Sheila Steafel

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Disc's Archive. For rights' reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen eighty five, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:30

Our Castaway this week is a very versatile actress. She does a one-woman show that incorporates heaven knows how many characters.

Presenter0:38

She's played in the theatre.

Presenter0:40

Almost everything, including half a marks.

Presenter0:43

It's Sheila Stiefel.

Presenter0:45

Now your choice of records is that as varied as your ordinary lifestyle.

Sheila Steafel0:50

Yes, I think so. I I think so. All I did, Roy, because you were about to ask me how I chose them, so I told you what I actually did was I

Presenter0:58

It's a bud to do no such thing, but go on if you

Sheila Steafel1:02

What I did, Roy you know, of course, that everybody sits down at home and says I'd have and they make a list. Yes. And I've been doing it for years, of course, and I never thought I'd be asked, but they were. And what I did when I was actually asked was to sit down and I wrote eight titles down and left them.

Sheila Steafel1:20

Because I knew that I if I started to fuss I'd change them and never make my mind up. So virtually these are the first eight that came into my head, and a lot of them are associated with

Sheila Steafel1:31

emotional changes and interesting things that happen to me, which I have absolutely no intention of telling you about.

Sheila Steafel1:37

And a lot of them are associated with my

Sheila Steafel1:40

Career and the development of that. So that, yes, where did you start? What were your startups?

Presenter1:44

Well, I hoped you you were going to start. You'd tell us what was the first disc associated with your career.

Sheila Steafel1:50

What in fact I put down was the overture to Hamperdink's opera Hansel and Gretel.

Presenter1:56

This is the operatic side of your career.

Sheila Steafel1:58

Yes, yes. I actually sang an opera.

Presenter2:02

Which, when and where?

Sheila Steafel2:04

Well, my agent phoned me this is all of two years ago, Christmas a year back, as it were and my agent phoned me and said, You've been asked to do Hansel and Gretel and I said, Oh, that's jolly good,'cause I've never done a pantomime. I never have and I thought that would be great and they s the witch, yes, lovely, you know, that's fine. They sent the tape and it turned out to be Elizabeth Schwarzkopf.

Sheila Steafel2:27

plus a few others singing the opera, which I didn't know at all, I never heard it, apart from the prayer in the forest, which everybody knows and loves. Anyway.

Sheila Steafel2:37

I thought, well, I'll listen to the desk, and when I hear the speaking bit, that'll be me, that'll be the witch.

Sheila Steafel2:44

And of course he wasn't at all, was he? It was frightfully oppressed. I rolled on the floor with laughter. I really did. I fell over and thought they've made some terrible mistake.

Sheila Steafel2:52

They think I'm somebody else.

Sheila Steafel2:54

So I phoned up and I said, Look, I'm awfully sorry you're quite wrong. I mean, I do sing a bit, yes, I do, but not an opera. I mean, and the other thing is, it's not an easy opera to learn or listen to for the first time.

Sheila Steafel3:06

No, no, they said, we do, yes. I said, Well, what I'll do is come and meet the conductor, Christopher Firefield, and I'll audition for him.

Sheila Steafel3:13

And I got my pianist and I sang a few songs, straight songs, and I sounded all right, surprised we looked at each other and said, Gracious me, possible

Sheila Steafel3:21

went to Christopher. See he sat at the piano, and I started to sing and he stopped and he said, Ah, now

Sheila Steafel3:28

Mm you're clearly musical. Why don't you go away and have some lessons? So I did, cut a long story short.

Sheila Steafel3:34

They very sweetly paid for me to have singing lessons. I had as many as I could in four months, and lo

Sheila Steafel3:40

Did do it.

Sheila Steafel3:42

And I flew.

Sheila Steafel3:43

I was flown on a broomstick as well in the ballet bit, and I tell you

Sheila Steafel3:49

A girl could die happy after that. I sang with a forty six piece orchestra.

Speaker 43:53

Yeah.

Sheila Steafel3:54

And I got very hooked on singing, because it's very much in my family. My father sang a lot, was in fact an amateur opera singer, as it were. My mother was a sort of concert pianist.

Presenter4:05

So the tradition was tingling within you.

Sheila Steafel4:06

Oh, my father would like to have sired Janet Baker rather than me. I'll do as a second best, he said, but he's sorry I'm not Janet Baker. I have apologised. There's nothing more I can do about that.

Presenter4:16

Yes.

Presenter4:16

What's all this leading up to?

Sheila Steafel4:18

It's leading up to you playing the overture of Hansel and Gretel.

Presenter5:20

The overture to Humperdinks, Hanstel and Gratel?

Presenter5:23

Played by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Herbert von Carrier.

Sheila Steafel5:27

I must say that that that just by the way, although it reminds me very much of a very happy time, really, I have become enormously fond of the opera. The more you listen to it,

Sheila Steafel5:37

the more delightful it is.

Presenter5:39

But where do we go from there?

Sheila Steafel5:40

The second record is Passard.

Sheila Steafel5:43

William Walton's for sorry. And I've chosen a bit of Edith Sitwell.

Presenter5:43

Molemo

Sheila Steafel5:48

doing country dance.

Sheila Steafel5:51

This has actually got a sort of emotional attachment, because somebody I was inordinately fond of, and who taught me an awful lot about my trade as a comedy person.

Sheila Steafel6:02

and who has since sadly died, introduced me to this. I was sitting in the Everyman Cinema in Hampstead, sitting next to him adoringly.

Sheila Steafel6:11

And there was something being played in the background while we waited for the film to come up, and he started to speak to it.

Sheila Steafel6:17

In rhyme, as it were, and it all went together, and I got terribly excited, and said, What are you doing? That's amazing and wonderful.

Sheila Steafel6:24

And it turned out that they were playing Walton, and he was actually speaking Fossade to it.

Sheila Steafel6:29

And if you are introduced to it that way, it's very exciting. I know it's a bit old fashioned, but I reckon on this desert island it's tremendous fun to speak along with, and I'll finally get it right.

Presenter6:39

And you'll be speaking along with Edith Sitwell.

Sheila Steafel6:42

Yes, in all humility.

Speaker 46:44

That hobnail goblin, the bob-tailed hob, Said it is time I began to rob. Her strawberries bob-hob knob with a pearls of cream like the curls of the darely girls, And flushed with the heat and fruitish ripe, Are the gowns of the maids who dance to the pipe Chase Maid? She's afraid.

Speaker 47:06

Go gather a bobcherry kiss from a tree, But don't, I pretty, come bothering me, she said, as she fled.

Speaker 47:16

The slouted satyrs be planted green Neath the chestnut trees as thick as a green So I wit

Speaker 47:24

Ad length

Speaker 47:26

Where none but the totish goldish wide Nuzzle my hand for what it could find as it may.

Speaker 17:33

Yeah.

Speaker 47:34

I sin

Speaker 47:36

Don't touch me, sir, don't touch me, I say, You'll tumble my strawberries into

Presenter7:43

Edith Setwell Country Dance from Facade.

Presenter7:47

Sheila, you're from South Africa.

Sheila Steafel7:49

Yes, indeed.

Presenter7:50

What were you doing there? Were you a big family?

Sheila Steafel7:53

I have a brother.

Sheila Steafel7:55

And we were a fairly theatrical family in a sense, but in those days they didn't really in South Africa have any professional theatre as such, but a lot of amateur theatricals, a lot of Gilbert and Sullivan. My mother played in the pit, my father played

Sheila Steafel8:09

character parts. He had a lovely baritone voice, and he directed and then decided he wanted to play leads. So he trained his voice up to being a tenor.

Sheila Steafel8:18

and started to play the pretty parts.

Sheila Steafel8:21

And sort of sport his voice, although I mean he's in his eighties and he still sings, he's amazing and indeed he still plays. So I used to stand in the wings

Sheila Steafel8:31

and listen to all this. I I was steeped in theatricality.

Presenter8:35

What was the first time in which you trod the boards yourself?

Sheila Steafel8:38

Well, at the age of three.

Sheila Steafel8:41

They had Eystedfods, believe it or not, in Johannesburg. Yes, Ei Stedfods in Johannesburg. Can you imagine? All those awful children in fairy frocks throwing up in the aisles.

Presenter8:43

Nice tip.

Sheila Steafel8:53

Just dreadful. And I was there in my fairy frock and I won prizes for dancing. Then I was ended for the singing. I mean

Sheila Steafel9:00

Apart from this, they were a fairly sensible family.

Presenter9:03

You went through the mill.

Sheila Steafel9:04

Through the mill. Yes, I have a certificate under fives, a special certificate,'cause I was good. And it said try to point a little harder. That was the toes they removed.

Sheila Steafel9:15

So that was my first encounter with the stage was in a ballet frock.

Sheila Steafel9:19

And then I it just went on from there. I mean, I I wrote a play at school and nearly got expelled for it, because it was a frightfully ladylike school. I wrote a play and put it on

Sheila Steafel9:30

And it oh, it was like one of those terrible schoolgirl stories. I was sent for by the principal, who said, This is a frightfully dirty play you're a very naughty girl. There's a lot of crepe paper over there. You will fill in the busts, and drop the hems, and take those red ties away. Red is a naughty colour.

Sheila Steafel9:47

But I was leaving quite soon after that, in fact, so they let me stay on. But I was much more interested in

Sheila Steafel9:54

acting than anything else, really. And I played the piano because my mum taught me and my father taught me to sing, so it was going on and on, all of it. There was absolutely no question about what I was going to do.

Presenter10:06

Your third record.

Sheila Steafel10:07

No, this is an orchestral piece. I'm not all that keen on orchestral pieces. I'm much more chamber music lady.

Sheila Steafel10:15

But I've chosen the end bit of Benjamin Britton's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra because every time I hear it it absolutely makes

Sheila Steafel10:25

The hair on my head stand up when they gather up all the bits of tune and then the theme comes zooming out of it. Oh

Presenter11:33

The finale of Britain's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. The London Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer. Now you had firmly resolved that you were going to work in show business.

Sheila Steafel11:44

Yes, I will.

Presenter11:45

But the opportunities were hardly there once you had left school.

Sheila Steafel11:49

Absolutely. I I used to go to elocution classes.

Sheila Steafel11:53

With a marvellous old lady called Murin Alexander, who I think understudied Ellen Terry at one time. Didn't she? Yes, yes.

Speaker 111:58

Yeah.

Sheila Steafel12:00

There's a theatre named after her in Johannesburg, too.

Sheila Steafel12:03

So I used to then education and say, Hi, now you're Brian Carr.

Sheila Steafel12:07

and then go out into the streets and say Hener Brenke because in South Africa in those days, and possibly now, the British accent was not popular, and young girls like me, whose school chums all had an accent, South African accent, had I actually talked posh, I would have been stoned to death, I think.

Sheila Steafel12:27

So I used to keep that as a secret.

Sheila Steafel12:29

But I was quite good at painting, having inherited that as well from my family very good with our hands.

Sheila Steafel12:36

They thought I ought to have a university degree in case everything else failed. I can't I mean, the last thing in the world I'd want to do would be to teach R.

Sheila Steafel12:43

And I really wasn't up to standard. I mean, I still paint and I love it, but

Sheila Steafel12:48

you know, I mean, for fun and for myself, not in a very arty way. And I got half way through this BA Fine Arts. Um, having said I wanted to be an actress and go to England they were synonymous, you go to England and become an actress. Go to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Speaker 413:03

Mm.

Sheila Steafel13:03

But my mother, being a practical woman, said

Sheila Steafel13:06

All right, you can go and join the Royal Academy and become an actress if you earn your fare.

Sheila Steafel13:12

Now is totally unqualified for anything.

Sheila Steafel13:14

So I said okay, and I left university and found an advert for a a dentist receptionist, which I took.

Sheila Steafel13:22

And for six months this poor dentist, who was starting out, couldn't afford a real nurse, had me.

Sheila Steafel13:29

as not only receptionist, but dental nurse.

Presenter13:32

Okay.

Sheila Steafel13:32

And he had no patience really either.

Sheila Steafel13:36

So you have to practice.

Presenter13:36

So you have to practice on the field you got.

Sheila Steafel13:38

Well, I all I did was wear a white uniform, no shoes and no belt,'cause there was no point and nobody was there, and it was rather hot.

Sheila Steafel13:44

And I used up all his dental plaster and used his instruments to make heads and things, because they're lovely and and I used to fill up his book with appointments,'cause the odd person that came in you would open up the appointment book empty.

Sheila Steafel13:56

So I used to fill in names just to make it look better. But I forgot to mark who was real and who wasn't, so that's b

Sheila Steafel14:03

Spent an awful lot of his time waiting for people who never turned up. Now it won't surprise you to hear that he gave up dentistry and became a farmer, a pig farmer, at which he's much better and happy. You see, so I did a favor.

Presenter14:12

At which she's much better at the end of the year.

Presenter14:16

And you'd got your fare to

Sheila Steafel14:17

I'd just about scraped the fare together, and my mother put me on a ship with her she didn't trust me an inch, and we came over with a big trunk

Sheila Steafel14:25

on Cape Town Castle or something, by boat, lovely trip, stopped off of Madeira.

Sheila Steafel14:30

And we went to the audition. And I did my pieces, and they said, no, thanks very much.

Sheila Steafel14:38

So they put me in Prep Rada. I don't know if Par Rada, Preparatory Academy Rada, exists, it was in Highgate.

Sheila Steafel14:46

And lo our my mother, with great relief, waved goodbye to me and went back.

Sheila Steafel14:51

And I was on my own for the first time in a hostel where listen to this, Roy, I had to make my own bed first time in my life.

Presenter14:59

No.

Sheila Steafel15:00

I did. I said to my mother, Do mine washing. The next letter came, she said.

Sheila Steafel15:05

Katy, who is the woman who works for us black women, Katie says, Send your washing home every week, we'll do it, we'll send it back again.

Sheila Steafel15:13

I didn't. I didn't.

Presenter15:14

and you continued to make your own bed.

Sheila Steafel15:19

Well, you mustn't be naughty, Narrow,'cause when I do and I have been back to South Africa very seldom, I now find it almost impossible to.

Sheila Steafel15:28

comply with what's expected of one when you're there. And I disrupt the house by making my own bed, and my mother says, Don't do that.

Sheila Steafel15:35

She'll get used to it.

Presenter15:38

Now, where are we going now? You've passed out of the prep rather.

Sheila Steafel15:41

Oh, I didn't.

Presenter15:42

You didn't

Sheila Steafel15:42

No no, I will then audition reaudition for Rada.

Presenter15:42

Yeah.

Sheila Steafel15:46

Having had a term at Parad, and they said, No, thanks Go back to Parada yet again. No, no I cried.

Sheila Steafel15:52

So I rushed about and found that Webber Douglas School were auditioning at that very minute and I rushed at them

Sheila Steafel15:58

and they took me on.

Sheila Steafel16:00

And I spent a very happy two years. A bit restless towards the end, I got.

Presenter16:05

What was your first professional engagement?

Sheila Steafel16:07

I had a bit of trouble, but I did, in fact.

Sheila Steafel16:10

get my very first job, which was Blackpool Rap.

Sheila Steafel16:13

And we did two plays a week, twice nightly, and swapped with St Anne's. And I was ASM collecting props and

Sheila Steafel16:21

Playing small parts and on the book and props and everything. And I painted more pictures during that period. Can you believe it?

Presenter16:28

But it's the very best way to learn.

Sheila Steafel16:30

It was wonderful. Nine months, at the end of which I said I've done rep, I don't have to do it ever again. Wonderful grounding.

Presenter16:37

Let's have your fourth record.

Sheila Steafel16:39

Of course I've got to have some Bach, because Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, all that is really my period.

Sheila Steafel16:45

I could happily have chosen all the records within that and just sat on my island and loved it. So it's Bach, and it's the Adagio from the Concerto in D minor.

Presenter17:52

The adagio from the Bach Concerto in D minor, BW V one zero six O

Presenter17:57

Leon Goessens and Yehudi Menuin.

Presenter18:01

Well, where have we got to? You're on your way south.

Sheila Steafel18:03

Yes, that's right. I went back to London and started to try and get into television.

Sheila Steafel18:09

and simply bought the T V and Radio Times every week, and wrote to everybody who was producing or directing anything, plus all the casting people that ever lived.

Sheila Steafel18:22

and I used to send them postcards every week. I really worked very hard.

Sheila Steafel18:26

And I did get the odd walk on.

Sheila Steafel18:29

Meanwhile I had to live, so I did all sorts of odd jobs. I was a filing clerk at Sainsbury's I sold gloves at Derry and Tom's I was a chef in a night club oh and um usheretting.

Presenter18:43

Where?

Sheila Steafel18:44

Players' Theatre. That's how I started at the Players' as an arturette. I used to stand at the back.

Sheila Steafel18:49

and watch wonderful people like Clive Dunn and Hattie Jakes and Johnny Hewer. And I used to think I could do that.

Sheila Steafel18:55

So I asked if I could audition, and they said yes. I found a Maury Lloyd song called When I Take My Morning Promenade.

Sheila Steafel19:02

And I decided that in order to make an impression I'd wear something extraordinary. So I went down to the wardrobe and I said, Could I borrow a Victorian corset, please? Just the corset, thanks very much. Bit of fish net over there, that'll do.

Sheila Steafel19:15

and a parasol and a huge hat.

Sheila Steafel19:17

And boots.

Sheila Steafel19:18

And I rushed up and auditioned and they put me on at the players in this ridiculous outfit. But it was very sweet of'em. I think they put me on for

Sheila Steafel19:25

Novelty value

Sheila Steafel19:27

Consider

Presenter19:27

How long did you play?

Sheila Steafel19:29

Well, that started a a sort of stint. I used to play and the following week I'd do usheretting back again.

Presenter19:35

But you were in the theatre, you were working.

Sheila Steafel19:36

Oh yes, and in London, and in London, and it's a wonderful place. I must say that without the players I would never

Presenter19:38

Something

Sheila Steafel19:42

ever have done a one woman show. So the the seeds are way back there. And indeed it was in the players that I invented Popsy Wopsy, which is one of the characters I'm known for, this sort of failed chorus girl who is just behind the beat and just below the note most of the time. But that's become a sort of standard. I'm always asked to do it. Which is lovely. I mean, it's very nice.

Presenter20:07

Well, there you are, you're on your way.

Sheila Steafel20:09

Ish.

Presenter20:10

Ish.

Presenter20:11

A little more music.

Sheila Steafel20:13

Yep, we're talking about chorus girls and things. I'm very

Sheila Steafel20:17

partial to musicals, big, lovely American musicals. They're very show busy and wonderful.

Sheila Steafel20:23

And I think I've always had a very strong ambition, from a very early age, to play in in a musical line. I never really have. I mean, I've I've done a revival of Salad Days.

Sheila Steafel20:33

I've done an opera.

Sheila Steafel20:35

But I've never actually been in a very

Sheila Steafel20:38

big musical. And chorus line seems to me to be the definitive sort of exciting showbiz thing. So I've chosen the finale because it's pretty exciting, isn't it? I think. I mean, if you're into musicals, it sort of does it.

Speaker 420:55

One, two.

Speaker 420:56

Singular sensation, every little step he takes.

Speaker 421:02

One has

Speaker 421:04

Will encompassation, every move that he makes.

Speaker 421:10

One smile and suddenly nobody else will do You know you'll never be lonely with you

Presenter21:24

The finale to chorus line.

Presenter21:27

Well, you are beginning to do rather well on the house, Sheila.

Sheila Steafel21:30

Yes, I would say that

Sheila Steafel21:33

I never actually

Sheila Steafel21:35

got anything as a present. I worked very hard for everything. I it snowballed, but at that time I was doing straight work.

Sheila Steafel21:41

Comedy was a thing I did at parties and for friends, if it came upon me.

Sheila Steafel21:47

But I was really doing straight stuff, and I did Time in the Conways with Granada and a lovely serial called It's Dark Outside with Oliver Reed and William Mervyn.

Sheila Steafel21:58

And all sorts of things that was sort of coming along. And then I was very out of work at one point and

Sheila Steafel22:04

A floor manager at the BBC said to me, I'm sorry to ask you, but I mean if you're out of work, nobody will know it's you. Would you like to?

Sheila Steafel22:11

Come and be in a little sketch that's going under the titles of It's a Square World with Michael Benteen. It's a silly sketch about a

Sheila Steafel22:19

Man and a wife she's in a headscarf and she's sitting in the side car of his motorcycle and he drives up to a petrol station to get petrol for his motor bike, and a very big busty blonde comes out with a petrol pump.

Sheila Steafel22:32

puts it in and he's terribly taken with her, chats her up, and she forgets to watch the gauge of the petrol and as the side car fills up with petrol you drown in it.

Presenter22:39

Anything for love?

Sheila Steafel22:41

Absolutely. And I must tell you it was one of the most terrifying things I ever had to do anyway, because I get claustrophobia in small places.

Sheila Steafel22:48

If you're actually looking at the

Presenter22:48

Especially when they follow that.

Sheila Steafel22:49

Especially in the Foreign Fair Trail. But it it literally did go under the titles and lo Jimmy Gilbert saw it and asked me to do the Frost Report just because of that. And that was the beginning.

Speaker 122:59

Just

Sheila Steafel23:02

Of my career in light entertainment. Which, once you're in, Roy, swallows you whole. I'm not complaining.

Presenter23:07

Yeah.

Sheila Steafel23:08

It's been wonderful to me and I love it. I love it. If you can be funny, it is a gift for which I'm eternally.

Presenter23:12

Eventually you'd absorbed enough experience of different kinds of light entertainment.

Sheila Steafel23:18

And the b

Presenter23:18

to build your one womanship.

Sheila Steafel23:20

Indeed, yes, many years later.

Presenter23:23

That's the point we break off for your next record.

Sheila Steafel23:26

Well, I've got to have some handle, so I've chosen the Allegro of his Ober Concerto No. One in B flat major.

Presenter24:34

The allegro from Handel's Oboe Concerto No. 1 in B-flat, soloist Roger Lord.

Presenter24:41

So at last we'd got the Sheila Stiefel One Woman Show. What did it consist of, and where did you first do it?

Sheila Steafel24:48

One of the things about being a funny woman

Sheila Steafel24:52

Is that inevitably people will say to you, why don't you do a one-woman show? And of course, people had been saying it to me, oh, forever.

Sheila Steafel24:59

And I used to say rather hopefully at them, I'd love to.

Sheila Steafel25:03

and wait for them to put it together for me. And of course nobody ever does. And I got rather annoyed with myself for not doing it.

Sheila Steafel25:12

I used to say, Well, I don't know what to do and they'd say, Well, couldn't you write it? and I used to say, Very angrily, If I could write, don't you think I would have done it by now?

Sheila Steafel25:20

Anyway, I did get rather fed up with myself, so in the beginning of'eighty one I suddenly booked myself in to the Edinburgh Festival.

Sheila Steafel25:27

Just like that. Nothing to do.

Presenter25:29

You just booked a hole.

Sheila Steafel25:30

Booked I booked my space and thought, Wow, gotta do that now

Sheila Steafel25:34

I'm fortunate in that I know an awful lot of excellent writers who are very kind they were extremely kind to me because I had no money at all. And I told them what I was doing. They said what will it consist of? and I said well I don't really know. I guess

Sheila Steafel25:48

What I ought to do is what I'm best at, and I think what I'm best at is doing different characters, getting into characters. So why don't you write me a woman that you like, dislike, know, you know, whatever, a woman in your life or out of it or something. And we had a lot of chats and eventually these lovely people started to appear on paper and be sent to me. It was wonderful. It was very exciting getting the post with it.

Sheila Steafel26:13

But quite a few of them didn't materialize, and so, in a panic and I was also short of material, I put a piece of paper in the typewriter and decided to write some characters for myself. And lo I did I was very surprised.

Sheila Steafel26:26

But you see what panic can do.

Sheila Steafel26:28

I now have written I mean, I do write, after about two thirds of the show.

Presenter26:32

So that's really the standby. You're going to do a lot of that.

Sheila Steafel26:36

I think it's there to stay. I hope so. It seems the more I do it, the more it gets asked for, so that's nice. And the other thing, of course, is that I don't let it rest.

Sheila Steafel26:45

I do bring it up to date. I don't do material that's current because it's too much hard work that'll go by the board quickly. Say, for instance, if I do a sketch about Mrs Thatcher,

Sheila Steafel26:57

I wouldn't do anything about a current situation, but I do a sketch about a a lady who keeps turning into misses Thatcher'cause she suffers from megarexia gloriosa.

Sheila Steafel27:06

But that just lasts. I mean, that, you know, as long as she's there and people are interested, that will do.

Presenter27:12

And you get on with the rest of your career the rest of the time. You've been at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Sheila Steafel27:18

Yes, I'm with him at this very moment, playing Mistress Quickly.

Presenter27:22

Who loved it?

Sheila Steafel27:22

In Merry Wives. Yes, it's glorious. I didn't think I was going to like it. I thought to myself, I'm not a company girl. I've been trolling about with this one woman show for too long, I thought. But it's wonderful.

Sheila Steafel27:35

Very lovely people.

Presenter27:37

Your career is all opening up.

Sheila Steafel27:39

I don't get over excited about it. Yes, isn't it lovely?

Presenter27:42

Another record

Sheila Steafel27:44

This is a wonderful song called I Look Around sung by a splendid lady called Nina Simone.

Sheila Steafel27:50

I admire it on all sorts of levels. As an actor, I mean, it is the slowest piece of music you'll ever hear. So controlled and so strong. I'm a great admirer of long pauses, as people very well know. I I like all that. So, technically I'll admire it. But if you've been in love and out again, this is the cry record of all time.

Sheila Steafel28:11

I look

Speaker 428:11

Look around.

Speaker 428:20

And when I found me somebody

Speaker 428:33

Who lambs like you

Presenter28:39

Nina Simone, I'll look around.

Presenter28:42

Sheila, you've done several Radio 4 series that have gone on and on.

Sheila Steafel28:47

I've done quite a lot of radio, yes. The one you're thinking of, I think, is Weekending. Yes. Which I did for, I think

Sheila Steafel28:54

about seven years and loved. I really enjoyed it, it was tremendous. And now that taught me an awful lot.

Sheila Steafel29:01

Because you got to the studio on a Friday morning which started recording at ten o'clock stuff that had just been written, or was in fact in the process of being written at the time.

Presenter29:10

Mm-hmm.

Sheila Steafel29:10

And we had to finish by one, or two, I think, at the outside.

Presenter29:14

Very good discipline.

Sheila Steafel29:15

Marvellous. And you just got it thrust at you. You had one read through, then you recorded, maybe did one or two retakes, if possible not, and zoomed on to the next bit. And it was marvellous training. And the first time I started doing

Speaker 129:24

And it was

Sheila Steafel29:28

I don't do impressions really. I do vague impressions. I'm quite good at Thatcher now, but that was because of the programme weekending. And I think I'm the only person in the world who can do Shirley Williams properly.

Sheila Steafel29:39

And those are I'm proud of those people. That's all I can do.

Presenter29:44

Desert Island bit. This is important.

Sheila Steafel29:46

Yeah.

Presenter29:46

You're a girl from the Antipodes. You ought to be pretty good at looking after yourself. No, it's coral strap.

Sheila Steafel29:50

Note

Sheila Steafel29:51

Absolutely not, you know. I come from Johannesburg, which is the most citified and rather an ugly city at that. I mean, I'm a real suburban girl.

Sheila Steafel30:01

But I think I'd cope all right. I'm very practical.

Presenter30:04

and resourceful.

Sheila Steafel30:05

And resourceful, yeah. I'd make it look frightfully pretty. I ni I need to be surrounded by style and prettiness. Uh, you know, if I if I travel, for instance, I'm living in Stratford at the moment. I've got a little cottage and it's filled with things. I can't live without things and drapes and

Sheila Steafel30:21

I'm spending a fortune on a cottage I don't own.

Presenter30:24

So it would be a very pretty resident.

Sheila Steafel30:25

It would be very elegant, yes.

Presenter30:27

What's your last record?

Sheila Steafel30:29

This actually refers back to my roots. It's the African national anthem, Cos Cin Gele la Africa.

Sheila Steafel30:37

I think the reason I've chosen this, Roy, is I felt very much at home in England when I arrived. I love London. I feel marvellously at home here.

Sheila Steafel30:47

But the odd time I have gone back to South Africa

Sheila Steafel30:51

I've realized that I act my roots are actually there. It's a country that I know the smell of and the sound.

Sheila Steafel30:58

and the nights are very dark and the sunsets are brilliant and quick.

Sheila Steafel31:02

The colour of the earth is bright red, and these things are tremendously evocative and very moving for me.

Speaker 431:09

Gosi Sigle of Rita Malu Padany so Pandolvayo Viswaibi Chandaso Yeju.

Speaker 431:34

Wozamoya, singer, crosses, singer, walls amoya, singer, crosses, singer, wooza moya.

Speaker 131:35

Second.

Speaker 131:40

Yeah.

Speaker 431:46

Going well, single tilah, luciapon.

Presenter32:03

The African National Anthem.

Presenter32:06

If you could take only one disk of the atrial platers, which would it be?

Sheila Steafel32:10

It's got to be either bacho a handle.

Sheila Steafel32:12

And really it's using a pin time. But I think, mister Bach.

Presenter32:17

And well

Sheila Steafel32:18

Um Uh

Presenter32:18

Luxury to take to the island.

Sheila Steafel32:21

I'm going to be a bit sneaky here, Roy, if you'll let me. What what I'd like to do is have a big package called

Sheila Steafel32:29

artists' equipment. I'd like canvas, oil paints and all the accoutrements and brushes, and some pencils in amongst there. And a odd bit of drawing paper, because I'd quite like to write as well. I mean that's of a one piece really, right? You be can be counted by that.

Presenter32:42

All right, you should have all your artist equipment.

Sheila Steafel32:46

Okay.

Presenter32:47

And one book apart from the Bible and Shakespeare, which are standard equipment on every desert island.

Sheila Steafel32:53

With those two I would like the biggest.

Sheila Steafel32:56

Most comprehensive English dictionary ever.

Sheila Steafel33:00

I'd love to read the dictionary.

Sheila Steafel33:03

Sir.

Presenter33:04

Yeah.

Sheila Steafel33:04

That's what I would like.

Presenter33:06

And thank you, Sheila Stiefel, for letting us hear your Desert Island Discs.

Sheila Steafel33:10

Thank you, Robert. Having been on Desert Island Discs.

Sheila Steafel33:14

Where to now?

Presenter33:15

The Moon?

Sheila Steafel33:17

I think you're right.

Speaker 133:26

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