Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An actress known for the TV sitcom The Rag Trade, she has performed in Carry On films and Shakespeare, directed for the RSC, and campaigned for Greenham Women a
On the island
Eight records
I think of my island. I have got to have superb artists, and you can't have better than her. I toyed with the idea of the Elgar cello, but I do know every note of that in my mind. I saw her play it towards the end of her life, and there was a marvellous moment you know Daniel Barrenboyne was conducting. And she'd played a particularly over the top section. I mean, she was being so dramatic. And she looked over and grinned at him, and he obviously had said to her, Look, control it, you know. So I've chosen something else, because I know the old guy. I'm I'm going to have Silent Woods, uh a Dvorak piece.
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
Oh, record number two, another superb artist. This is Martha Agrich. She she played at um the Festival Hall this year when I was doing Vassa in London, and I very nearly tried to make an excuse of being ill or something to get off and see her. She is wonderful. She plays the Rat Man in Off three superbly, but uh uh again, I know that so well, I thought I would have the Tchaikovsky, which I haven't heard for some time, and I was introduced to it by a wonderful teacher. called Miss Chew de Craig. And the first record she ever made me listen to, sat me down and made me listen to, was Tchaikovsky.
The piece I've chosen, I mean, the first thing I heard was the Ravel, and he plays it like a dream, and he's the most emotional player, but he's also. the most technically accomplished and I found something. Terribly moving about people who have a technique like ballet dancers and people like this. You look at them, you think, well, I know they're the same species as me, but. That that's not their hands. His hands are not like mine. They're no way the same. And this little piece demonstrates his amazing technique.
Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 (Organ Symphony)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by James Levine
Record number four is for my grandchildren. The greatest joy in my life at the moment is my grandchildren. I've got one of four, one of three, and one of one. And Jack. Introduce me to the film Babe. And I adored this film. And I'm always saying to Jack, let's have babe again, let's have babe. Oh no, not babe again. And I said, all right, well, let's just have the bit where the man dances. And there's a wonderful bit where the pig is ill. This sounds ludicrous. The pig is ill. And this man, this granddad, does a wonderful bangy dance, a sort of part-Irish boot dance, and he jumps all over the sofas to make this pig laugh and be happy. And the first time we saw it, I shrieked with laughter. And Jack said, my grandchild said, that's like you, Nana. I wasn't sure whether it was because the man was so old, or whether he was so daft. Anyway, I explained to him that in fact it was a Saint-Son symphony, but so I thought I'd take the Saint-Son because I get more of it than I would the theme tune from Babe.
Got to have Streissend. I was in America. I did the Joe Orton play in New York. Which was a disaster. The the review the first review we read said, Throw this British cesspool back in the Atlantic. But on this trip woo I did see Barbara Streissend in Funny Girl, and she blew my mind. And I brought this L P, which I think is her first L P back to England and bored everybody stiff with it, saying, Listen to this woman, what a voice, what emotion, what everything else And she's been a favorite ever since.
Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84
Peter Donohoe and the Maggini Quartet
Record number six is Elgar. The older I get, the more I realize that I am. Very English. I know we're not supposed to have an identity anymore, but I feel very rooted in England. I mean, religious-wise and everything, I've been, I've explored all kinds of funny mystical things and Indian things. You name it. I've done it. And ultimately, my roots are here. And Elgar. is so English in sound.
I love musicals. I absolutely love musicals. I really, really do. And I've been fortunate to be in two that sometimes involved with, I. Gypsy and and Sweeney Todd. But what I thought I'd choose I mean, what I love about Sondheim is his cynicism. He's he is king cynic, and some of his stuff is very bitter. But I came across uh this lovely little song called Live Alone and Like It, which I thought I would play to jolly myself along on my desert island.
String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110Favourite
Oh, my last record is Ishostkovich. Um when I did Madame Ranaskaya I did a lot of um studying about Russia and things like that and I got really into it. Such a tragic, grand, wonderful country. I mean the art and the literature and stuff. And I want to go there very much. I thought if I was on my island it would remind me that there's a world elsewhere and I've got to get out because I've got to go on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:31Is it true that after fifty, your life has become better and more enjoyable than it was before?
Yes, I think that's true. Partly because one becomes aware of mortality and it's now or never. It's a slightly desperate thing rather than a positive thing.
Presenter asks
3:34Did going to RADA frighten you?
A huge jump, a huge jump, and it frightened me to death, and I was always at a disadvantage because in those days it was like a finishing school. I mean, I was a scholarship girl at Radha and and everybody else was paying, um and I felt very out of my debt.
Presenter asks
6:41How does hypnotism work for you?
Well, I I I was doing the Cherry Orchard at the National Theatre, which again is a very demanding part, Madame Ranaskaya, and the pressure was on and it was an important company and an important show, and I thought this is going to crack me, this is going to finish me... so I went to a hypnotherapist and this guy... put me under hypnotism... And he suggested that when the five was called, I would put on my hat and I would be Madame Renaskaya, and nothing would distract me from that... Now, normally at the five, I'm vomiting in the sink... Five minutes, please. On went the hat. I perked, bright as a bee... I could not wait to get on that stage.
The keepsakes
The book
Marcel Proust
I'd like it in French with a dictionary so I can try and understand, because I believe it's ever so much better in the French.
The luxury
I can then write on the back of the music and I can mark up the notes, you see, the fingering and things like that. I can shelter under the grand piano.
Presenter asks
14:47What did you feel about the war as a little girl?
Well, I suppose there were moments of excitement... But on the whole I found it very f fearful... I remember when war was declared, um it was the first time I ever saw my I think probably also the last time I ever saw my mother cry... And also I was evacuated and that was very scary. Mm. We were well, my particular group were rather bullied and we did get roughed up a bit.
Presenter asks
23:50Why did you say that directing was a very lonely job?
Um well, I I I d I did at the National as well. I directed at the National. Because you are absolutely in charge. I mean the buck does stop at you. And there's always a period in my experience when the actors have to turn against you. I mean, towards the end, when they're getting scared, they think it's her fault if it doesn't work, you know.
Presenter asks
29:23What were you looking for when you found the Quaker religion?
I don't know. I'd become an atheist after Alec died... But then I began to feel a bit sort of bleak, a bit bereft, you know. I thought there must be something more than this... So I went to a Quaker meeting, which is a silent meeting... And I loved it. I just loved it. And I I can't explain it. It's experiential... But just being with those people in that silence is an enormous comfort to me.
“If you're born inferior, you remain inferior. But you do get slightly less [concerned about] what people think about you. There's a wonderful thing about getting old is you can excuse everything by saying, Oh, I'm sorry.”
“I had remained fearful because I did spend my childhood fearful. I s I sat in shelters with planes going over and bangs and wallops and collected shrapnel and School was conducted underground, you know, and and going to school with our gas masks in a crocodile was pretty scary in case there was a raid. So I was very scared.”
“I have learnt, that I can't change anybody. I can only change my attitude to them. Um And I can encourage and I can give clues, but I can't make people pursue them.”