1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,720 Speaker 1: You are listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership with Montclair. 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:08,039 Speaker 2: Quite often people say to me, I couldn't possibly have 3 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:10,480 Speaker 2: you to dinner. You're the chef of the River Cafe 4 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 2: and cooking for you would be overwhelming. That's how I 5 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 2: feel about introducing Sir David Hare. How do you write 6 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 2: for one of the great playwrights of our generation? Skylight plenty, 7 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 2: stuff Happens, Beat the Devil, screenplays for movies, The Hours, Damage, 8 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 2: The White Crow, to name a few. But I do 9 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,319 Speaker 2: think David and I do have much in common. We 10 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 2: both like being hosts, me in the River Cafe and 11 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 2: David in his home, where he understands the theater of 12 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 2: sitting at a table. We both know that if food 13 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:43,879 Speaker 2: brings a table to life, so do the people around it. 14 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:47,639 Speaker 2: And for David, apparently the ingredients for good night are 15 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 2: always carefully considered. We also share a love for what 16 00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 2: we do, and I think we're both defined by our 17 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 2: commitment investment in social and political issues of the day. 18 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 2: In the past few days, I've been spoken to many 19 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 2: of the actors and directors who say that working for 20 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 2: him was an honor and a huge part of their career. 21 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,240 Speaker 2: David's commitment to the written word on stage and screen 22 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 2: is only rivaled by his love for sculptor Nicole Fari, 23 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 2: his beautiful, brilliant wife of over thirty years. A commitment 24 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,399 Speaker 2: to our partner's mind, to Richard Rodgers is yet another 25 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 2: thing we share today. We are here together in the 26 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 2: River Cafe to talk about food, memories, theater, travel and more. 27 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 2: It'd be natural to feel overwhelmed, but David makes it easy, 28 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,479 Speaker 2: and I just feel delighted and lucky to have him here. 29 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: How kind of you, Thank you. 30 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 2: I have just come from the River Cafe kitchen and 31 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 2: you said that you wanted to do the recipe for 32 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 2: squid rocket and chili. And was that had that had 33 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 2: something to do with your memory of Rose? If we're 34 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 2: talking about memories. 35 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: I knew Rose that winter, which you can see. 36 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 2: So Rose Gray, the co founder with me of the 37 00:01:58,680 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 2: River Cafe. 38 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: Will know more about this than I did. I knew 39 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,919 Speaker 1: Rose Gray. And Rose went out to Tuscany one winter, 40 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,360 Speaker 1: not to start a restaurant at all, but to start 41 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: a cook to write a cookbook. And she went for 42 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: six months to stay in the house of Henry Moore's 43 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:16,800 Speaker 1: daughter Mary Moore, and so I knew her then, and 44 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: she came back with I can see the book in 45 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: my head with all this, all these sort of notebook 46 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: full of recipes, and somehow, which I've never understood, how 47 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 1: you managed to push her off course and to get 48 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 1: her to open a restaurant and not to write a cookbook. 49 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 2: You don't want to write a cookbook? Grow do you 50 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 2: want to come and open a little cafe in Harrismith? 51 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:37,639 Speaker 1: Did you say that to her? 52 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 2: She'd always been a passionate cook when I first met her, 53 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 2: before she went tiddly, and then I think she took 54 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 2: that time to really get into the kind of cooking 55 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 2: of Tuscany, to learn the recipes. And she was a 56 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,400 Speaker 2: beautiful draftsman. She draw everything. We would sit at a 57 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:56,240 Speaker 2: table talking about it to mate them and she'd say 58 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 2: this is the one I want and draw it. Yeah, 59 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 2: And so I think she can buy the illustrations with 60 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 2: the recipes. And she came back and she went to 61 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 2: work with Anthony Carlucco. And so then when Richard had 62 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 2: this space here, you know, we were looking for people 63 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:11,959 Speaker 2: to do it, and I called up Ros and said, 64 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:13,239 Speaker 2: do you want to do this with me? Should we do 65 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,920 Speaker 2: it together? And within the day we decided to Are 66 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 2: you saying eighty seven, Well yeah, talking to her in 67 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 2: eighty six probably, and then opening in eighty seven, but 68 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 2: it was teeny tiny and then the rest is history. 69 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 1: I chose this recipe because it's the first thing I 70 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 1: ever had here and I can remember. And I came 71 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: with Julie Christie, and Julie said to me, have the squid. 72 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: It's the best thing, because she'd been before and she 73 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 1: told me to have the squid. And I had the squid, 74 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 1: and I've never forgotten the taste, and I've just tasted 75 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: it in your kitchen. 76 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 2: It's exactly thirty seven years later. 77 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: It tastes exactly the same, which is an amazing achievement. 78 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 2: So would you like to read the recipe that you chose. 79 00:03:55,960 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 1: Six medium squid, twelve red chilies, seated, chopped, two hundred 80 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: and twenty five grams of rocket, and three lemons. Clean 81 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: the squid, and, using a serrated knife, score the inner 82 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: side of the flattened squid body with parallel lines one 83 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 1: centimeter apart. Do the same the other way to make 84 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 1: cross hatching for the chili sauce. Put the chopped chili 85 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: in a bowl and cover with the oil. Place the 86 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: squid scored side down on a hot grill, season and 87 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: grill for one or two minutes. Yeah, but your grill's 88 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:32,920 Speaker 1: much nicer than most home grills. 89 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 2: And even on any grill won't take very long time. 90 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: Turn the squid over, they will immediately curl up, by 91 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:41,040 Speaker 1: which time they will be cooked. You toss the rocket 92 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:43,719 Speaker 1: in olive oil and lemon. You plate with some of 93 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,040 Speaker 1: the rocket. You spoon the chili sauce on the squid, 94 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: and you serve with lemon. And there is actually no 95 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: better lunch than that. It's sort of the best thing 96 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: to eat between noon and one o'clock on a weekday. 97 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 2: The River Cafe is excited. We're opening the River Cafe Cafe. 98 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 2: Come for a morning Briochian cappuccino, a plate of seasonal 99 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,919 Speaker 2: antipasity on the terrace, or an ice cream or a 100 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:19,760 Speaker 2: peratibo in the sun. We can't wait to open and 101 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 2: we cannot wait to welcome you. I want to talk 102 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:32,479 Speaker 2: about your childhood and growing up and going to the 103 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 2: school where food was poisonous, but maybe we should just 104 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 2: start at the beginning of your time in London. For 105 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 2: now and then go back to that. Tell me about restaurants. 106 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: Well, I very much agree with Michael Winner. I can't 107 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:49,120 Speaker 1: say that about many things, but I very much agree 108 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:51,800 Speaker 1: with Michael Winner when you said everyone thinks there's been 109 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: a food revolution, but actually the food was better in 110 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties and sixties, And of course that's not 111 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: universally true, meaning buying large food was terrible. Of course 112 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: it was in Britain, it was absolutely awful. But maybe 113 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:07,600 Speaker 1: because each restaurant was the first place that you tasted 114 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: wonderful things, they seemed more wonderful because of that. In 115 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 1: other words, when I first met Michael Winner, I was 116 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: running the Cambridge Film Society and I was inviting him 117 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: to show his film I'll Never Forget was his name, 118 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: and he took me to Cuovardist. Well, I mean, if 119 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:26,160 Speaker 1: you've been a boy who'd been brought up in bex 120 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:30,279 Speaker 1: Hill in the nineteen fifties, then Clovardist was just beyond 121 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:34,160 Speaker 1: anything you could imagine. It was so delicious. And I 122 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: wrote down a few of the other places that we 123 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:39,839 Speaker 1: used to go. Jimmy's, of course, Jimmy's a Greek. Jimmy's 124 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:42,600 Speaker 1: the famous Greek Streep when you went downstairs, where you 125 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: went downstairs and you had beef steering chips for three 126 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:49,359 Speaker 1: and six months and it was so delicious. The Amalfi, 127 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: which was the only place where you could get a pizza. 128 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: This is before Pizza Express. 129 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:56,280 Speaker 2: Were we talking fifties, which I was sixties. 130 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:59,920 Speaker 1: Sixties, that's early sixties. Young Friends. You had to drive 131 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,760 Speaker 1: down towards Stratford East and there was a Chinese restaurant 132 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: down there called Young Friends that was so delicious. I 133 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: can still taste it. And we thought nothing of driving 134 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: for an hour down to the East Dend to go 135 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: to Young Friends because it was the only place you 136 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:18,040 Speaker 1: could get really top right Chinese food. I'm hoping everyone's 137 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: salivating at the memory of this. The Ganges, of course, 138 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: the Indian restaurant in what is now Chinatown a Gerrard 139 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: Street and the Ganges was run by Calcutta Communists, and 140 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: the guy who ran it worked on a share of 141 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: the take for everybody who worked in the restaurant, so 142 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:40,040 Speaker 1: that everybody was paid equally, regardless of whether they were 143 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: a cook or a waiter or the owner or whatever 144 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: your job was. Because they were Communists and they cooked 145 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 1: the best prawn partier I have ever tasted in my life. 146 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:51,920 Speaker 1: I will never taste a porn partier as good as 147 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: that again. Or maybe it's just it's because it's the first. 148 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 2: But do you know, I think there are writers, actors, musicians, 149 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 2: Paul McCartney for one, footballers Dave Beckham, they really measure 150 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 2: their success in terms of where they were able to eat, 151 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 2: you know, so they remember the first time Beckham will 152 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 2: say that he went to a restaurant where he didn't 153 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 2: have to look at the prices first, or when Paul 154 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 2: McCartney toldly had a good bottle of wine, and that 155 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,920 Speaker 2: it became kind of seeing their career through the trajectory 156 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 2: of where they were able to eat. 157 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: It's so true, isn't it. But what I loved was 158 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:27,760 Speaker 1: all these places. You know, I'm going to remember Schmids. 159 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:33,120 Speaker 1: You're too young to know. Schmidts was Eastern European food 160 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,680 Speaker 1: in Charlotte Street where you could have Again, there was 161 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: a lot of berth Berg in Yon, sort of those 162 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:47,160 Speaker 1: kind of stewy Eastern European food, very very very cheap 163 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: and absolutely delicious, and that there's less of. That's what 164 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:55,640 Speaker 1: I think that there was that whole idea that the 165 00:08:55,679 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: best food might be really cheap. 166 00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:00,320 Speaker 2: Sometimes the best food was cheap, and sometimes it was 167 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 2: just such a great experience to go to a restaurant 168 00:09:02,559 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 2: where everybody was having fun. You know that you didn't 169 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:08,320 Speaker 2: feel intimidated, you didn't feel that if you didn't know 170 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:10,840 Speaker 2: the wine list, everybody'd be looking down on you, but 171 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:13,720 Speaker 2: that restaurants were fun. Did you go to restaurants as 172 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:16,319 Speaker 2: a child. Did your parents ever take you to restaurants? 173 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 1: My dad was a sailor, and so basically it was 174 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,600 Speaker 1: austerity at home, and then one month of the year 175 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:29,240 Speaker 1: he'd come in with a big roll of notes that 176 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:32,000 Speaker 1: he you know, he would come with an elastic band 177 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:36,800 Speaker 1: full of five pound notes. We lived in in austere, 178 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:42,000 Speaker 1: cheerless Britain, and he'd roll in with, you know, all 179 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:45,599 Speaker 1: this money, and he'd take us out to a steakhouse 180 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 1: in Hastings on the front, which of course was run 181 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:53,960 Speaker 1: by Cypriots, as steakhouses then were, and we would have 182 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: what would seem to us and unimaginably luxurious. And also 183 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: because he was the purser on the ship, all this 184 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:03,800 Speaker 1: stuff would come to the house like a whole lamb. 185 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: I mean you know, off the side from piano, and 186 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 1: so ridiculous quantities of things you couldn't deal with would 187 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:14,200 Speaker 1: suddenly arrive in the house when there was no food 188 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 1: when he was away because he didn't leave much behind him. 189 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 2: And your mother cooked for you every day. My mother 190 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:22,120 Speaker 2: cooked and she was so did she have to have 191 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 2: a directness? 192 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: And she was believe you were there? 193 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:25,679 Speaker 2: How many of me? 194 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,720 Speaker 1: And my sister too. And when I divorced from my 195 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: first wife, she said, but who's going to look after you? 196 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:35,319 Speaker 1: And I said, well, I'm going to look after myself. 197 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: And she said, but the earning, the cleaning, the cooking, 198 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: Who's going to do that? And I said, well, I 199 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:41,080 Speaker 1: probably have to do that myself, won't I And my 200 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:44,120 Speaker 1: mother just couldn't understand. She just couldn't understand how a 201 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: man could live alone, because it's sort of if that 202 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: was possible. What was her life about, because her life 203 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:52,199 Speaker 1: had been about caring about us. 204 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, And what did she cook for you? 205 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: Stovey potatoes? Do you know that? Okay? Well, stovee But 206 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,160 Speaker 1: I've looked it up since I said I was going 207 00:10:59,960 --> 00:11:05,080 Speaker 1: to mention it. And apparently you can put anything you like. 208 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:07,720 Speaker 1: For instance, you bowl the potatoes and then you pour 209 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:10,959 Speaker 1: over the fat from Sunday's joint over it to make 210 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:14,199 Speaker 1: them taste, or you put the shreds of the remains in. 211 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:20,720 Speaker 1: But it's basically meat, vegetables and potatoes bald together. And 212 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 1: that was was good, absolutely delicious, very very good. How 213 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:30,400 Speaker 1: can it's a peasant dick and Scottish food was very 214 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:35,800 Speaker 1: basic like that. And the beloved things were stovey potatoes 215 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 1: hagish obviously, which is you know, a quiet taste, but 216 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 1: I love it, and mints, which I gather now is 217 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:45,320 Speaker 1: on posh menus. 218 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:49,160 Speaker 2: Just as your mother came from Scotland to tastings. 219 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:52,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, she met my father during the war in Grinnock. 220 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: He was in the Royal Navy during the war and 221 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:57,600 Speaker 1: so she was working in the Wrens and they met 222 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: in Grinnock, down the Estuary from Paisley. Paisley is a 223 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:07,840 Speaker 1: suburb of Glasgow from which the famous Scottish playwright John 224 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 1: Byrne came from there, and John writes brilliantly about Paisley 225 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:15,880 Speaker 1: and Paisley is one of the roughest towns in Scotland. 226 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: It is a really, really tough place and it made 227 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:21,960 Speaker 1: my mother a very very timid woman. She spent her 228 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:26,320 Speaker 1: whole life terrified and particularly terrified of men, because she 229 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:29,840 Speaker 1: getting home at Saturday night over the rolling drunks in 230 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:32,360 Speaker 1: Paisley had made her very very frightened. 231 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 2: And so growing up, then you went to boarding school. 232 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: I went to a school called Lancing. 233 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:38,360 Speaker 2: Oh Lancing, yeah, I know that. 234 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 1: And my contemporaries were three of us, all entered show business. 235 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:46,680 Speaker 1: Tim Rice, who was a little bit older than me, 236 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:50,480 Speaker 1: and Christopher Hampton and me. So there's this extraordinary coincidence 237 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: that all three of us were at school together. I 238 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:55,040 Speaker 1: have a friend who's a headmaster who says he's worked 239 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 1: in many, many schools, but he has never seen food 240 00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:01,719 Speaker 1: served to anybody as disgusting as the food that we 241 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:04,600 Speaker 1: were served at Lancing in the nineteen sixties. I just 242 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:08,920 Speaker 1: remember carried eggs with a skin over them. I remember 243 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:11,679 Speaker 1: fish in white sauce with a skin over it. I 244 00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:14,439 Speaker 1: remember everything with a skin over it. And I particularly 245 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:20,400 Speaker 1: remember that they put tea leaves in a sock and 246 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:23,439 Speaker 1: lowered the sock into an urn and poured boiling water 247 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:26,960 Speaker 1: into the urn and used a sock as a form 248 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:32,840 Speaker 1: of tea bag, and it it was primeval. 249 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:35,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, and no wonder why, because it must have been 250 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:38,320 Speaker 2: a school that encouraged Did it encourage you, three of 251 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:41,680 Speaker 2: you to be involved in drama the arts at all? 252 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:45,240 Speaker 1: We were lucky enough to be at an old fashioned 253 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:50,439 Speaker 1: public school which was going through a period of humanist revival, 254 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:52,680 Speaker 1: and we were encouraged. You know, we had an art 255 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:55,679 Speaker 1: film society in which we were looking at Bergmann films 256 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:58,600 Speaker 1: and Fellini films and Antonioni films, and these were being 257 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:00,840 Speaker 1: shown to us at the age of sixty. We had 258 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 1: a couple, I had a couple of brilliant, enlightened teachers 259 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:08,320 Speaker 1: who did the classic thing of infusing you with love 260 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: of French and German literature and English literature and the 261 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:15,080 Speaker 1: arts and drama and film. And we were just very 262 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: very lucky. But not food, so not food at all. 263 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 2: Food. 264 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: So for food you had to go into and you 265 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: go into Brighton. I couldn't afford to go to English Is, 266 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:28,560 Speaker 1: which was the fish restaurant. Do you know that one? 267 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:30,640 Speaker 1: You know nothing? 268 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:32,640 Speaker 2: I know nothing, You know nothing. 269 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: Teach me you know nothing. 270 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 2: That's soul to be you educated of. 271 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,480 Speaker 1: You have no idea how difficult it was to eat well, 272 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 1: and then how satisfying. It was to manage to eat well, 273 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: because the basic diet of the British was disgusting. 274 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:53,680 Speaker 2: I always say they came out of a war, you know, 275 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:56,440 Speaker 2: they came out of rational and cut them some slack. 276 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: I've just read a novel by Margonite Alaski, which who 277 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,640 Speaker 1: was a sort of forties intellectual, called The Lost Child, 278 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: and it's about a man who goes from England to 279 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:09,520 Speaker 1: try and find his child. In France in nineteen forty 280 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: five and France in ninety forty five, everyone's eating absolutely 281 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,800 Speaker 1: wonderfully and the first thing he says is, oh my god. 282 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:21,560 Speaker 1: France was an occupied country under the Nazi rule, which 283 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:24,800 Speaker 1: you know, suffered terribly during the Second World War, and 284 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:28,640 Speaker 1: yet there's all this gorgeous food, whereas in London by 285 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: the end of the war there was absolutely nothing left 286 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:34,280 Speaker 1: at all, the people reaching cabbages and turnips and busps. 287 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 2: Would you eat when when you're writing I. 288 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:38,720 Speaker 1: Can't eat before the theater, You. 289 00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:42,120 Speaker 2: Can't before I play. Nobody I haven't met. I've only 290 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,520 Speaker 2: met one person who could eat before, during, and after, 291 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,280 Speaker 2: and that was Emily Blunt. Otherwise everybody says. 292 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: They can you I mean when she's actually performed, she has. 293 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:52,440 Speaker 2: A hamburger like before she goes on and then she 294 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:55,320 Speaker 2: has a hamburger sometimes in the middle of the between eggs. Yeah, 295 00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 2: she's an eider. 296 00:15:56,480 --> 00:16:00,880 Speaker 1: That is absolutely extraordinary, isn't it. The advantage of running 297 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:03,680 Speaker 1: a traveling theater, which we did from nineteen sixty eight 298 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:07,200 Speaker 1: to nineteen seventy one, was you go to a regional city, 299 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:11,760 Speaker 1: you do the show that by nine point thirty there 300 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:14,960 Speaker 1: was nowhere to eat, absolutely nowhere. So we always ended 301 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: up in the gay club because every single city I 302 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:20,480 Speaker 1: can remember the gay club in York, I can remember 303 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:23,080 Speaker 1: the gay club in Gloucester. You know, every city you 304 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:25,000 Speaker 1: went to there would be a gay club. 305 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 2: Was it quite closeted? 306 00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:29,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, it was pretty closeted. It was usually downstairs. You'd 307 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: usually go downstairs and then they'd usually be red velvet 308 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,720 Speaker 1: and sort of you know, a bit of decor and 309 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,000 Speaker 1: then down it of course would be the liveliest and 310 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: most fun and most interesting place in the town. And 311 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:43,880 Speaker 1: it was the place where people who didn't go to 312 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:47,280 Speaker 1: bed at ten o'clock wiled away the hours till one 313 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:47,920 Speaker 1: or two. 314 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:49,800 Speaker 2: What was the food like at a gay club? 315 00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:53,480 Speaker 1: They were okay, it was okay. Yeah, there's usually be 316 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:55,920 Speaker 1: something you could eat that was decent, decent to eat. 317 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 1: And it was the same in London. There were actors 318 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: clubs in London that were are gay ish, they were 319 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:05,040 Speaker 1: predominantly gay or a couple in London where you were, 320 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 1: and they were very They were basically places where actors 321 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:12,760 Speaker 1: went to after the show and they were very, very nice, 322 00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:14,960 Speaker 1: and it made you feel you were part of a 323 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:16,760 Speaker 1: community and that you were part of a way of 324 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:19,560 Speaker 1: life and that you were you were all in it together. 325 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:23,240 Speaker 2: I can understand why an actor might not eat for 326 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:26,520 Speaker 2: the performances. As the writer, why wouldn't you eat, you 327 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:33,399 Speaker 2: just to with nerves and then after you were able 328 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:35,280 Speaker 2: to go out, because that's the thing is that you 329 00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 2: go out, you go. 330 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 1: Yeah. And probably the career of Jeremy King is entirely based, 331 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: isn't it. I mean a parice and all those restaurants 332 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:49,919 Speaker 1: Schiky's in that they're entirely based on their reputation for 333 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:53,199 Speaker 1: being places where actors go. Because Jeremy always had that 334 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:56,640 Speaker 1: very simple philosophy that people go as much to stare 335 00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:58,919 Speaker 1: at the other diners as they do to eat the food. 336 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:02,639 Speaker 1: Erby King again, who I probably knew right at the 337 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:07,680 Speaker 1: very beginning of when he first started. You know, he 338 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:11,719 Speaker 1: just worked out that if you could see actors, and 339 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:14,399 Speaker 1: in fact, you know, at the National Theater, we always 340 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:16,960 Speaker 1: had the problem that nobody would go to that restaurant. 341 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:20,560 Speaker 1: The restaurant was always a disaster, and I remember Jeremy 342 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: was asked, what do you do about it? He said, 343 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 1: let the actors eat their half price, and if the 344 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:30,440 Speaker 1: audience believes they will see the actors after the show, 345 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:33,399 Speaker 1: then they will go to that restaurant. If you know, 346 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:36,280 Speaker 1: if you go to the show and afterwards you see 347 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:40,080 Speaker 1: I don't know, Tony Hopkins or Judy Dench, then of 348 00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 1: course it seems like a good restaurant. But if you 349 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,280 Speaker 1: go and it's just you and the wind whistling ground, 350 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:47,240 Speaker 1: it's not very cheerful. 351 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:49,479 Speaker 2: There's actually they say, there's a good restaurant there, now 352 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:52,640 Speaker 2: have you as it's very touchingly named the lastin which 353 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:54,119 Speaker 2: is named after Dennis Lasten. 354 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:56,880 Speaker 1: I have to be very careful about this because actually 355 00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: that restaurant, believe it or not, is when I first 356 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 1: saw my wife, see. 357 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,439 Speaker 2: Her across the crowded room, I did, did. 358 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:07,080 Speaker 1: You I'd written a play called murmuring joges yes, and 359 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:12,800 Speaker 1: the technical rehearsal. The leading lady's clothes were very poor, 360 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: and I said to Bob Crowley, who was the designer, 361 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: I don't think very much of what she's wearing. And 362 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:23,440 Speaker 1: Bob said, don't worry, I'm seeing Nickel Farrey tomorrow. And 363 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:26,960 Speaker 1: I didn't know what that meant. I remember, I'm seeing 364 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,919 Speaker 1: Nicole far what that means? Then, of course the leading lady, 365 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:34,600 Speaker 1: Alfonsia Emmanuel, turned up the next day in the most 366 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,920 Speaker 1: dazzling clothes and I said, oh my goodness me, this 367 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,760 Speaker 1: Nickel Farrey must be something. And Bob said, well, you'll 368 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:44,040 Speaker 1: meet her because we'll give her tickets for the first night. 369 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:50,399 Speaker 1: And so this is, i'm afraid, a humble brag that 370 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:53,720 Speaker 1: she wasn't going to come. But fortunately I went on 371 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:55,280 Speaker 1: late night Lineup the night. 372 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 2: Late night Lineup. 373 00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:00,639 Speaker 1: Yeah, and she saw me on television night before and 374 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:02,160 Speaker 1: she went, oh maybe I will. 375 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:03,840 Speaker 2: Go, yeah, yeah, And. 376 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:06,520 Speaker 1: So she went, and there she was on the first night. 377 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 2: And do you go to restaurants of that now? 378 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:13,760 Speaker 1: Hermets? You are well, because Nicole was a fashion designer, 379 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,480 Speaker 1: and so when she was a fashion designer, she was 380 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 1: out and about a lot. Now she's a sculptor. She 381 00:20:20,119 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: just wants to stay at home all the time, and 382 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:24,200 Speaker 1: I'm very very happy watching television. 383 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,240 Speaker 2: If you like listening to Ruthie's Table four, would you 384 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:38,359 Speaker 2: please make sure to rape and review the podcast on 385 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:43,440 Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get 386 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:54,879 Speaker 2: your podcasts. Thank you. There are movies about meals that 387 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:59,160 Speaker 2: people have, and there's wonderful plays about the kitchen and 388 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:02,800 Speaker 2: the whole the plays that took place in restaurants. 389 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:04,560 Speaker 1: But in Skylight it's central. 390 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:08,200 Speaker 2: It's central. Carrie describes making spaghetti bolonnaise, and then there's 391 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:10,000 Speaker 2: the scene of the parmesan. 392 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:13,600 Speaker 1: I'd just like to say that Carrie Mulligan's spaghetti bolinais, 393 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 1: which she had to make on stage every night, was 394 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: very very good. 395 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,360 Speaker 2: Because she said that Stephen director, right, Stephen Stephen directed it, 396 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 2: and that he and you brought a chef from North 397 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 2: London who made a fantastic spaghetti boloneis with sausage. 398 00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:34,639 Speaker 1: She came from Bologna and she said that the bolognaise 399 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 1: what like sausage in it? Do you think that's true? 400 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 2: I would not be surprised, but. 401 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:42,760 Speaker 1: It was always an interesting test of the actress's performance. 402 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 1: Whether anybody ate their spaghetti bolonnaise in the interval, said, 403 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:52,840 Speaker 1: some people who've played that part, you know you, frankly 404 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 1: in the in the interval would not necessarily want to 405 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: eat what they've cooked. But Carrie's was really good, and 406 00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:03,080 Speaker 1: people would out around in order to he cares. 407 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:06,000 Speaker 2: She described it. She also said the garlic was sometimes 408 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 2: she had to be careful about eating too much garlic. 409 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:10,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's not very friendly to your fellow. 410 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 2: Act Let's just talk about the parmesan scene. 411 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:15,280 Speaker 1: The parmazan cheese is just that it's a joke about 412 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:17,959 Speaker 1: the fact that he's a businessman and he's a restauranteur. 413 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 1: He's got restaurants in the King's Road. He was not, 414 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:24,119 Speaker 1: I hastened to add. And everybody said to me, is 415 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:26,280 Speaker 1: this meant to be Terrence Conran? And I kept saying, 416 00:22:26,359 --> 00:22:28,359 Speaker 1: it is not meant to be Terrence Conran. I barely 417 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:31,560 Speaker 1: know Terrence Conrine, but everyone said it at the time. 418 00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:35,240 Speaker 1: And because he was sort of famous for having restaurants 419 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:39,600 Speaker 1: in the King's Road, I suppose, but he's munificent, so 420 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,480 Speaker 1: he can't bear her little piece of parmesan he can't 421 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 1: bear sweaty piece of cheese wrapped in cellophane that she's 422 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,119 Speaker 1: trying to put on top of her spaghetti. And so 423 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:51,520 Speaker 1: he goes on and on about his supplies and stuff, 424 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: and they have an argument about it, and they also 425 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,160 Speaker 1: have an argument about how to make spaghetti. Welln't it, 426 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:56,640 Speaker 1: which is a contentious subject. 427 00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:58,720 Speaker 2: Is that something in your life that you would care 428 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 2: enough to have an argument someone about? Now? 429 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:05,119 Speaker 1: No, And I also love Nicole's cooking, so I don't 430 00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:07,879 Speaker 1: interfere in Nicole's cooking. She doesn't interfere in mine. So 431 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:10,720 Speaker 1: I have to say, be hopeless is entertaining. 432 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:12,360 Speaker 2: And well, that's not what your guests say. 433 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,760 Speaker 1: It's only because Nicole. She was giving dinner parties long 434 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:19,919 Speaker 1: before I arrived. If I had not met her, I 435 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,919 Speaker 1: would not be giving dinner parties. I'm extremely shy, and 436 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:26,240 Speaker 1: the only way I get over my shyness is by 437 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:28,360 Speaker 1: riding on her coattails. 438 00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:32,159 Speaker 2: Well, okay, I'll let you're tough it out with Fiona Golfer, 439 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,520 Speaker 2: who said that it was her quote about being a 440 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,040 Speaker 2: theatrical experience coming to your house for dinner. 441 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:41,640 Speaker 1: No, it's true that she is. She is a great hostess. 442 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:43,879 Speaker 1: So all I do is floating her weight only. 443 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:45,720 Speaker 2: About being shy that you say that I would not 444 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:47,359 Speaker 2: know that about you, and you might not know that 445 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:50,320 Speaker 2: about me, because of course where I'm out there, but 446 00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:53,920 Speaker 2: there is a real you. And I stand outside sometimes 447 00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:56,359 Speaker 2: didnner party, think do I actually want to go in? 448 00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:01,880 Speaker 1: You know, I've spent hours in the car parties, and 449 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:06,160 Speaker 1: you know, a dreading going in, and I certainly hate 450 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 1: listening to the audience at my plays. 451 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 2: Tell me about that. What do you mean listening to that? 452 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 1: Well, I mean that hearing their comments, I have absolutely 453 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:15,680 Speaker 1: no sense. You know. When I see a playwright standing 454 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: in the fobby, in the lobby greeting the I'm absolutely 455 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:26,199 Speaker 1: amazed at there. And I have friends who don't have 456 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,040 Speaker 1: any nerves at all. You know, Christopher Hampton, who's a 457 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:33,320 Speaker 1: great friend of mine, sits at his plays with a 458 00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: sort of beam on his face of how well everything 459 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:41,440 Speaker 1: is going. Whereas I'm carving in terror and certainly run 460 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 1: as fast as i can before I overhear terrible things, which. 461 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,440 Speaker 2: The playwright, by the way, always wonder whether you would 462 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:49,919 Speaker 2: hear the terrible things. But you're missing the good things, 463 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,320 Speaker 2: you know, You're assuming that they're going to say terrible things. 464 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:53,080 Speaker 2: But no. 465 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: Very early on I wrote a play and I heard 466 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:59,159 Speaker 1: a man and he was leaving and his wife was 467 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:02,679 Speaker 1: just putting her around him and saying, I'm sorry, darling. 468 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 1: That was my idea. I've never since then. And he 469 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:09,760 Speaker 1: was going, it's all right, I don't mind, I don't mind. 470 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:12,400 Speaker 1: We just wasted the evening. It was like that, And 471 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 1: so you just don't listen. 472 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, in the River Cafe, because we have an 473 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,439 Speaker 2: open kitchen. When I'm cooking, what I do is I 474 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:24,040 Speaker 2: can see, you know, you can just see somebody's face. 475 00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:26,439 Speaker 2: You can see how you know they they taste something, 476 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:28,680 Speaker 2: and then they look at their person next to them, 477 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:31,280 Speaker 2: and you think, what do they say? Are they saying 478 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:33,600 Speaker 2: if they say taste this, you know you can see 479 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:36,680 Speaker 2: them say, and then if they nod their head yes, 480 00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:40,000 Speaker 2: so they nod their head no, or they beyond being 481 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,840 Speaker 2: hurt by it. No, I'm completely devastated. Yeah, no, I 482 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,080 Speaker 2: think I think I have a part of me is like, well, 483 00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 2: I know this was good, so why don't they. 484 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,440 Speaker 1: Because one of the things that said to me most 485 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:54,840 Speaker 1: that I find completely incomprehensible, They say to me, oh, 486 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:57,520 Speaker 1: you still care do you. Oh yeah, and that as 487 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:01,720 Speaker 1: if you Oh my goodness, I didn't think you'd be nervous. 488 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:04,119 Speaker 1: Oh but you've written so many plays. How can you 489 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:05,080 Speaker 1: possibly still be. 490 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:06,360 Speaker 2: Nervous because you're so expected. 491 00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:09,919 Speaker 1: It's hard to explain you're more nervous now in my 492 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 1: seventies than I was in my twenties, because I think 493 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,400 Speaker 1: when you're in your twenties, you've got a certain arrogance 494 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 1: about what what Anthony Hopkins used to call stuffing the 495 00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 1: bastard down their throat. Other words, you just if you 496 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,120 Speaker 1: don't like it. Stuff you used to be the attitude 497 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:31,240 Speaker 1: when you're young. When you're older, it's it's harder to 498 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:33,680 Speaker 1: have that punk attitude as a playwright. 499 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:35,520 Speaker 2: And do you find that people sometimes feel they have 500 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,919 Speaker 2: to tell you the truth? Oh? Yeah, Richard had that, 501 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:40,520 Speaker 2: you know. I just think you should know that that 502 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:43,320 Speaker 2: last building, oh disappointing. 503 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,320 Speaker 1: People can't wait to tell you how disappointed they've been 504 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 1: with your latest work. And it's and I listened to 505 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 1: it in complete mystery. I'm not aware that I go 506 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:55,360 Speaker 1: up I would never go up to you and say 507 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,240 Speaker 1: I had a really terrible evening at the River Cafe. 508 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:00,680 Speaker 1: Just regard rude. 509 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:02,960 Speaker 2: I had somebody wrote to me the other day that say, 510 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,439 Speaker 2: I had a fantastic lunch at the River Cafe, and 511 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 2: it was so good because the last few times I've 512 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:10,160 Speaker 2: been quite disappointing. 513 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 1: Okay, exactly exactly, the kicking, the compliments. 514 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,359 Speaker 2: But then who do you live? Because I sometimes the 515 00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:21,239 Speaker 2: people I wanted I want Back to Richard, I said, well, 516 00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:25,480 Speaker 2: who do you want criticism, honest criticism from? Would it 517 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 2: be another architect? Would it be? And he basically said, 518 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:31,439 Speaker 2: the people I work with. Yes, it's the people who 519 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,040 Speaker 2: you actually in the room working on it. You know. 520 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:36,359 Speaker 2: With that I will tell you and then you listen. 521 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: I think that's what actors are doing, if the actors 522 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,240 Speaker 1: are any good. I mean, the whole point of choosing 523 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 1: to work in a collaborative form is collaboration. And so 524 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:48,040 Speaker 1: I'm not a novelist. I've written some poetry, but it's 525 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:51,040 Speaker 1: a sideline. I've always worked in collaborative form. 526 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:53,679 Speaker 2: That's again similar, because that's right, and. 527 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:58,199 Speaker 1: What the actors are doing is putting intense scrutiny on 528 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,680 Speaker 1: your work so that the chances are that they will 529 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:05,680 Speaker 1: examine the work from one point of view you and 530 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,040 Speaker 1: which you may not have considered as deeply from each 531 00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:11,720 Speaker 1: point of view as they do, and they say, if 532 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:13,880 Speaker 1: I say that in that scene, why am I doing 533 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:16,520 Speaker 1: that in that scene? How does that make sense? And 534 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 1: you are crazy if you don't listen to them. There 535 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:22,119 Speaker 1: are certain authors, I'm afraid to say, who are too 536 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:24,720 Speaker 1: arrogant to listen to the actors. And there are also 537 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 1: people who think that actors are always self interested and 538 00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:29,560 Speaker 1: it's always about, oh, my part will be that I 539 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:32,160 Speaker 1: have a speech, my part will be better. But when 540 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 1: you're dealing with great actors, which is been my fortune 541 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:39,840 Speaker 1: in life, you are crazy not to listen to them. 542 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,560 Speaker 1: And you're also crazy not to respond to them when 543 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:47,400 Speaker 1: they need something, because they sense that they need something. 544 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,960 Speaker 1: There was a wonderful A wonderful example was when I 545 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 1: wrote Skylight and we were rehearsing it and Michael Gamban 546 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:57,320 Speaker 1: said this wonderful thing to me, where he said, you know, 547 00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:00,640 Speaker 1: I've been on stage for two hours and I've got 548 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 1: a feeling that when I go to the dressing room 549 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 1: at the end of playing this play, I'm going to 550 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:07,960 Speaker 1: be very miserable and depressed. He said, could you just 551 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:10,080 Speaker 1: give me a line to get me out of this play. 552 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:15,320 Speaker 1: Such a beautiful note. And I gave him a last 553 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:18,959 Speaker 1: line before he left, and he just read it and 554 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:23,080 Speaker 1: he went fantastic. Now I will enjoy the evening after 555 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:24,320 Speaker 1: the play. 556 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 2: But I wonder how many writers would do that. 557 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 1: That's a great note. A note like that from an 558 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,360 Speaker 1: actor like Gambit, It's inspiring. 559 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:35,200 Speaker 2: I left a meeting the other day in New York 560 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:38,920 Speaker 2: and I was with It was about television and working together, 561 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,280 Speaker 2: and I was with this woman who's just very high 562 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:44,120 Speaker 2: up in the station. We had a long meeting of 563 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:46,120 Speaker 2: about an hour and it was you know. And when 564 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 2: I left, I said, can I just ask you something? 565 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:50,200 Speaker 2: She said, yes, Ruthie, what do you want to ask me? 566 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:52,520 Speaker 2: I said, well, everybody's going to ask me how the 567 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:54,160 Speaker 2: meeting went. Can you tell me how it went. 568 00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:58,120 Speaker 1: I try to give I try to give the actor 569 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 1: an enjoyable evening. When I started, I used to write 570 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:07,000 Speaker 1: characters called barman or policeman, and that was somebody who 571 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,239 Speaker 1: was in for an evening that was completely unrewarding. They 572 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,160 Speaker 1: were going to walk onto the stage for two minutes 573 00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 1: and say yes sir, or can I get you another scotch? 574 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:18,240 Speaker 1: And you've got to think of it from the actor's 575 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 1: point of view about what a miserable evening that is 576 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,200 Speaker 1: for an actor. And I try to make every part 577 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:27,720 Speaker 1: worth playing, and there is some point to playing the part, 578 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:29,920 Speaker 1: and there's something, even if it's a small part, that 579 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:33,240 Speaker 1: there's something there that is worth it for the actor. 580 00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:35,720 Speaker 1: And I've tried to do that and it makes for 581 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 1: a much stronger feeling to the evening. But I want 582 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 1: to tell I want to tell the one story about 583 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:44,360 Speaker 1: food and the performing arts, which is that I wrote Damage, 584 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,480 Speaker 1: which was based on the Josephine Hart novel and was 585 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:52,280 Speaker 1: directed by Louis mau who I adored and who to me, 586 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:54,360 Speaker 1: was just one of the nicest people I ever met 587 00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:56,800 Speaker 1: in my life. And he also knew a lot about 588 00:30:56,800 --> 00:30:59,320 Speaker 1: food and loved good food. I think he came to 589 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:03,200 Speaker 1: eas at your ask. It's a domestic drama, like a 590 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:07,640 Speaker 1: Greek tragedy. And when I've finally written the script and 591 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:11,200 Speaker 1: I sent him the script, he said to me, it 592 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:14,720 Speaker 1: is everything that filmmakers hate most. And I said, what 593 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:17,920 Speaker 1: do you mean. He said, your script is based around 594 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:23,240 Speaker 1: seven meals and seven fucks, and the two things filmmakers 595 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:27,880 Speaker 1: hate most are meal scenes and fuck scenes, and you've 596 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:32,200 Speaker 1: offered me seven of each. That's very funny, And I said, yes, 597 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:35,800 Speaker 1: that's how the thought is structure. He said, oh god, 598 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:38,040 Speaker 1: I've got to think of new ways of doing both. 599 00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 2: I remember the scene from Tom Jones, but that was 600 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:43,360 Speaker 2: a great Yeah, but that's a great See. That's the 601 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:44,360 Speaker 2: one that always. 602 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:47,320 Speaker 1: Tom Jones is a brilliant, brilliant, beautiful. It's the best 603 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: food scene. 604 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 2: Yeah. 605 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's partly because the actors are so wonderful, 606 00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 1: Albert Finny and Joyce Redmand. But what was so great 607 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,560 Speaker 1: about it was you really believe they were eating it 608 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,400 Speaker 1: and tasting it. And that's the mark of great actors 609 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 1: is they're actually doing the thing that they're meant to 610 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:06,840 Speaker 1: be doing, Whereas usually on a film set, the food 611 00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:09,479 Speaker 1: is very tired and it's been around, and it's been 612 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: under the lights, and you know, people bring fresh but 613 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:17,680 Speaker 1: there's very little sensual pleasure in a meal that you're filming, 614 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,440 Speaker 1: whereas on Tom Jones, who really believed people are relishing 615 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:22,240 Speaker 1: what they eating. 616 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:24,880 Speaker 2: Since you talked about your mother, was she there for 617 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:27,840 Speaker 2: your success as a playwright, She knew about it, she 618 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:28,440 Speaker 2: shared it. 619 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:33,480 Speaker 1: When she died, we found that she had kept a 620 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 1: clipping book about everything nice. And what's extraordinary is that 621 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:42,520 Speaker 1: she was incredibly proud of my really worst reviews, and 622 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:46,840 Speaker 1: in the clipping book would be appalling play by David 623 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:50,680 Speaker 1: hare Right, terrible, a ghastly night at the theater. But 624 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,920 Speaker 1: my mother didn't mind. She didn't mind because it meant 625 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:57,880 Speaker 1: that I existed. And she would occasionally make some remark 626 00:32:58,080 --> 00:32:59,960 Speaker 1: like she'd say, I remember how one saying to me 627 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 1: that Bernard Levin he really doesn't like and I said, no, 628 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:08,720 Speaker 1: he really doesn't like me. But nevertheless she kept all 629 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:12,960 Speaker 1: Bernard Levin's appalling reviews. It was a very odd kind 630 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 1: of pride. It didn't worry how what was said. It 631 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:19,040 Speaker 1: was just proof that I existed. She said, the most 632 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:23,960 Speaker 1: wonderful thing about my first play, which was absolutely filthy. 633 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,080 Speaker 1: I mean, it was just, you know, the language was filthy, 634 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:31,120 Speaker 1: that there was a lot of sex references, there was 635 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:34,640 Speaker 1: a lot of there was some sex between women, and 636 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:38,480 Speaker 1: you know, it was really quite a difficult evening for 637 00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:41,600 Speaker 1: my parents, and my mother's most gracious way of dealing 638 00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:43,640 Speaker 1: with it was to say, at the end, she said, 639 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 1: well I enjoyed it very much, dear, though your father 640 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:49,600 Speaker 1: having been in the Navy understood rather more of it 641 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:50,120 Speaker 1: than I did. 642 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:55,400 Speaker 2: I have my father. Do you remember the actor Eli Wallack. Yeah, 643 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:57,920 Speaker 2: so my father was friends from Brooklyn. He grew up 644 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:01,120 Speaker 2: with the Wallacks. Eli always played the role of the 645 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 2: bad guy. You know, he was like he certainly looked 646 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,120 Speaker 2: like a bad guy, and he was in a lot 647 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:08,919 Speaker 2: of Westerns. And so they would take his mother, who 648 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:12,840 Speaker 2: was an immigrant from Russia or Hungry, into these movies. 649 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:14,960 Speaker 2: And she came out of a movie once and she 650 00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:17,799 Speaker 2: said to her friend, I'm not going to any more 651 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:21,239 Speaker 2: movies where people clap when Eli is killed. You know, 652 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:27,200 Speaker 2: are you writing now? Are we allowed to ask you 653 00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:29,440 Speaker 2: that question? Somebody said, never ask it right of what 654 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:32,080 Speaker 2: they're doing, or an actor what they're acting, what they're 655 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:34,040 Speaker 2: John Osbourne, what did he say? 656 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,239 Speaker 1: It was John Osbourne's famous line is nobody shas to 657 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,880 Speaker 1: an accountant, done any interesting accounts late? 658 00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:41,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. 659 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:44,440 Speaker 1: I've written three plays and I'm waiting for them to 660 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:47,919 Speaker 1: go on good. It takes forever because people have lost 661 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:52,560 Speaker 1: their nerve. There's a post COVID terror has Partly, of course, 662 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:55,239 Speaker 1: the audience is not back for straight players in the 663 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:59,520 Speaker 1: same numbers. Secondly, there is a sort of feeling that 664 00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:03,200 Speaker 1: nobody can quite knows what to do. And then thirdly, 665 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:06,200 Speaker 1: people are just moved to make it feel more like 666 00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:09,560 Speaker 1: the film industry, so that the idea that a writer 667 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:12,480 Speaker 1: can just write a play and send it in and 668 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:16,040 Speaker 1: will be ahead of taste when they do that. Now 669 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:18,120 Speaker 1: it's like the film industry. The producer rings you up 670 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:19,959 Speaker 1: and saying, will you write a play about such and such? 671 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:22,000 Speaker 1: I've got this idea for a play, can you write 672 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,640 Speaker 1: this for me? And that the whole beauty of the 673 00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:28,840 Speaker 1: theater was that it used to not be that, Whereas 674 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,640 Speaker 1: I'm afraid now there's a television series, would you like 675 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:34,000 Speaker 1: to write a play based on that television series? You know, 676 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:36,640 Speaker 1: there's a musical? Would you like to write? And it's 677 00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:39,560 Speaker 1: people ringing you up saying will you do this? Whereas 678 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:45,360 Speaker 1: the idea that a person, man, woman, child, whatever sits alone, 679 00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:49,400 Speaker 1: comes up with their own idea, sends it in and 680 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:52,480 Speaker 1: you are excited to put it on that I'm afraid 681 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:54,120 Speaker 1: is passing a little. 682 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:57,839 Speaker 2: My last question to you is a question I ask 683 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:00,160 Speaker 2: everyone on the podcast. If you had a food you 684 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:04,160 Speaker 2: wanted for comfort, if you were in a situation where 685 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:09,680 Speaker 2: you wanted something to eat that would make you feel happier, calmer, better. 686 00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:11,920 Speaker 2: Is there a comfort food that you go Would it 687 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:14,600 Speaker 2: be the food that you grew up something from? Oh 688 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:15,359 Speaker 2: what would it be? 689 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:17,400 Speaker 1: I to do sol Monia? 690 00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:18,080 Speaker 2: Would you? 691 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:21,760 Speaker 1: I think so monia. I've had it here actually quite recently. 692 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:22,840 Speaker 1: It was fantastic. 693 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:24,719 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, we cook it in the wood oven. 694 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:26,839 Speaker 1: Yeah, but you don't you don't do it in batter. 695 00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:28,959 Speaker 1: Do you do the soul, but you don't do the money? 696 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,720 Speaker 1: The money. Yeah, that's the thing that makes you feel 697 00:36:33,719 --> 00:36:38,640 Speaker 1: that old is well with. I think sol monia that's 698 00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:40,000 Speaker 1: my death row meal. 699 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:44,480 Speaker 2: Okay, well we're not dying. We're getting comfort and now 700 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:45,680 Speaker 2: we're going to go and have it. We can have 701 00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:47,359 Speaker 2: it over so it might not be, but we can 702 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:49,600 Speaker 2: make it any way you want. Thank you, David Hare, 703 00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:52,480 Speaker 2: thank you, it's good. 704 00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:59,840 Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Ruthie's Table for in partnership 705 00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:00,560 Speaker 1: with Montclair