Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Actress.
On the island
Eight records
Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
Kyung Wha Chung, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Rudolf Kempe
I chose this because one of my earliest memories was my father practising his viola upstairs in the bedroom. And um this was the piece of music he actually used to practise on his viola, although it is a violin piece and um it will remind me of my dear father who's died just a year ago, so it's for him really.
Pass the DutchieFavourite
Oh, this is the present, really. And this is just a dance around to it's good to have a dance around to get your energy and your spirits up.
I Musici, Maria Teresa Garatti
But it's just so wonderfully sad, this piece of music. It's the Adaggio by Albanoni. It just makes me cry every time I hear it. It's wonderful.
This is a blast from the past for me because it was a record I heard in my very early days, about fourteen or fifteen I was, before I'd really heard any pop music or rock and roll music. And it was the first time I'd heard blues music and it was like the most wonderful opening of a door into a whole new world.
Male Chamber Choir, Mihail Mirkov
which appeals to my Russian side of my nature, which is from the Russian liturgical choir, singing beautiful chants.
Lucia di Lammermoor: Mad Scene
Joan Sutherland, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Nello Santi
I was just played this piece of music recently and I thought it was so extraordinary in terms of performance, sheer performance. I think that's why I've got this one actually, as an actress just recognising a piece of extraordinary acting performance.
Well, my next record is a piece of Indian classical music. I know very little about Indian classical music, except that I love it whenever I hear it, so it's something that I could learn about on my island.
for two reasons. One is Billy Holiday, one of my favorite singers, and the other is a song Falling in Love Again, which is really that's kind of been the the main guiding force in my life to this point, I would say.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:34How much does music mean in your life?
My parents were both very musical. In fact, my father used to play the viola in a large London orchestra in his very early days, yes, before he realized he couldn't keep a family on it. But I didn't inherit the musical bent of my father at all. I I'm really pretty ignorant about music.
Presenter asks
4:18Apart from lessons, what were your main interests at school?
Um, dreaming. I was a great dreamer and a fantasist. I liked drama at school. We we had quite a lot of drama at school, and I I I sort of hooked on to that at quite an early age. mainly because it was so easy for me. And and also it sort of related to the the dreaming and the fantasy part of my life.
Presenter asks
5:03What did you set about doing when you left school?
Well, I made the great mistake of going to a teacher's training college. … I didn't want to teach anything. I absolutely hated school. I hated school even worse as a teacher than as a pupil. It was just something that my school thought I ought to do, and my parents thought I ought to do. I wanted to be an actress, but they … Both parents and school just thought that was impossible and ridiculous.
The keepsakes
The book
Vyasa
It is a an ancient Indian book of knowledge. Hard going. I keep trying to read it. I can't understand a word.
The luxury
a tight battle between a jar of Marmite and an incredibly expensive set of silk underwear. I think I'll take the silk underwear.
Presenter asks
9:33How did you feel about being described in the press as "Stratford's sex queen" and "a magnificent animal"?
No, I suppose that's why they did it, probably. They liked the the contrast or the contradiction. It's a contradiction that I've not exactly encouraged, but I haven't not enjoyed. I I like that contradiction. I think it's great.
Presenter asks
12:39How long was it before you decided you ought to have a break from Shakespeare?
Well, it was about four years. I mean, it was a very useful four years, because I didn't go to drama school. It was an absolutely wonderful experience to be in that kind of theatre, doing that sort of quality of work as a young actress. But I did start feeling I was on a sort of uh culture factory, you know, just churning out. … very good, you know, very laudable productions, but nonetheless, you know, every year there's awful'cause of regularity. and I started really questioning the whole basis of what theatre was.
Presenter asks
29:09Are you a self reliant person, and could you look after yourself on this island?
On an island I could, yes. I find it difficult to look after myself in in the modern world. But um I love camping. … when we went through Africa we camped every night and um I love making little huts out of bamboo and things like that.
“One should beware of what you want, because it is actually what you get.”
“the whole point of being an actress is is to deny comfort in that sense and security, and so I always find it very discomforting. and alarming, any suggestion of security, I I feel claustrophobic about it and try and r and run as fast as I can in the opposite direction.”
“I'm good at learning lines, yes I learned quickly. I forget them quickly as well. I mean, after you finish a play. Very fast. Within a week You wouldn't be able to quote a line from it. I can never quote lines from plays.”