Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A versatile actress best known for a one-woman show with many characters and extensive theatre work.
On the island
Eight records
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
I actually sang an opera... I was flown on a broomstick as well in the ballet bit, and I tell you a girl could die happy after that. I sang with a forty six piece orchestra.
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... introduced me to this.
Finale (from The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra)
London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Britten
every time I hear it it absolutely makes 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.
Adagio (from Oboe Concerto in D minor, BWV 1060)Favourite
Leon Goossens and Yehudi Menuhin
Of course I've got to have some Bach, because Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, all that is really my period. I could happily have chosen all the records within that and just sat on my island and loved it.
One (Finale) (from A Chorus Line)
I'm very partial to musicals, big, lovely American musicals... And chorus line seems to me to be the definitive sort of exciting showbiz thing.
Oboe Concerto No. 1 in B flat major: Allegro
Well, I've got to have some handle, so I've chosen the Allegro of his Ober Concerto No. One in B flat major.
As an actor, I mean, it is the slowest piece of music you'll ever hear. So controlled and so strong... But if you've been in love and out again, this is the cry record of all time.
This actually refers back to my roots... It's a country that I know the smell of and the sound. and the nights are very dark and the sunsets are brilliant and quick.
In conversation
Presenter asks
8:35What was the first time in which you trod the boards yourself?
Well, at the age of three... They had Eystedfods, believe it or not, in Johannesburg... And I was there in my fairy frock and I won prizes for dancing.
Presenter asks
16:05What was your first professional engagement?
I had a bit of trouble, but I did, in fact. get my very first job, which was Blackpool Rap. And we did two plays a week, twice nightly... And I was ASM collecting props and Playing small parts and on the book and props and everything.
Presenter asks
19:27How long did you play [at the Players' Theatre]?
Well, that started a a sort of stint. I used to play and the following week I'd do usheretting back again.
Presenter asks
24:41What did [the Sheila Steafel One Woman Show] consist of, and where did you first do it?
The keepsakes
The book
The most comprehensive English dictionary ever
With those two I would like the biggest, most comprehensive English dictionary ever. I'd love to read the dictionary.
The luxury
Artist's equipment (canvas, oil paints, brushes, pencils, drawing paper)
I'd like to do is have a big package called 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.
in the beginning of 'eighty one I suddenly booked myself in to the Edinburgh Festival... I think what I'm best at is doing different characters, getting into characters... 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.
Presenter asks
29:44You're a girl from the Antipodes. You ought to be pretty good at looking after yourself [on a desert island]?
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. But I think I'd cope all right. I'm very practical.
“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.”
“I actually talked posh, I would have been stoned to death, I think. So I used to keep that as a secret.”
“If you can be funny, it is a gift for which I'm eternally [grateful].”
“But the odd time I have gone back to South Africa I've realized that I act my roots are actually there. It's a country that I know the smell of and the sound. and the nights are very dark and the sunsets are brilliant and quick.”