Nyree Dawn Porter

Nyree Dawn Porter0:01

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

Speaker 10:04

Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast. For rights reasons, the music is shorter than on the original broadcast. The presenter is Roy Plomley. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:32

This week, our castaway is an actress and a very attractive one too. It's Nare Dawn Porter.

Presenter0:38

Naddie, what would you want music to do for you on a desert island?

Nyree Dawn Porter0:42

Roy, I think I want it to do for me what it does now.

Nyree Dawn Porter0:45

which is to uplift.

Nyree Dawn Porter0:48

And to bring peace.

Nyree Dawn Porter0:50

I couldn't live without music, so I'm glad you're letting me take some records with me. The trouble is of course narrowing it down to only eight.

Presenter0:58

It's a miserable little allot.

Nyree Dawn Porter1:01

Um

Presenter1:02

What's the first one?

Nyree Dawn Porter1:03

Well

Nyree Dawn Porter1:04

I think I'd like to hear Aquarius from Hare.

Presenter1:08

Why'd you choose that?

Nyree Dawn Porter1:09

Because it's

Nyree Dawn Porter1:11

symbolic of the age in which we live.

Nyree Dawn Porter1:13

It's also a classic.

Nyree Dawn Porter1:15

Already a classic, and I think it will be a lasting one. It has this marvelous pulsing beat, and the words are beautiful.

Presenter1:23

From the London cast or American cast?

Nyree Dawn Porter1:24

American cast, please.

Nyree Dawn Porter1:26

Uh

Presenter1:26

Yeah. When

Presenter1:28

The moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars Then peace will guide the planets And love will steer the stars

Nyree Dawn Porter1:51

Uh

Presenter1:55

Aquarius from here. What's your second choice?

Nyree Dawn Porter1:59

I'd like then, I think, something very

Nyree Dawn Porter2:03

soft and gentle.

Nyree Dawn Porter2:05

and a piece of music which has been with me all my life.

Nyree Dawn Porter2:09

La Pluque L'Onte by De Bussy. And could I have it played by Peter Frankel? Of course.

Presenter2:15

It's been with you all your life. Where did you first hear it?

Presenter2:18

At home, at school.

Nyree Dawn Porter2:19

Yes, at home in New Zealand where I was born.

Nyree Dawn Porter2:22

I had a very

Nyree Dawn Porter2:24

Joyful childhood, insofar as I was sent to a dancing school very early on.

Nyree Dawn Porter2:30

And

Nyree Dawn Porter2:31

It's this kind of music to which we danced a great deal.

Nyree Dawn Porter2:35

Um

Nyree Dawn Porter2:36

Both classical ballet and um

Nyree Dawn Porter2:39

what I recognize now as sort of Isadora movements, and it brings back to me that joyful feeling of being a tiny child amongst hundreds.

Nyree Dawn Porter2:49

running about in these diaphanous robes and flowers.

Nyree Dawn Porter2:52

And uh

Nyree Dawn Porter2:54

It's very evocative and I must have it.

Presenter3:56

Debussy's La Pleuquelante, played by Peter Frankel. Let's clear her up a mystery, Nari. That intriguing name of yours, is it a family name? A New Zealand name?

Nyree Dawn Porter4:06

It is a New Zealand name. It's a Maori name, in fact, and it's really correctly spelt N G A I R E and I changed the spelling of it for obvious reasons when I came to live in England because nobody could say it and I got tired of being called Dawn Porter. What does it mean?

Speaker 14:15

Peace and

Presenter4:18

Run gun.

Speaker 14:18

Uh

Nyree Dawn Porter4:22

It is in fact the name of a flower.

Presenter4:24

Mm.

Nyree Dawn Porter4:24

which grows in New Zealand. And it's it's really quite a common name there.

Presenter4:28

What part of New Zealand were you born in?

Nyree Dawn Porter4:30

I was born in a lovely place called Napier.

Nyree Dawn Porter4:33

which is on the east coast of the North Island.

Presenter4:35

But gorgeous beachlights too.

Nyree Dawn Porter4:36

Gorgeous beach land. Beautiful, beautiful place. Now it's a sort of holiday resort in the center of a fruit growing and farming industry.

Nyree Dawn Porter4:45

That I do miss, you know, the sea, the sun, trees and being able to walk amongst these lovely flowers.

Presenter4:52

Yes. In New Zealand there wasn't very much theatre for you to see as a youngster. What gave you your first interest?

Nyree Dawn Porter4:59

Well, in New Zealand they have tremendous.

Nyree Dawn Porter5:04

Interest in the theatre insofar as each little hamlet even has its own repertory, amateur repertory company.

Speaker 15:10

Yeah.

Nyree Dawn Porter5:12

And it's it's really the the interest and enthusiasm is enormous there. I can remember the the very first professional theatre I saw. It was in fact a ballet.

Nyree Dawn Porter5:23

I was taken to see the Borovanski ballet by my father and I didn't ever get over that until a few years later when I was taken to see my first live theatre drama production that was a musical called I De Chagaz.

Presenter5:36

To go. Yes, yes, yes. Now already in your teens you were running your own school for dancing and mine.

Presenter5:43

And acting yourself.

Nyree Dawn Porter5:45

Yes, I was. I was acting in an amateur capacity with the local repertory.

Nyree Dawn Porter5:51

company and it was as a result of appearing in one of those productions that the wife of

Nyree Dawn Porter5:57

The producer of the National Theatre of New Zealand. Her car broke down outside the theatre.

Nyree Dawn Porter6:03

And she came in and saw the performance, and knew that they were looking for somebody like me, asked me to audition, and I that's how I became a an actress that got paid for doing what she liked doing.

Presenter6:14

That was a very opportune carbreak done.

Nyree Dawn Porter6:16

Yeah.

Presenter6:16

I suppose you haven't put any nails in the road or anything like that.

Nyree Dawn Porter6:19

Promise is probably honestly doesn't

Presenter6:21

So off you went to Wellington.

Nyree Dawn Porter6:23

Yes, that was the base. And we used to work on productions there for um

Nyree Dawn Porter6:29

or sometimes as long as three months, and then take them out on a three monthly or six monthly tour. And it was a wonderful way to grow up because you were first of all a student and you l had to do everything. I mean, literally from the T up.

Presenter6:34

And

Nyree Dawn Porter6:41

You know, and you might be doing Shakespeare and the next production, you might be doing uh a musical or an Agatha Christie. It was a wonderful way to grow up.

Presenter6:49

And then you won a contest.

Nyree Dawn Porter6:53

The people of New Zealand were invited to select.

Nyree Dawn Porter6:59

somebody that they considered to have star quality.

Nyree Dawn Porter7:03

And to send them abroad with the idea of making them into a sort of international film star.

Nyree Dawn Porter7:09

And I suppose because I was best known, because I'd been touring around New Zealand then for about three years.

Nyree Dawn Porter7:16

Um I won it and was brought over to England.

Speaker 27:20

And

Nyree Dawn Porter7:21

When I arrived, unfortunately, the British film industry was going through one of its habitual crises.

Nyree Dawn Porter7:29

And so they weren't giving out contracts, let alone film tests.

Nyree Dawn Porter7:35

So I I went back to the theatre. I had a letter of introduction.

Nyree Dawn Porter7:38

To Hazel Vincent Wallace.

Nyree Dawn Porter7:40

at Leatherhead, and my very first job in this country was to play the fairy in a pantomime called Mother Goose.

Nyree Dawn Porter7:48

in which Vanessa Redgrave was principal boy and Vivian Pickles was the goose.

Presenter7:52

Yeah, this was a leatherhead.

Nyree Dawn Porter7:53

Yes, it will.

Presenter7:53

And after that?

Nyree Dawn Porter7:56

After that, as a result of that, the uh producer decided that he liked my work and he gave me a job under studying Barbara Kelly.

Nyree Dawn Porter8:05

in a tour called The Gimmick.

Presenter8:07

Oh, I remember that. It didn't come into London.

Nyree Dawn Porter8:08

That didn't come in London. No, it didn't. It was a very funny American comedy.

Presenter8:11

Hmm.

Nyree Dawn Porter8:12

And when that didn't come in, he said, well

Nyree Dawn Porter8:15

I'd like to put you in my review, which is a kind of new faces nineteen sixty. And there are about seven of us who were all, I'm sure they won't mind me saying so, comparatively unknown. And we ran at the Fortune Theatre for four months.

Presenter8:27

That was look who's look who's

Nyree Dawn Porter8:28

Look who's here, yes.

Presenter8:30

And that was your first West End show, so let's break off at this point for your third record.

Presenter8:35

What's it to be?

Nyree Dawn Porter8:36

Uh

Nyree Dawn Porter8:38

Well, I think I'd like to hear.

Nyree Dawn Porter8:41

Very nice.

Nyree Dawn Porter8:42

which by some strange coincidence is Greek for Irene.

Nyree Dawn Porter8:47

It isn't prophetic in any way.

Speaker 18:48

Anyway.

Nyree Dawn Porter8:50

Um

Nyree Dawn Porter8:51

I think because I've always loved Nana Masukuri, I've loved her voice.

Nyree Dawn Porter8:57

For a very long time, and it's such a gay, happy song. It's also a very funny song.

Nyree Dawn Porter9:03

So could I have that one, please?

Presenter9:04

Oh here she is, she's singing it with Hattie Belafonte.

Nyree Dawn Porter9:07

Yes.

Presenter9:14

There in me.

Presenter9:36

Nana Muscuri and Harry Belafonte.

Presenter9:39

Now Look Who's Here was a modest little review, but it brought you a tremendous amount of publicity, didn't it?

Nyree Dawn Porter9:44

Yes, it did. It was a great surprise and delight to all of us because, as I said, we were comparatively unknown.

Nyree Dawn Porter9:53

It of course brought a flood of that kind of thing after it's more reviews, more musicals and that.

Speaker 29:59

Uh

Nyree Dawn Porter10:00

But I

Nyree Dawn Porter10:01

Since it was only the second review in which I'd ever appeared in my life, I didn't feel that I wanted to get boxed in because for me,

Nyree Dawn Porter10:10

Um

Nyree Dawn Porter10:11

The reason why I enjoy acting so much is very simple and very childish. I do love to pretend that I'm other people and I like to take time about characterizations and in review you have to be a very gifted mimic and you have to be able to condense everything very sharply, very clearly. That is rather against my nature and so I waited for a long time.

Nyree Dawn Porter10:33

and fortunately was given my first television role.

Nyree Dawn Porter10:37

And it was very heavy and very dramatic. It was an Australian play. And that opened up television for me. It was very exciting, because I'd never ever seen a television camera before in my life, because we didn't have television in New Zealand.

Speaker 110:42

Yeah.

Presenter10:51

Then you went back to the theatre and played in Neil Simon's play, Come Blow Your Horn. Spat had quite a long run.

Nyree Dawn Porter10:56

Yes, it did. It ran I left it after six months.

Nyree Dawn Porter11:00

But it continued to run very happily.

Presenter11:03

Hmm.

Presenter11:04

And you were in a musical that Peter Brooke directed.

Nyree Dawn Porter11:06

Yes, uh

Nyree Dawn Porter11:07

the first and last I ever did in this country. I made the opening night, I I opened in Oxford and slipped a disc, so I was unable to continue.

Presenter11:18

That was the end of musicals for a while in India.

Nyree Dawn Porter11:20

Yes, it was. But you see, as a as a result of that, I was available to be able to do Madame Bovary, which was the very first BBC Two classic serial.

Presenter11:29

And after quite a lot more television, you were offered the plum part of the year, the year 1967, at any rate. Three years ago.

Nyree Dawn Porter11:35

Uh

Speaker 111:36

Yeah.

Presenter11:37

Irene in the serial version of the Forsyth saga.

Presenter11:41

Was there any particular television performance which had earned you that job?

Nyree Dawn Porter11:46

Yes, I think it was as a result of doing Madame Bovary.

Nyree Dawn Porter11:51

Because Donald Wilson had been the producer on that.

Nyree Dawn Porter11:56

And he remembered my work and he telephoned and said, We're going to do the Foresight Saga, we'd like you to be with us.

Nyree Dawn Porter12:03

And that's how it came about.

Presenter12:04

Did the saga mean anything in your life? Had you read it?

Nyree Dawn Porter12:07

Yes, I had read it when I was um

Nyree Dawn Porter12:10

Very small because apart from records, books are my other luxury. But I was clouded by a very funny film version I remembered with Errol Flynn playing.

Speaker 112:14

Yeah.

Nyree Dawn Porter12:21

Um

Nyree Dawn Porter12:23

And I dash back to the books.

Nyree Dawn Porter12:27

And I discovered something entirely new, you see, because I was grown up then and could appreciate this marvellous relationship which Galsworthy had drawn, which dominates the series and goes right through.

Presenter12:37

Now this meant a solid year's work doing nothing else because we've got 26 installments to do.

Nyree Dawn Porter12:43

Is

Presenter12:43

How many installments is Irene in? Nearly the lot.

Nyree Dawn Porter12:46

Yes, all bar about six. I'm not quite sure because it took 14 months of my life.

Presenter12:52

Yeah.

Nyree Dawn Porter12:53

Very enjoyable 14 months.

Presenter12:55

Well, we'll talk about Irena some more in a moment. Let's have another record.

Nyree Dawn Porter12:58

I'd like to hear Beethoven's Pathetique sonata.

Presenter13:02

Who's playing it on this record?

Nyree Dawn Porter13:03

Um

Nyree Dawn Porter13:04

Stephen Bishop.

Presenter14:07

Part of the slow movement of Beethoven's Patatique Sonata played by Stephen Bishop.

Presenter14:12

Now all these months of playing Irene,

Presenter14:15

A very complex lady.

Presenter14:16

Thinking about her. Did you find yourself identifying?

Nyree Dawn Porter14:20

Um, not so much myself identifying, but I've

Nyree Dawn Porter14:24

You see, it it it's it's this wonderful

Nyree Dawn Porter14:28

uh ability which I think Goldsworthy had.

Nyree Dawn Porter14:32

of drawing this peculiar, strange relationship, which isn't simply male-female, but I think it goes on today even in less dramatic forms. I think we all know Irene's and Soames's.

Nyree Dawn Porter14:44

And it was that which made me excited about playing it.

Nyree Dawn Porter14:48

But it was a long, long, long time, yes, so I suppose a great deal of me got used up in playing her, yes.

Presenter14:53

Yes, so I

Presenter14:58

You've done quite a lot of stage work since then.

Nyree Dawn Porter15:00

Yes.

Nyree Dawn Porter15:01

Yes, it's a very good thing.

Presenter15:01

Including some exciting parts at the Oxford Playhouse.

Nyree Dawn Porter15:02

The Oxford playhouse. Yes, last year I was invited to join the company and we did Uncle Vanya and St Joan. Which was wonderful. It was like a rebirth.

Presenter15:15

You're married to an actor, Brian O'Leary. Do you have opportunities to act together?

Nyree Dawn Porter15:20

No, because he's a musical man. He does, in other words, lovely shows like Robert and Elizabeth, The Man of La Mancha.

Nyree Dawn Porter15:28

And as I said, that isn't really my scene.

Presenter15:32

What's in the book for the future?

Nyree Dawn Porter15:33

Um I think I'm going back on television again.

Presenter15:35

Yeah.

Nyree Dawn Porter15:36

And straight this time too.

Presenter15:39

Good.

Presenter15:40

Let's have record number five.

Nyree Dawn Porter15:42

Ah, well, because I love Greece.

Nyree Dawn Porter15:45

and I would like to take something which reminded me of Greece other than Nanamuskuri's beautiful voice.

Nyree Dawn Porter15:51

I would like to hear.

Nyree Dawn Porter15:53

A track from Lilix Out of the Dead Land.

Nyree Dawn Porter15:57

It's number three.

Nyree Dawn Porter15:58

Bahi Manos Hagidakis.

Presenter16:29

Amanos Hajidakis tune from Lilacs Out of the Dead Land.

Presenter16:33

What have we got next?

Nyree Dawn Porter16:35

Next.

Nyree Dawn Porter16:36

Well, I must take something which reminds me of

Nyree Dawn Porter16:41

the work that I do.

Nyree Dawn Porter16:43

And the wonderful evenings I've had in the audience in many British theatres.

Nyree Dawn Porter16:50

And I should like to hear.

Nyree Dawn Porter16:52

Part of Reuter Trees' performance.

Nyree Dawn Porter16:56

Of John Aubrey's brief lives.

Speaker 216:59

Youth should be indulged as to all lawful pleasures.

Speaker 217:05

Oh,'tis a very ill thing to cross children it makes them ill natured. A school should be a house of play and pleasure, not of fear and bondage.

Speaker 217:17

Yeah.

Speaker 217:18

In

Speaker 217:19

No scholar to be beaten about the head.

Speaker 217:23

But of course, in the case of serious naughtiness, thumb screws would have to be employed.

Presenter17:31

Roy D'Artris as John Aubrey in his one-man evening, Brief Lives.

Presenter17:39

Nadie, are you practical and capable on all the other things a good castaway should be?

Nyree Dawn Porter17:43

Well, I think I'm fairly practical fairly capable, I should say, not so much practical. I'm not really practical at all. I have to work very hard at that.

Nyree Dawn Porter17:52

I am domesticated, so I think I'd quite like it. There is a tree there, isn't there? Oh, lots of trees, yes. It's quite a tree.

Presenter17:57

Oh lots of trees. Yes, it's quite a fair-sized, quite good island.

Nyree Dawn Porter18:01

Because I should like to sort of keep my island tidy, you know, and sweep up the sand. Yes?

Presenter18:04

Who knows the sound?

Nyree Dawn Porter18:06

And I think I could probably, with a little ingenuity, imagination and a great deal of effort and pleading hands, probably make a hut of some kind because in the early days in New Zealand I used to enjoy a lot of outdoor camping.

Presenter18:21

Great.

Nyree Dawn Porter18:21

Good. And uh so I think I might make out quite well.

Presenter18:24

Quite well. The third, of course, would be pretty basic. Is good living important to you?

Nyree Dawn Porter18:29

Not at all. No. I can live very happily on very little and um just as long as there's water somewhere.

Presenter18:36

Oh, we've got that. Would you try to escape navigation?

Nyree Dawn Porter18:38

No, no, I shouldn't try to escape at all. I should think any raft I made would sink immediately. Um I think I'm much more inclined to let

Nyree Dawn Porter18:46

fate or God have his way and let me stay there until I were rescued. Also, you see, it's very attractive to me because I do love peace so much and I quite like being alone because I feel I'm never really alone. My imagination's always soaring.

Presenter19:00

The robot is soaring.

Nyree Dawn Porter19:02

And I would rather enjoy it, I think.

Presenter19:04

Peace, it's wonderful. Let's have another echo.

Nyree Dawn Porter19:06

Yes, let's have um

Nyree Dawn Porter19:09

Some more debussy, please. Yes. A la field jeweller de l'Anne.

Presenter19:13

Played again by Peter Tran

Nyree Dawn Porter19:14

Peter Frankel

Presenter20:13

The debut prelude, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, played by Peter Frankl.

Presenter20:18

Now we come to your last record.

Nyree Dawn Porter20:21

Well

Nyree Dawn Porter20:22

I think I should like to.

Nyree Dawn Porter20:25

Since it is the last record.

Nyree Dawn Porter20:27

Um have another

Nyree Dawn Porter20:30

Piece of music from Hair.

Nyree Dawn Porter20:32

I should like to hear Let the Sun Shine In because it is a wonderfully uplifting piece of music.

Presenter20:38

This is the finale of the ship.

Presenter20:41

New York cast again?

Nyree Dawn Porter20:42

Well, no, I think we'll let the English casts in.

Presenter21:15

The closing moments of Hare, sung by The London Cast.

Presenter21:19

If you could take just one of the eight discs you've played us, which would it be?

Nyree Dawn Porter21:23

But I think it has to be brief lives because it's so funny and it he does it so beautifully. And also it's very long. I can play both sides, can't I?

Presenter21:34

Right. And one luxury to take?

Nyree Dawn Porter21:37

I should Now luxuries, you see, I that's very hard, because I can do without them. But if I had to take something I think it would be an umbrella, because I could use it as a sunshade and as a protection against the weather if it got very rough.

Presenter21:45

Because I could

Nyree Dawn Porter21:51

Good.

Presenter21:51

Yes, all right.

Presenter21:53

Um and one book

Nyree Dawn Porter21:54

One book I think and oh again it's terribly terribly difficult.

Presenter21:58

You have your Bible and Shakespeare already spoken.

Nyree Dawn Porter21:58

Should I

Nyree Dawn Porter22:00

Yes, good, good. Um but I think that I must take something in that case very amusing in a book which I've read and re-read and re-read, um one of Thurba's, probably Thurba Carnival.

Presenter22:12

All right. And thank you, Nairi Dawn Porter, for letting us hear your Desert Island Discs.

Nyree Dawn Porter22:16

Thank you for letting me have my desk, Island.

Presenter22:19

Goodbye everyone.