, I thought, well, I'll go to drama school, but you know, obviously that won't work out.

Presenter13:04

So I'll have to go and do something else.

Presenter13:06

Tell me about the next record, number three. Well, Messiah handles Messiah heavenly. But I used to love doing I was in the school choir and I loved singing in the school choir.

Presenter13:16

Mainly because we joined the boys' school across the road.

Presenter13:19

They were also in the choir, but we did the Messiah, and I remember every note.

Speaker 313:25

Born unto us and child is born unto us and child is born unto us.

Speaker 313:33

Yeah.

Speaker 313:42

The sun is given.

Speaker 313:59

Everything shall be for them.

Presenter14:17

Unto us, A Child Is Born from Handel's Messiah, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Sir Adrian Bolt. So having decided, Imel de Staunton, to um study acting, it nearly didn't happen, did it? You kept getting turned down, I gather. Yes, I I auditioned for three drama schools, uh Central, Guildhall and Rada, and um I got my replies, you know, from the from Central, no thank you, Guildhall, no thank you. I thought, well.

Presenter14:45

Well, that's it then. I'm not going to get into the other one. And it was interesting because I remember. You'd never even heard of the other one at first, I gather. No, I'd uh

Speaker 314:48

I'm just

Imelda Staunton14:51

But when at first I gather fader.

Presenter14:54

No, don't hold that against me, Sue.

Presenter14:58

But I remember the auditions for Guildhall and Central were, you know, just in a room with people behind a desk and a and you went into Rada and you went onto a stage and they were in the dark and you were lit and I thought, oh, this is what's right. I don't want to be in a room. I want to be on the stage And I remember so loving it and thinking, Oh, this is this is it I thought, Well, I'll never, never get in I remember my mother coming in.

Presenter15:21

And she said, There's a letter, there's a letter here from Royal Academy. I said, Oh, right. And she said, Shall I read it? Shall I read it?

Presenter15:28

Yep, if you like. Yep, so she opened it. Dear madam, I'm delighted to say I said, Don't joke about that. Don't do that to me. That's not funny.

Presenter15:37

'Cause I thought that she can't be.

Presenter15:39

And it was, and that was it? Amazing. That was fantastic. And absolutely the right place for you. Who were your contemporaries then?

Imelda Staunton15:41

That was fine.

Presenter15:45

Well, I think in that era, I mean I was there from seventy four to seventy six and um in our sort of era was um Alan Rickman and Tim Spall was was below me and Anton Lesser and I think Juliet Stevenson was below me. Um so there were you know a good few guys and girls there. And you knew straight away that you were in the right place, did you? It just fit in. Yes, absolutely. I loved it.

Imelda Staunton16:02

And you

Imelda Staunton16:05

Yeah.

Presenter16:07

And Hugh Crotwell, who was our principal, who was absolutely extraordinary, the passion he had for the job and that he instilled that in me, and I think in most of us, that it's hard work and you must do it right and you must work hard and then you will reap the rewards, not in successful terms, but just this is the right job for me. What does working hard mean in terms of being an actor?

Presenter16:33

Taking it seriously.

Presenter16:35

I think.

Presenter16:36

Take it seriously and

Presenter16:39

And I do a lot of preparation, although I hope I'm very open. I don't want to wing it and yet I don't want to be set in my ways. But I want to put the work in and not just think, Oh, this is I can do this standing on my head.

Presenter16:53

This is a PF um which I

Presenter16:58

I was lucky enough to play at Nottingham Playhouse in nineteen eighty.

Presenter17:02

It was a, you know, extremely dramatic role to sing and to act.

Presenter17:07

And I think it moved me forward as an actor, and I think that really helped me get my audition.

Presenter17:14

For London.

Speaker 317:16

I'm not sure if I can do it.

Speaker 217:20

No.

Speaker 317:23

See you to love That is what I want

Speaker 317:37

I'm a burphy.

Presenter17:44

Edith Piaff and Ime alamour, if you love me, really love me. So, Imelda, six years in rep and you played lots of big parts, Electress and Joan Piaff, as you just said.

Presenter17:56

A lot of responsibility, but without huge exposure. That's great experience, isn't it? Yes, I mean, that was six years of an amazing apprenticeship for me. Because also you'd play all the big parts and then you'd play, you know, the maid in something and, you know, queen something in another place. So it gave you a huge opportunity to just practice your craft. But having been up front, you're then sent for by Richard Eyre, who was running the National at the time, and he wants to cast you in guise and dolls as a hotbox girl, effectively.

Presenter18:27

One of the chorus. I mean, in the back line. Only five of you, I think, but nevertheless, in the back line. That must be quite diff I know you're coming in, as it were, but that's must be quite difficult to take.

Imelda Staunton18:28

Yeah.

Imelda Staunton18:29

By the way.

Imelda Staunton18:34

Um

Presenter18:36

Yes, well it it was um I mean, we were I was asked to join the company, which was to do be in the chorus and then to play as cast in other shows there. And um and I remember there was one day I was just sort of sitting at the back thinking, What am I doing? What am I doing here?

Presenter18:51

But then, you know, I was sitting watching people like Julia Mackenzie.

Presenter18:56

Bob Hoskins, Judy Covington, and Ian Charlson, and thinking, Oh.

Presenter19:02

That's what I'm doing here.

Presenter19:04

And I think, you know, I recognize this was a a shift in gear.

Presenter19:08

And this is what I had to do. I mean, I was understudying Julia, but I mean, if she had-if she had gone off, I would have been on the first plane.

Imelda Staunton19:13

If she has missed

Presenter19:18

I would have been out I would never have done it. And they could have sued me, they could have sacked me. Can you imagine? Ladies and gentlemen, Julian McKenzie's not here. Oh, no. The audience elder. Yeah, but this is exactly, as you say, what you were aiming for. And you did, of course, eventually take over. Not as an understudy. You took over the role. But I gather that Richard Eyre had to really work on you to persuade you to do it. Yes. Well, why? Because all we've heard so far is this sort of ambition that you're growing with and is growing with you. Why suddenly, when it starts to be fulfilled, are you getting coy?

Imelda Staunton19:25

Yeah, but

Imelda Staunton19:31

But not

Imelda Staunton19:33

The mail.

Imelda Staunton19:37

Yeah.

Presenter19:48

Yeah, well, I mean, the thing is, I don't think I have I mean, I think my ambition is so quiet, I sometimes could hardly hear it.

Presenter19:56

I think um when Richard asked me to do that, because Julia was so extraordinary in the part, I thought I cannot follow that and a bit of me didn't want to follow, I wanted to create something for myself.

Presenter20:08

Interestingly, you know, that was in 83, so I played it in 83 when I was sort of twenty-six.

Presenter20:15

And I did it in the revival in ninety seven. Of course I was much better. I was the right age. And I tried my best. But I was better this time round, I think. But it established you, no doubt about it. Yeah, it did.

Imelda Staunton20:23

The d

Presenter20:27

Record number five. Um well, of course it's Skies and Dolls, and um not only the most glorious show to be in. I mean, even being in the hot box was heaven, but also I met my husband and um you know, therefore my life was sort of began really.

Speaker 320:45

Oh no, when my love comes along, I won't take a chance.

Speaker 320:55

For oh, he'll be just what I need, not some fly-by-night Broadway romance.

Imelda Staunton21:02

Way wrong.

Presenter21:03

Amen.

Imelda Staunton21:04

And you'll know at a glance by the two pair of pants

Presenter21:11

I'll know from the National Theatre's production of Guys and Dolls with Julie Covington as Sarah Brown and Ian Charlson as Skye Masterson. Um and that, Imelda, is where you met your husband, Jim Carter, who's so brilliant in Brass Off, among so many other things. Um the line was that the smallest member of the cast had married the tallest. I mean what is the difference? Five feet tall plays.

Presenter21:32

Well, he's six foot two. Yes. But it was love at first sight, wasn't it? Well, it no, it wasn't actually.

Imelda Staunton21:35

Yeah.

Imelda Staunton21:37

What is it?

Presenter21:38

Um, we'd worked together for a year and then and then started realizing that actually every time we went into the canteen going, Oh, where's Jim? I want to sit with him, he's funny, he's so funny, so nice and um and I think he felt the same, so um we thought we should get together.

Presenter21:55

But we talked earlier about, you know, touching into the the darker side of yourself. Um did you know it was there before you started to act? Or is acting has acting enabled you to to uncover it as well?

Imelda Staunton22:06

I think that

Presenter22:09

I do. I mean, I used to think that acting gave me the opportunity to shout, because I don't shout, I don't ha really have a temper. And I think and so that allowed me to do that. And I think you're right. I think acting has given me the chance to look inside and see what's what I can offer up. How big a turning point then was Uncle Vanya, which, as we've said, was in 1988? Mm-hmm. I mean, I know you'd got the Olivier for Best Supporting Actress earlier for an Akeborn, The Downtrodden Wife Who Saying. What was the name of the player? That was Chorus of Disapproval. But also, it was jointly, wasn't it? Oh, with The Corners Green that I did with Deborah. So they were.

Speaker 322:35

Dumb.

Imelda Staunton22:35

Got my percent.

Imelda Staunton22:39

And you'll

Imelda Staunton22:43

So they

Presenter22:44

Serious roles, although in comedies. But Sonia in choke, I mean, that is really.

Imelda Staunton22:46

Uh

Imelda Staunton22:50

Yeah.

Presenter22:51

She's so long suffering. It's such a serious role. Do you think that was a turning point for you? Yes, I do. And uh we did that for six months in the West End, and it was one of those roles where, you know, I loved every single second and couldn't wait to finish. Because it was it it hurt. Which is why you can flick that switch and empathize, as you say, and immediately understand how someone like PF or Vera might might feel in that moment.

Speaker 323:16

Clear.

Presenter23:18

Um I mean, d does it go deeper than that? Is I mean have you unearthed things have you learned what have you learned about yourself?

Presenter23:25

Um

Presenter23:26

That you're a pessimist at heart.

Imelda Staunton23:26

That you're a pessimist at tar.

Presenter23:29

Well I have. I mean I have got a pessimistic side, but I mean I I also have, you know, I ha I think, you know, a good sense of humor and a sense of irony and um What about the Catholic guilt? Got any guilt? Oh God, isn't that boring? Isn't it there for far too long? Far too long. Yeah, of course I've got it. It's getting better. Working on it. Yeah, working on it.

Imelda Staunton23:50

Working on

Presenter23:52

Number six.

Presenter23:55

Well, of course part of me wants to be Bet Middler.

Presenter23:58

I don't think it's ever going to happen now, but she's just heaven and this is just glorious.

Speaker 324:05

He was a famous dropping man from out Chicago way And he had a boogie style that no one else could play He was a tough man at his crack

Speaker 324:13

But then his number came up and he was gone with the draft He's in the army now, a blown revelli He's the boogie boogie buga boy of company B They made him blow a bugle for his Uncle Sam It really brought him down because he could not champ The captain seemed to understand Because the next year the capt went out and drafted the band And now the company jumps when he fits revelle He's the boogie boogie buga boy

Presenter24:35

Bet Midler and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

Presenter24:39

You had a difficult time in Melda after the birth of your daughter Bessie in 1993, and you've been.

Presenter24:46

refreshingly frank about it, which I think helps other people. I mean, put simply, you had postnatal depression, didn't you? Yes, yes. What form did it take?

Imelda Staunton24:51

Yeah.

Presenter24:54

I don't know, just not feeling adequate in any way and um just not knowing how to do it, not knowing how to be a mum and but physically I'd been unwell as well, so that didn't help. Um,'cause I got taken back to hospital and, you know, it was just a mess, really. It was a bit of a car accident as opposed to a lovely

Presenter25:14

Having a baby, which of course is the most wonderful thing in the world. Um so yeah, that was pretty hard. So what happens? You then reject th the little thing that made all of this happen or made you feel like it? No, I didn't no, I actually it didn't take that form at all. I just

Imelda Staunton25:26

Bye now.

Presenter25:30

rejected myself.

Speaker 325:32

Mm-hmm.

Presenter25:33

No, all positive energy went towards the baby. All actually. And but just on my own. Um, just desperate. Um and I saw a wonderful gynecologist who said, You are ill and I was, you know, I was in a terrible state and she said, Just you're you're ill. Don't we I'm going to give you some antidepressants And um I said don't give me antidepressants I'm depressed enough

Presenter25:57

It's also all part of that no-nonsense thing, isn't it? It's, oh, come on, you know, I can sort this out myself. I don't need.

Imelda Staunton25:58

This is a

Imelda Staunton26:01

I can call this out myself. I don't need.

Presenter26:04

To swallow pills. Yes, yes, absolutely. And they just allowed me for about that was about three months, I think, just to get my nose above

Presenter26:12

water at the surface of of this sort of bewildering

Presenter26:17

Darkness.

Presenter26:19

And of course, you know, then you just look over in this corner and there's this gorgeous, happy.

Presenter26:24

loving, kind baby who was just waiting.

Presenter26:29

And I'll always be grateful to her for that,'cause, you know, that was that was a huge part of the recovery, that she was so funny.

Presenter26:38

And how did Jim cope with all of this as well? Well, he did everything, of course. He had to do everything. He was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

Presenter26:46

So it was a difficult time for us both and um

Presenter26:49

But, you know, of course those sort of things make you stronger.

Presenter26:53

You know, we were older parents as well. You know, we weren't twenty-two having kids. What would you you'd have been I was thirty-seven. Yes.

Speaker 226:57

I was thirty

Presenter27:00

You know, and we had this, you know, this lovely, gorgeous girl, and we thought, right, come on, we can't do better than that.

Presenter27:09

Next piece of music. Uh well this is my mum playing fiddle with a couple of her friends and um and you know as a kid we did have parties and there was you know I did hear this sort of music from really when I was a very small child. And you played spoons. And god I'm hot on the spoons. Not qui not very good but I c I can do the spoons. So I would do the spoons to this sort of music.

Presenter27:59

My castaway's mother, Bridie Staunton, playing the fiddle with friends at Alexandra Palace in two thousand and three. Your mum who who died last year just as you were

Presenter28:10

Enjoying all the accolades surrounding Vera Drake and everything. She did make it to one of the big nights. Yeah, she was on my she was my hot date for the um London Film Festival. The film opened that, and uh so she did the red carpet with me, so that was fantastic and she had a great night. We both, you know, arrived home at two in the morning with our shoes in our hands, having had a great night. So and did did did she live to see you go to to the Oscar ceremony and all of that? No, she I think she knew about the possibilities. You know, she did know it was a possibility and um

Presenter28:40

And that the BAFTA was a possibility. So she was sort of, you know, aware of that. So.

Presenter28:47

For me the whole

Presenter28:49

The last sort of those six months really y you know, has had a bittersweet taste because it's in one way the um all the American stuff

Presenter28:58

was like a bit of a tonic for me, you know, it was lovely to go and

Presenter29:02

Um, because it was so sudden, her death, and it was so shocking and desperate, really. But you didn't you didn't expect it at all.

Imelda Staunton29:07

You don't

Presenter29:09

No, no, no,'cause you went in for a bypass. I mean, she she had, you know, heart problems, she was diabetic and but she was only seventy and uh sitting down you'd think there was nothing wrong with her'cause she was so funny and lively and

Presenter29:21

So it was a shock, because you know, because bypasses you go in, you're out on, you know, three days later. So it was a huge shock.

Presenter29:29

So so yeah, that was November, so then we had, you know, Christmas and of course she'd wrapped all our Christmas presents.

Presenter29:36

And we have to unwrap those.

Presenter29:38

Um

Presenter29:41

Last record.

Presenter29:43

Well, I just this is um from um Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou? a track from that. The most beautiful voices, and I just love these voices and uh and um

Presenter29:52

What a heavenly sound

Speaker 329:54

As I went down in the river to pray, Studying about that good old way, And who shall wear a starry crown, Good Lord, show me the way.

Speaker 330:09

Oh sisters, let's go down, let's go down, come on down.

Speaker 330:16

Oh sisters, let's go down, down in the river to pray.

Presenter30:23

Alison Krause and Down to the River to Pray from the soundtrack of the Coen Brothers film, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? Now, you've been trying to decide all through this programme which one you're going to take. What is it? Don't. Well, you see, I mean, originally, and I think I'm going to have to stick with Guys and Dolls, because of course that means Jim and of course Bess. But then I think, well, what about Bette Midler? She'd keep me going. But I think I'm going to have to go for Guys and Dolls.

Imelda Staunton30:33

What is it?

Presenter30:46

So I'll know. It'll make you cry, too. I know, I know, but it's.

Imelda Staunton30:49

I know, I know, but I'm not sure.

Presenter30:52

Um, what about your book as well as the Bible and Shakespeare? Well I thought, hopefully, there'll be some good stars to look at, and I don't really know much about them, so I think a wonderful book on astronomy, so I can find out what they're saying to me, would be rather good. You know, I don't mind being on my own, so um I'll be all right, I think. I can't take the sun much, Sue. That's my only

Presenter31:16

So I might have to have a lot of sun cream. I don't know if I'm allowed to take that with me. So, um but that would be yes, I'd be all right actually. And your luxury, is it the sun cream, or what is it?

Presenter31:26

Well, I think I might just have to sneak the sun cream in without you knowing, and then my luxury will be some clay and um some tools to make to do some bit of pottery. Not pottery, what do I mean? It's sort of just sculptur modelling, yes. And have a go at that. I've done it once. I did a tiny, tiny little head, and I just loved it so much.

Imelda Staunton31:37

Or scope.

Presenter31:44

And I've never done it since, of course, but so this would be my opportunity.

Presenter31:47

Emailed us to thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your desert island. Oh, I feel I've made it now, Sue.

Speaker 232:00

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