1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: Hmm, are we okay for noise? By the way, it's 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:05,000 Speaker 1: Friday night. 3 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:09,600 Speaker 2: It's Friday, Friday night, It's Friday night. We should do 4 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 2: something that was so fine the night? 5 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: It wasn't that all right? I know? Just to sing? 6 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: What did we? We? 7 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 2: Sang? 8 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: Still my escape going in June of this year. I'm 9 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: completely unsure about what to do with Damien Hirst's beautiful 10 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 1: studio space next to the River Cafe, which he was 11 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 1: giving to us for the memorial for Richard Rogers. My husband, 12 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:51,600 Speaker 1: a friend, Jonah Freud, introduced me to s Devlin by text. 13 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 1: A few hours later, I found myself talking to her 14 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: while she put her child to bed at midnight. S 15 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 1: the design of the set for Beyond his concert, the 16 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: West End production of the Crucible, the fashion show for Youth. 17 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: Saint Laurent had recently finished her radical book in Atlas 18 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:10,959 Speaker 1: of s Stevlin. At the end of the conversation, she said, 19 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, Ruthie, I'm going to Lisbon tomorrow morning. 20 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:15,679 Speaker 1: Why don't I stop over on the way to the 21 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: airport is eight o'clock oka, of course, s I said, 22 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:23,840 Speaker 1: already exhausted. She arrived at day on the dot we've 23 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: had a look at the space. She told me what 24 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,399 Speaker 1: to do and got straight into a taxi to make 25 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: the flight. This was s spontaneous, generous, positive, creative, funny 26 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: and very smart. As I write this, S is in 27 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 1: the restaurant talking to Charles pull and our manager about 28 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: what makes the River Cafe a set a place that 29 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 1: is active and calm, dark and light, noisy and quiet 30 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: at different times of the day. When it comes back 31 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 1: from all this, we'll talk about food, theater, space, books, 32 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: family and cooking, and most of all, we will talk 33 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: about friendship, and we will talk about love. 34 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 2: Thank you, Yes it's beautiful. Don't change a word. 35 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 1: So you know the drills. And we asked you to 36 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: choose from all the recipes of all the books from 37 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:14,799 Speaker 1: the last twelve cookbooks. So I'd like ask you why 38 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: you chose this recipe for kanelini bean soup. 39 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 2: But this is from the first book. And of course 40 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 2: my first encounter when the River Cafe first was open, 41 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:28,640 Speaker 2: when I was first able to come, which took a 42 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:31,920 Speaker 2: while to get my table, and then when the book 43 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 2: came out and we were fans, so I wanted to. 44 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:39,079 Speaker 1: And well back then it. 45 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 2: Was probably me in France read before I met my 46 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 2: husband Jack. But my husband Jack is an extraordinary cook. 47 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,399 Speaker 2: He makes this canelini bean soup and he makes it 48 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 2: very specifically with a piece of toast in the bottom. 49 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:55,440 Speaker 2: And he did teach me how to make it. So 50 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 2: I have made it okay, but more often I have 51 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 2: eaten it and that it didn't make it. 52 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:01,080 Speaker 1: Yeah. 53 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:11,240 Speaker 2: I The recipe canellini bean soup. Serve six two hundred 54 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:15,519 Speaker 2: and fifty grams cooked cannellini beans, a handful of fresh 55 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 2: sage leaves, two to three garlic cloves, peeled and chopped, 56 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 2: three tablespoons of olive oil, a bunch of fresh flat 57 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 2: leaf parsley chopped extra virgin olive oil in a large saucepan. 58 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:31,920 Speaker 2: Cook the garlic in the olive oil until soft but 59 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 2: not brown. Add the parsley, then add beans and stir. 60 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 2: Put three quarters of the bean mixture into a food 61 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 2: processor with some reserved cooking liquid. Pulse briefly. You do 62 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 2: not want to pure. Add more of the cooking liquid 63 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 2: if necessary, but the soup should be thick. Return to 64 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 2: the saucepan and season. Reheat if too thick, add more 65 00:03:55,360 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 2: cooking liquid. Serve with generous amount of extra virgin olive oil. 66 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: And perhaps some toast. 67 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 2: And I would if I were Jack, I would be 68 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 2: toasting something in the bottom. 69 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: So you have that gorgeous toast and beans and oil. 70 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: So we love threems three ingredients, isn't it? You know, simplicity, 71 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: which I guess is perhaps the way you work it is. 72 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,279 Speaker 2: And also I don't eat meat, so and I, as 73 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 2: you mentioned, I use quite a lot of energy, so 74 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 2: I have to be quite careful to make sure I 75 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 2: get a lot of protein without eating meat. And the 76 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 2: beans are amazing for that as well. 77 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: So, going back to the beginning, tell me about growing 78 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:36,200 Speaker 1: up in the Devlin household. Where were you born? 79 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 2: I was born in Kingston Hospital in Kingston upon Thames, 80 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 2: not too far from here, proper suburbia, proper suburbia in 81 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:47,280 Speaker 2: the western suburbs of London. And then my parents went 82 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 2: on a romantic weekend break to Rye in East Sussex, 83 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:53,479 Speaker 2: and they bought a house on a whim on a 84 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 2: cobbled street called Mermaid Street which used to descend into 85 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 2: the sea. And the house had been lived in by 86 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:04,960 Speaker 2: Conrad Aiken the poet and his daughter Joan Akin, the author. 87 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:08,720 Speaker 2: So in my mind, the house spoke. There was a 88 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 2: model city, model town of Rye next to the house, 89 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 2: and we used to visit it every weekend because my 90 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 2: mother and father were so excited to invite their friends 91 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 2: to see the place they loved, so they would take 92 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:27,280 Speaker 2: them to the model, which was a sone Lumier and 93 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:31,279 Speaker 2: it told stories. So each house told a story, including 94 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 2: my house. So I was only six years old, so 95 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:39,000 Speaker 2: in my head something made me think that objects could speak, 96 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:41,920 Speaker 2: houses could speak the way that I think bean speak 97 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:46,159 Speaker 2: and food speaks. So that was me growing up. And 98 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 2: my mother was a teacher. 99 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 1: What did she do. 100 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 2: She taught special needs children, dyslexic children. At that time, 101 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 2: she had taught lots of things, but she was teaching 102 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 2: dyslexic kids. And my dad was a journalist specializing in education. 103 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,560 Speaker 2: They were both fascinated with education, actually, But my mom 104 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:06,480 Speaker 2: prepared all the food. My dad could make scrambled eggs 105 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 2: on toast, that was really it. I'm worried that I 106 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 2: might be like my father was slightly known for only 107 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 2: cooking one thing. Okay, because I don't get very much. 108 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:17,719 Speaker 1: That's fine, what is your one thing? 109 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 2: Well, I do make cheese and tomatoes, on toast quite well, 110 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:25,599 Speaker 2: if it's good toast, and I sometimes put red pepper. 111 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 2: I'm trying to use the vegan cheese. 112 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:30,760 Speaker 1: Are you vegan and vegetarian? 113 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:32,920 Speaker 2: Now I'm vegetarian, but I'm just trying to be as 114 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,160 Speaker 2: smart as possible with the ingredients. But yeah, my mum 115 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 2: was in the kitchen. She was trying to manage everything. 116 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 2: There were four kids, four and she taught all day 117 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 2: and then he came home and cooked. Yeah, would you 118 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 2: sit down, all of you to do Yeah, every year. 119 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:46,960 Speaker 2: But it was quite a lot of you know, back 120 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 2: then in the eighties and late seventies, quite a lot 121 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 2: of potato waffles, the freezer, whatever she had time for. 122 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:56,839 Speaker 2: Then she got a slow cooker and she realized that 123 00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 2: before she went to work, she could put all the 124 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 2: ingredients big meaty stews she could put. 125 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 1: She would do a. 126 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 2: White one or a brown one, and she put all 127 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 2: the ingredients of the chicken or whatever it was in there. 128 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:10,720 Speaker 2: In the morning, she'd go out do her whole day teaching, 129 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 2: and then we would come home from school. The idea 130 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 2: was that the big stew would be there for us 131 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 2: to eat, and that worked well, no, because we liked 132 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:21,640 Speaker 2: the potato waffles, so we would just go to the 133 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 2: freezer and get poor mam so she gave up after 134 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 2: that a bit. 135 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 1: So your father would come back. Would he work in London? 136 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, we only saw him at the weekend because he 137 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 2: would stay up in London to get to Rye at 138 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,760 Speaker 2: the time, it's quite a track, so he would come 139 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 2: back at the weekends. So my mum was really holding 140 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 2: the four and we we all did a lot of things. 141 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 2: There was music lessons orchestra. We had a little yellow 142 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 2: citron Diane that we had to park facing downhill on 143 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:55,440 Speaker 2: Mermaid Street, otherwise it wouldn't start if it was facing 144 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 2: uphill because then if it if it didn't start, you. 145 00:07:58,080 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 1: Could just roll it down. 146 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 2: She would put hot water bottles on it in the 147 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 2: winter to stop the points freezing. She had a little 148 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 2: plastic like a bonnet that you put on to stop 149 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 2: your hair getting wet. In the shower. She put one 150 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:13,200 Speaker 2: of those over the whole car, a big bonnet to 151 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 2: stop it getting wet. But we would go to the 152 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 2: beach after school in the summer every day, to camber 153 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 2: Sands or to Winchelsea and we would My food memory 154 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:24,760 Speaker 2: of that time I was sitting usually crappy weather, in 155 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 2: the wind and unwrapping foil crusty little pastries, and then 156 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 2: the sand, the grit of the sand would get in them, 157 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:35,200 Speaker 2: and she would make these little pastry chicken pies. So 158 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 2: I remember the chicken in the sand. They were kind 159 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:38,959 Speaker 2: of tasty with a bit of sand in them. 160 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: So you grew up in this house with four children, 161 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 1: where are you in the list of number two? Number two? 162 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: And the mother who worked, a father who was absent, 163 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 1: and you had a meal every night that you would 164 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:54,280 Speaker 1: sit around the table and would you all talk about 165 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: what you've done during the day, just eat and then 166 00:08:58,040 --> 00:08:58,720 Speaker 1: do the homework. 167 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:04,120 Speaker 2: Was noisy, very noisy, and kind of My brothers went 168 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:05,599 Speaker 2: to boarding school for a while. I think it was 169 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 2: all too much, probably for my mum to manage four 170 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 2: kids at once, so they went off for a bit 171 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 2: and they would come back in the holidays and it 172 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:15,959 Speaker 2: was very, very noisy, and there were friends over, and yeah, 173 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:17,720 Speaker 2: it was food and noise and talking. 174 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:20,440 Speaker 1: And at lunch, would you take your lunch to school? 175 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:23,040 Speaker 1: Did you get lunch school food? 176 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:28,440 Speaker 2: School food? Yes? Oh yes, oh yes. School food was 177 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 2: horrible rice puddings that were all skinny, and you had 178 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:33,439 Speaker 2: to eat it all. It was a local school called 179 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 2: Frieda kardam in Rye Primary School, and then we moved 180 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 2: to Kent to go to a school called Cranbrook School, 181 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 2: which was a grammar school. They had a little cafeteria 182 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:45,679 Speaker 2: that you would choose your food, but we just did 183 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:47,320 Speaker 2: eat the potato waffles. 184 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:50,360 Speaker 1: And came back to the I'm afraid it's such a 185 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 1: shame because I've never seen a potato. I guess I 186 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: have to go through the British education system had a potato. 187 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,040 Speaker 2: Yes, I mean, in fairness to my mum, the the 188 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,839 Speaker 2: fact that you know, we were annoying children who liked 189 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 2: processed food was not her fault. She's a fantastic cook. 190 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:08,800 Speaker 2: She makes great big themed I mean, she would make 191 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:14,160 Speaker 2: ridiculously crazy birthday cakes, theatrical, perhaps extraordinarily the I mean. 192 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 2: My mum's a great artist, as is my dad. They 193 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:18,720 Speaker 2: didn't pursue art as her career, but all of our 194 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 2: birthdays were always it would be a themed mermaid cake 195 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:26,880 Speaker 2: with mermaid biscuits. I am I'm pretty terrible because I 196 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 2: do when I eat a meal, and I've been served 197 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:32,080 Speaker 2: the most beautiful meals in my life by my husband 198 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 2: and others, But I tend to eat the conversation. Yeah, 199 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 2: the food tastes of the thought. That's fine, that's a story. 200 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 2: That's a story of food. And I think food can 201 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:45,400 Speaker 2: be a story. And I think you know, what you 202 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:47,840 Speaker 2: eat is so much obviously more than what's going in 203 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,959 Speaker 2: your mouth. And the lighting. I am obsessed with what 204 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,720 Speaker 2: the light is. I can't if I walk into a restaurant, 205 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 2: the light is where I will probably go up to 206 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 2: the person's say, can I just dim this switch here? 207 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 1: So what is the lighting that you like? Low? Low? 208 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:04,079 Speaker 2: Or outside and being in the like just now, we 209 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:09,120 Speaker 2: were sitting outside your beautiful piazza. So either natural light 210 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:11,760 Speaker 2: or the light of the fire. Yeah, by the fire, 211 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 2: the food by a fire. 212 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:13,839 Speaker 1: Yeah. 213 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,600 Speaker 3: I'm Charles Pullan, executive director of the River Cafe, and 214 00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:20,680 Speaker 3: we are sitting on the table one oh six on 215 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:23,920 Speaker 3: the terrace outside on a Friday afternoon, and I'm about 216 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:26,839 Speaker 3: to talk with es Devlyn. Very exciting. We want to 217 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:30,559 Speaker 3: get her take on the feel and the energy and 218 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:33,319 Speaker 3: the design of the River Cafe. So rather than one 219 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 3: of her sets that we do all over the world, 220 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:37,400 Speaker 3: be rather interesting just for us to hear what your 221 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:40,240 Speaker 3: take is on the space that we use. As people 222 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:42,839 Speaker 3: arrived through the front door, their first view as they 223 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:45,839 Speaker 3: look left down the length of the very long dining 224 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:47,960 Speaker 3: room is that it's the big pink word oven than 225 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:51,239 Speaker 3: the fire in there flickering away, which has a wonderful 226 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,439 Speaker 3: purpose of shrinking the room in a way and making 227 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:57,400 Speaker 3: it feel cozy and make it feel much more intimate 228 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 3: despite the facts it is a very long, large dining room. 229 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:03,320 Speaker 3: It's such a such a sort of hackneyed old reference, 230 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 3: the fact that there is so much in common with 231 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 3: the theater and the restaurant world. But it's a truism 232 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:12,199 Speaker 3: because there are so many parallels with how you gear up, 233 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 3: you rehearse your audition, but then there's the energy that 234 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:19,439 Speaker 3: just before service, just before the curtains up, and then 235 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:23,160 Speaker 3: you all jump into your roles. And so we've always 236 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:25,959 Speaker 3: talked about the staff and the food and all that 237 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 3: side of things. But from your point of view, it 238 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:30,360 Speaker 3: might be interesting to hear how the kind of design 239 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 3: of the dining room itself comes into play. 240 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:38,160 Speaker 2: I think the comparison between the performative aspects of the 241 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 2: delivery of food and the physical aspects of being backstage 242 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:46,040 Speaker 2: and front stage are clear. I don't find them hackneyed. 243 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:48,800 Speaker 2: I think they're fascinating. When I was here last time, 244 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 2: it was an evening. The weather was a bit like this, 245 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,480 Speaker 2: maybe not so sunny, but we all gathered in bright 246 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:58,760 Speaker 2: clothes in honor of Richard's love of bright colors, all 247 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:01,480 Speaker 2: around the banks of this piazza, and. 248 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:04,840 Speaker 1: Of course the river. It's called the River car favor reason. 249 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:09,560 Speaker 2: We are adjacent to this great planetary force that runs 250 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:12,959 Speaker 2: through our city. So for me, those fundamental forces of 251 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 2: the fire in the bright crimson furnace, and the river 252 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:22,679 Speaker 2: that's here, this green piazza of grass that's outside, the 253 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:25,760 Speaker 2: vivid color of the doors everywhere in the toilets, this 254 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:30,679 Speaker 2: beautiful red orange fluorescent color. Right, So, I think all 255 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 2: of those energies are felt even when you're inside. We're 256 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:35,720 Speaker 2: sitting outside now, but I believe they're felt inside as well. 257 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 2: And of course the color that the idea that when 258 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:42,520 Speaker 2: you eat, you're not just eating food, you're eating color. 259 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:46,200 Speaker 2: You're eating light because the way that light reverberates off 260 00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 2: objects to create color. You're eating what you smell, You're 261 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:53,440 Speaker 2: eating the conversation that you might be having with someone. 262 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 2: That's what you're eating. That's what you're nourished by. So 263 00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 2: much more than molecules that you need is fuel, right, 264 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:02,719 Speaker 2: and that's this place has always celebrated that. And of 265 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:05,880 Speaker 2: course what's beautiful about it in my understanding of the 266 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 2: etymology of this restaurant and why it's so duly loved, 267 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:12,760 Speaker 2: is because it began as a place of work, didn't 268 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,640 Speaker 2: It began as a canteen to feed those who were 269 00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:17,719 Speaker 2: working together to make buildings. 270 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,760 Speaker 3: The paper tape cloth here is absolutely was here so 271 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,440 Speaker 3: that Richard could get out its pens and squibble on 272 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:28,120 Speaker 3: them and design the next compute, whatever it might have been. 273 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,320 Speaker 2: And I think that's why it feels so rooted in 274 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 2: this spot. It's here for more reasons than one might think, 275 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:36,520 Speaker 2: even on the surface. Of course, now it's become this 276 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 2: incredibly sought after place to have some of the finest food, 277 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:44,080 Speaker 2: with the finest produce, with some of the most successful 278 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 2: and accessible and readable and beautiful cookbits that have ever 279 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 2: been made. But it started because a team at lunch 280 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:54,880 Speaker 2: time needed to eat in a place where there aren't 281 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:57,280 Speaker 2: many restaurants. And it started from we always talk about 282 00:14:57,600 --> 00:14:59,120 Speaker 2: in any kind of work of art, what was the 283 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 2: need it need to be made, and this needed to 284 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 2: be made, like Ruthie and Richard needed to be together, 285 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:08,440 Speaker 2: like you know, their need of each other sort of 286 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:11,280 Speaker 2: resonated through all their friends and the vast kind of 287 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:14,240 Speaker 2: circle of people they've gathered around them, which I really 288 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:20,200 Speaker 2: witnessed when I was here on that the way. 289 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 1: I understand that you cook for the people that you 290 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:28,240 Speaker 1: work with as any yeah every day. 291 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:31,280 Speaker 2: Yeah so I don't cook, but I have a cook 292 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:34,720 Speaker 2: who makes meals every day. And we started that probably 293 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:37,880 Speaker 2: about seven years ago when we moved to a studio 294 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 2: that didn't really have an easy way for people to eat. 295 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:43,400 Speaker 2: But also it was part of balancing our carbon footprint 296 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:46,760 Speaker 2: and it seemed much more sensible. If I have around 297 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:49,520 Speaker 2: eight to ten people in the studio every day, we 298 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:53,080 Speaker 2: make them vegetarian food. There's no food waste, there's no packaging, 299 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 2: no one's running around getting bits of things in plastic 300 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 2: boxes or anything. But it was what's something I could do. 301 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:00,920 Speaker 2: You know, we still fly. I can diminish it, but 302 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:03,680 Speaker 2: I can't completely get rid of that from my practice 303 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,200 Speaker 2: at the moment. But what I can do is serve 304 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:08,960 Speaker 2: everyone a really nice vegetarian all eat together. Yeah, we 305 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,720 Speaker 2: will stop work. We go around the table in my house, 306 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 2: there's a garden there. We all sit down and we eat. 307 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:16,480 Speaker 2: We have a wonderful lady called Chia who's cooking for 308 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:18,840 Speaker 2: us at the moment. We had Antonio until she had 309 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,440 Speaker 2: to leave. But that's really important for me that we sit, 310 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:23,720 Speaker 2: we talk to each other, we eat great food. 311 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:28,360 Speaker 1: I think that again, how you combine work food. You 312 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:31,960 Speaker 1: know that people who need to go out and go 313 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:34,800 Speaker 1: for a walk to stop the people the idea of 314 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:37,120 Speaker 1: the business lunch where you go to a restaurant and 315 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 1: you discuss work, which was an anathemat It rends a 316 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,640 Speaker 1: piano Richard's partner. He thought, I remember when they were 317 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 1: doing the Pompa. It was like either you ate or 318 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 1: you worked. You never would, you know, combine the two, 319 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:50,600 Speaker 1: you know, the idea of enjoying a meal while you 320 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: talked about work, you continue the work of the meal or. 321 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 2: Usually not normally, we just talk about stuff we want 322 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:01,640 Speaker 2: to talk about. It's not working over lunch. And everyone 323 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:03,520 Speaker 2: goes out for a walk after lunch because we're near 324 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:06,280 Speaker 2: Dulwich Park, so people go out, they wander off, they 325 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 2: get a coffee, they have all break but normally know 326 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:12,240 Speaker 2: the conversation. Either we're silent. Sometimes sometimes we just need 327 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 2: a break and we will sit there. We're happy in 328 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:16,960 Speaker 2: each other's company, just eating. We're very happy to say nothing. 329 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:19,760 Speaker 2: Or we just chit chat about any old thing that's 330 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:21,800 Speaker 2: nothing to do with work. Or we invite people to lunch. 331 00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 2: A lot of the time there are a lot of 332 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:27,800 Speaker 2: kids who want to see the studio who might not 333 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:32,960 Speaker 2: otherwise experience what a studio is like. So we're busy, 334 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:35,680 Speaker 2: but we're always stopping for lunch. So we say come 335 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:38,960 Speaker 2: to lunch, so they come. They get the vibe. Everyone's 336 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 2: not panicking because they're not meant to be working. It's 337 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:43,320 Speaker 2: a time for a break. 338 00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:45,399 Speaker 1: And you're quite solitary. 339 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 2: I love being on my own. I love reading. I 340 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:50,360 Speaker 2: always draw when I read. I write when I read, 341 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,840 Speaker 2: I draw, I have to underline. I can't read without 342 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:56,120 Speaker 2: a pen in my hand. I love it on my own, 343 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:57,920 Speaker 2: but I don't spend very much time on my own 344 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:00,480 Speaker 2: because I have two children out and I have eight 345 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 2: people in my studio minimum, so I'm rarely on my own, 346 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:06,360 Speaker 2: so I really cherish it when I am. 347 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:09,720 Speaker 1: Because we were talking the other day about artists and alcohol, 348 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:13,680 Speaker 1: and drinking and going out and being together in the 349 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:17,080 Speaker 1: evening because so many artists are alone during the day 350 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 1: that then when it's sort of over, you want to 351 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,680 Speaker 1: kind of go out to be out. Did you have 352 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:24,960 Speaker 1: that period in your life before you had children you 353 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:26,800 Speaker 1: were working and then partying. 354 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:28,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think the time when I moved 355 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:31,600 Speaker 2: to London, when I was at early teens. You know, 356 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:33,920 Speaker 2: it was magical. My boyfriend at the time was. 357 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 1: Sixteen is young. 358 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 2: I was young. 359 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:37,560 Speaker 1: Well your parents were fine with that. 360 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:41,399 Speaker 2: And not really no. Yeah, I was kind of determined 361 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:45,080 Speaker 2: in what I wanted to do, and it was music. 362 00:18:45,359 --> 00:18:47,720 Speaker 2: My boyfriend at the time was a record producer and 363 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:49,399 Speaker 2: a sound engineer, so I was with a lot of 364 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 2: musicians and I spent a lot of time in recording studios, 365 00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:57,200 Speaker 2: just observing how music is made, how tracks are recorded, 366 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:01,400 Speaker 2: how music is edited. That was a really formative time 367 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:05,160 Speaker 2: to get under the skin of recording in music. And 368 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:07,679 Speaker 2: then when I was in Bristol, that was probably my 369 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:11,480 Speaker 2: most party time. That was my hallucinogenic moment. 370 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:13,760 Speaker 1: Tell me about then when you left home. 371 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:16,680 Speaker 2: I was about sixteen and I fell in love with 372 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:18,760 Speaker 2: a man who was twenty four. I did finish school. 373 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:20,320 Speaker 2: But I spent a lot of time in London. 374 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:23,880 Speaker 1: Has that a domestic situation? Did you live in a 375 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:25,840 Speaker 1: house and have to cook and shop for yourself? 376 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:28,680 Speaker 2: But we do. You know, we had hardly ever been 377 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,040 Speaker 2: to a restaurant when we didn't go to restaurants ever, 378 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:32,959 Speaker 2: we didn't have the money for kids in a restaurant, 379 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:35,080 Speaker 2: and restaurants in England at the time, it wasn't the 380 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:37,879 Speaker 2: same thing that we're talking about. Well, as I was 381 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 2: growing up in the seventies and eighties, we never went 382 00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:42,880 Speaker 2: to a I can remember going to a restaurant. 383 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:45,000 Speaker 1: Once special occasion, or I think it. 384 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 2: Was because the car broke down and we went and 385 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:49,440 Speaker 2: it had red walls and the parmesan was off. That's 386 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 2: all I remember about a restaurant. So the first time 387 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 2: I really remember going to restaurants was when I was 388 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,720 Speaker 2: sixteen and I met my boyfriend and he would take 389 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 2: me out in London to restaurants and we went to 390 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,600 Speaker 2: Mister Wing and we ate duck pancakes. It's an Earl's 391 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 2: Court and Julie's restaurant and those were the rest and 392 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 2: I was like, wow, this is crazy. 393 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, so you ate in restaurants and maybe cooked for 394 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:16,120 Speaker 1: yourself or yeah. 395 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:17,679 Speaker 2: Then I did do a bit of cooking, and I 396 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 2: would have been at university when I got your book. 397 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:23,000 Speaker 2: I didn't have any furniture. I had a wooden palette 398 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,160 Speaker 2: on the floor and I put cushions around it. And 399 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:27,399 Speaker 2: I would try and make the River Cafe recipes. That 400 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 2: was when I first got the blue book. 401 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,879 Speaker 1: And then you cooked your way through university? Did you 402 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:33,160 Speaker 1: stay there? Yeah? 403 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, and I did cook. Then I would eat veggie 404 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,800 Speaker 2: burgers in the cafe. Vegetarian at that I wasn't. No, 405 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:41,359 Speaker 2: I just like the veggie burgers. I wasn't vegetarian. Then 406 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:43,600 Speaker 2: I would make chicken. I would do tie dinners, and 407 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 2: I would get the galangle and lime and coconut milk 408 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:49,080 Speaker 2: and make chicken coconut milk soup. I would do that. 409 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: So when you left Bristol, and what did you do? 410 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 2: When I left Bristol, I had been writing, as you do. 411 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:58,439 Speaker 2: I was doing an English literature degree, so I was 412 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:02,080 Speaker 2: reading and writing, reading, reading, writing for three years. But 413 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 2: I also wanted to paint, so I painted a lot. 414 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,320 Speaker 2: I painted my whole house, which was rented. 415 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:10,920 Speaker 1: Murals on the walls. 416 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:13,280 Speaker 2: Yeah wow. And it was a rented apartment, and it 417 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:16,160 Speaker 2: had a shag pile carpet that I ripped off. It 418 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 2: was disgusting, had carpet all over the side of the bath. 419 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:21,199 Speaker 2: So I took all the carpets away and painted on 420 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:24,320 Speaker 2: the floor great big murals and painted a lot of 421 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:25,399 Speaker 2: I made a lot of things. 422 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:27,560 Speaker 1: Did your landlord ever stop by to visit? 423 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:28,399 Speaker 2: No? 424 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: In trouble. 425 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 2: When I left, I had to put it all. I 426 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,080 Speaker 2: had to get a new shag pile carpet, put it back. 427 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:37,640 Speaker 1: So underneath some person's apartment, you should go back there 428 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:43,399 Speaker 1: and lift up the carpet. Discovery and Michelangelo under under canvas, 429 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: you know. 430 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,840 Speaker 2: Have a look in number one three five cotton brow 431 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,200 Speaker 2: one three nine. I can't remember, but so I wanted 432 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 2: to make art there. And I went to Saint Martin's 433 00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:58,160 Speaker 2: and I did the foundation course. 434 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,120 Speaker 1: After the university, I did it all back front. It's 435 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,119 Speaker 1: not bad to have one education and then have another. 436 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: I wasn't ready to go to art school. 437 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,160 Speaker 2: Although I'd always made art at school, I wasn't ready 438 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:11,320 Speaker 2: to go to art school, not least because if you 439 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:13,880 Speaker 2: went to art school you had to stay living at home. Yeah, 440 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,720 Speaker 2: And I wanted to move. I wanted to live in Bristol, 441 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:19,760 Speaker 2: so yeah, I went to Saint Martin's and had the 442 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:22,959 Speaker 2: most you know, rich year of just I was. I 443 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:25,480 Speaker 2: was a mature student by then. Everyone else was eighteen. 444 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,200 Speaker 2: I was twenty one and quite old. So I did 445 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:32,840 Speaker 2: everything there. You really got into photography, printmaking, sculpture, made 446 00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:35,360 Speaker 2: a lot of books. I sowed a book. I decided 447 00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 2: a book had to be made completely stitched. And then 448 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:40,840 Speaker 2: people kept saying to me, oh, you really should check 449 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:42,200 Speaker 2: out this theater design course. 450 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:44,080 Speaker 1: A'd sat minds There was a. 451 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:47,720 Speaker 2: Specific one called Motley Theater Design Course, which was run 452 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 2: by a ninety three year old lady called Percy Harris, 453 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:52,159 Speaker 2: who's a bit of a legend in the world of 454 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:55,080 Speaker 2: stage design. And I said, I don't really care about theater. 455 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 2: It's quite boring. I never sit through and was asleep, 456 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:00,560 Speaker 2: or it's a music it's kind of embarrassing. Want to 457 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,879 Speaker 2: do theater? And they said, no, no, just go and 458 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:06,879 Speaker 2: check out this course. And I walked in and it 459 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:10,480 Speaker 2: was this red room, smell of pot noodle. Definitely saw 460 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:11,200 Speaker 2: a mouse. 461 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:13,640 Speaker 1: And where was it. It was in the. 462 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:16,960 Speaker 2: Scene dock of the theater Royal Drury Lane at the time, 463 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,280 Speaker 2: there was Miss Saigon. So every night you would hear 464 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:24,040 Speaker 2: the helicopter coming down, and it was just ten students, 465 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:28,000 Speaker 2: pretty much feral, slightly smelly. They hadn't left that room 466 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:28,440 Speaker 2: for a year. 467 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:28,960 Speaker 1: Wow. 468 00:23:29,040 --> 00:23:31,840 Speaker 2: They were just in and they were making. They had 469 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:34,399 Speaker 2: little model theaters, they were listening to opera. There was 470 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 2: references and photographs and painting stuck all over the wall. 471 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:41,720 Speaker 2: And I felt, I thought, this is my tribe. I'm 472 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 2: happy and I've never really left that room. In a way. 473 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:47,800 Speaker 2: Whatever I'm making, it's in a room. My room now 474 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 2: is kind of like that. It's covered in stuff, Piles 475 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:54,439 Speaker 2: and piles of books, tons of little drawings and pictures 476 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:58,160 Speaker 2: all over the wall, lots of little sculptures, quite magical, 477 00:23:58,160 --> 00:23:58,920 Speaker 2: lots of miniatures. 478 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,040 Speaker 1: You have a beautiful voice. Did you sing? Do you know? 479 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:04,160 Speaker 2: I did try and say occasion, I was so bad. 480 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:07,400 Speaker 2: Funnily enough, I've learned to use my voice a bit now. 481 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 2: When I make sculptures, I speak in them. But about 482 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:12,360 Speaker 2: tell me more about that? 483 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:13,000 Speaker 1: What do you mean? 484 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:15,720 Speaker 2: Well, there's a work that's on in Miami at the 485 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:18,840 Speaker 2: moment called Forest of Us and it starts as a 486 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:24,280 Speaker 2: small film with me talking. Really just noticing the similarity 487 00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:28,640 Speaker 2: between the shape of human lungs and the shape of trees, 488 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,040 Speaker 2: and just observing that. Then the film comes apart and 489 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:37,879 Speaker 2: you walk into a sculpture that reverberates that observation. But 490 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,120 Speaker 2: when I first made these types of works in twenty sixteen, 491 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:43,400 Speaker 2: I would never have used my voice. 492 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:44,760 Speaker 1: Like a lot of people. 493 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,200 Speaker 2: If I heard my voice on an answering machine back 494 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:49,200 Speaker 2: in the day when we had answers, I've been back. 495 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:51,439 Speaker 2: Oh God, I don't sound like that. That's weird. I 496 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,119 Speaker 2: sound you know, that's terrible that I got used to 497 00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 2: it when I used to read my children's stories when 498 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:01,840 Speaker 2: I put them to sleep, and I got used to 499 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,159 Speaker 2: the different quality of sound. If I had one of 500 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:07,520 Speaker 2: their heads on my chest, my voice sounded different, and 501 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,199 Speaker 2: I got used to that, and I kind of became 502 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:12,760 Speaker 2: comfortable with my own voice around. 503 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:18,360 Speaker 1: Then, stories and boys and theater and designing the story 504 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,679 Speaker 1: of your growing up, decorating the cakes to going to 505 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,600 Speaker 1: Bristol and cooking Thai food and putting murals under carpets. 506 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:28,720 Speaker 1: It's all about discovery and trying to find the story 507 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:32,280 Speaker 1: with the theme underneath it. And then food is the same. 508 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:35,439 Speaker 1: You have the ingredients. You try and think how you 509 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: can respect the ingredient, the simplicity of the ingredient, if 510 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:41,960 Speaker 1: you're a vegetarian, if you're vegan, if you're trying to 511 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:45,000 Speaker 1: do something with or without. It always is that kind 512 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:47,800 Speaker 1: of restraint which then leads to the richness, doesn't it. 513 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:49,720 Speaker 2: I think so when I think everything that you're just 514 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:54,359 Speaker 2: describing there is also about seeking a very basic human 515 00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:58,200 Speaker 2: need for being participant in ritual. Yeah, and we were 516 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,960 Speaker 2: talking actually a little earlier about river, caffe and ritual. 517 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:04,960 Speaker 2: And you've got all the ingredients here for ritual. You 518 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:07,040 Speaker 2: have the river, you have the fire, you have that 519 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:10,360 Speaker 2: piazza of grass, And I think more and more it's 520 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,400 Speaker 2: what we lack and it's what we seek. The storytelling 521 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 2: voice is another way of calibrating time. It's such a 522 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:19,840 Speaker 2: tiny fragment of our existence as a species that we 523 00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:24,760 Speaker 2: calibrate time with a clock mechanical digital that's so recent. 524 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:29,280 Speaker 2: It was always calibration by means of planet tree distance. 525 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:30,880 Speaker 1: And when is the right time. When Richard was doing 526 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,800 Speaker 1: Lloyd's they wanted to put a clock on the outside 527 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,920 Speaker 1: of the building. How we went to Gane Tangley and said, 528 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:39,679 Speaker 1: would you possibly design a clock. It was a real 529 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:41,520 Speaker 1: whole long story, which is you had to call them 530 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: at a certain time of day, and somehow I was 531 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,040 Speaker 1: very involved in this, and so I made the call 532 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:48,119 Speaker 1: and you had to tell him right away what you wanted. 533 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:50,800 Speaker 1: And so I said, mister Tangly, you know, this is 534 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:52,760 Speaker 1: Richard Roger's wife, and we'd like to put a clock 535 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:56,040 Speaker 1: on the outside of Lloyd's. Anyway, that's fantastic. I love 536 00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,399 Speaker 1: Richard Rogers's work, I love Lloyd's, I love insurance, I 537 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:02,440 Speaker 1: love clock. This is a brilliant idea. And he thought 538 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:04,280 Speaker 1: about it. We talked about it, and then he said, 539 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: there's there's just one thing that if I design a 540 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:10,840 Speaker 1: clock for you, there's one condition. And I said what 541 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:12,679 Speaker 1: would that be? And he said, the clock must not 542 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:16,080 Speaker 1: tell the correct time. Wonderful, and you know, and they have. 543 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:18,560 Speaker 1: Of course Lloyd's went next. You know, they weren't totally 544 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:20,719 Speaker 1: but the idea that you could have a clock that 545 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:23,679 Speaker 1: you knew as a you know, as a ritual, as 546 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:26,719 Speaker 1: a consistent which which would not be correct. It is okay, 547 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,160 Speaker 1: I'll meet you under the Lloyd's clock, but I don't 548 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:30,640 Speaker 1: know what time that will be. 549 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:34,040 Speaker 2: I think so I think these these other ways of 550 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 2: calibrating time that are not digital. And I think one 551 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,159 Speaker 2: of the things I started doing. I was traveling a 552 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:43,760 Speaker 2: lot too much for a while, and to sort of 553 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 2: earth myself, I would every morning when I would wake up, 554 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 2: I wouldn't quite know where I was. Straight away, I 555 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 2: didn't know, and I would just observe the light coming 556 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,480 Speaker 2: through the gap in the two curtains, and for a 557 00:27:57,520 --> 00:27:59,320 Speaker 2: while I just say, Okay, I don't know anything else. 558 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:01,480 Speaker 2: I just know that line of light. And I started 559 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:04,760 Speaker 2: photographing them, and I've been doing it for about twenty years, 560 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,200 Speaker 2: and I now I'm in a state where in the morning, 561 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:10,800 Speaker 2: even if I wake up at home, I don't have curtains. 562 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,720 Speaker 2: I have blinds. So what you see are these two. 563 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:14,360 Speaker 1: Squares have light. 564 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:18,600 Speaker 2: Two yeah, beautiful squares of light. And actually the door 565 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:20,680 Speaker 2: doesn't quite shut probably, so I often get a line 566 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:23,120 Speaker 2: of light through the door and I just sit with those. 567 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:25,320 Speaker 2: I set my alarm twenty minutes before I have to 568 00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:28,399 Speaker 2: get up, which is what time normally I get up 569 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:30,840 Speaker 2: around seven point thirty. But I try to just have 570 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 2: that moment with the lines of light, like a sort 571 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 2: of you know, the room is a sun dial. 572 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 1: The River Cafe is excited to announce the return of 573 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:54,200 Speaker 1: our Italian Christmas Gift Boxes, our alternative to the traditional 574 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:57,120 Speaker 1: have the The gift boxes bring you all of our 575 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:01,880 Speaker 1: favorites from the River Cafe, kitchen, vineyards and the designers 576 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: from all over Italy. They're available to pre order now 577 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:12,560 Speaker 1: on Shop the River Cafe do co UK. Tell me 578 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,160 Speaker 1: about the most recent or most interesting set you've done, 579 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,240 Speaker 1: that you've worked out. Do we call them sets? Do 580 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:18,280 Speaker 1: you still call themselves? 581 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:20,240 Speaker 2: Well, you might call them a stage sculpture. I mean 582 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 2: I think historically set design hierarchically, Yeah. 583 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:26,400 Speaker 1: Tell me about set design, well. 584 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:32,040 Speaker 2: It sometimes has been perhaps regarded as something decorative or something. 585 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:35,640 Speaker 2: So the only reason I am a little bit particular 586 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:37,760 Speaker 2: about the words I used to describe it is it 587 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:41,080 Speaker 2: just helps people to recognize that objects can be protagonists, 588 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,680 Speaker 2: that environments can speak, that places speak, that you know, 589 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:46,800 Speaker 2: a cup if it's picked up in this particular way 590 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:50,320 Speaker 2: under a particular like can you know, be vocal about 591 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:53,320 Speaker 2: stuff in the way that mountains can and rock scan 592 00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:57,200 Speaker 2: and stream scan, you know, and animals can. That's why 593 00:29:57,240 --> 00:29:59,239 Speaker 2: I use stage sculptures a bit just to kind of 594 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,560 Speaker 2: provoke a little bit, but a recent one. There's one 595 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:05,840 Speaker 2: out on at the moment actually at the Gilgod Theater 596 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:08,320 Speaker 2: for The Crucible, a. 597 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:11,080 Speaker 1: Book that we all if you're American and you grew 598 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:14,360 Speaker 1: up in high school in America, we all with the Crucible. 599 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 2: Tell me about the Crucible and this up well, when 600 00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:20,080 Speaker 2: you enter the space. It was at the Olivier Theater 601 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 2: at the National and now it's at the Gilgud Theater. 602 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:26,440 Speaker 2: When you enter the space, it already confronts you because 603 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:30,840 Speaker 2: it is a living box of water pouring, and in 604 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:33,880 Speaker 2: the Gildgod particularly, it's somewhat unnerving because the gil Good 605 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:39,360 Speaker 2: is a beautiful ornate iced cake of a proscenium Edwardian theater. 606 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,000 Speaker 2: So it makes you anxious straight away to see this 607 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,600 Speaker 2: water pouring like is there a giant leak? That it's 608 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:51,200 Speaker 2: pretty powerful, and it already helps heighten the atmosphere. You know, 609 00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:53,600 Speaker 2: there's always that terrible moment when you go in a 610 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:55,760 Speaker 2: theater and you've bought your popcorn or whatever. You sit down, 611 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 2: the seats are uncomfortable. You're with a friend. You're not 612 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:00,560 Speaker 2: sure that they're going to like it. They might find 613 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:02,960 Speaker 2: it boring, because theater can be crap, you know, and 614 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:06,520 Speaker 2: crack theater is some of the crappiest thing you can imagine. 615 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:07,320 Speaker 1: Because it's hard to do well. 616 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,520 Speaker 2: So if you sit down and you've got all those anxieties, 617 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:11,960 Speaker 2: will it be good? Will it be bad? Will I 618 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:15,760 Speaker 2: be bored? If already there's a gesture that's confident, that 619 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:18,800 Speaker 2: already says I'm going to look after you, I'll keep 620 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 2: You're safe, You're safe with me, then it's a bit 621 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:24,360 Speaker 2: like a restaurant. You walk in and the colors are 622 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 2: being chosen, people already relax, And I think what happens 623 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,800 Speaker 2: is people become already tuned in a little bit to 624 00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:33,160 Speaker 2: the vibration of the gesture. 625 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:35,920 Speaker 1: Have the sets usually lit then before you when you 626 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:38,280 Speaker 1: sit down, you can see what it's going to be. 627 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:40,200 Speaker 1: Is it dark, going to light? 628 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:44,400 Speaker 2: And well, it varies, but I'm trying to, I guess, 629 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:47,320 Speaker 2: increase the porosity between the feeling of walking into the 630 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:51,640 Speaker 2: Turbine Hall or the Serpentine and the feeling of walking 631 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:56,160 Speaker 2: into the Gilgod Theater. And I think if you walk 632 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:58,840 Speaker 2: in there's already a sculpture there, you engage in a 633 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:01,800 Speaker 2: different way, and then of course the music begins, and 634 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,640 Speaker 2: in this case, it's Caroline Shaw has done this extraordinary 635 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,720 Speaker 2: work with an extraordinary musical director as well. And these 636 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:12,800 Speaker 2: voices begin and they are cost you and you don't 637 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:15,320 Speaker 2: have time to worry anymore. You're grabbed. 638 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:17,720 Speaker 1: Do you work with a director from the very first, 639 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:20,840 Speaker 1: when he starts or she starts thinking about how the 640 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 1: play is going to be directed? Because I do that 641 00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 1: with a book. We don't write the recipes and then 642 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:30,080 Speaker 1: talk to the photographer and the graphic designer. We all 643 00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:33,880 Speaker 1: sit around the table and think, what is every page 644 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:35,920 Speaker 1: going to be? How are we going to photograph this 645 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:38,000 Speaker 1: before we even cook it, or how are we going 646 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,360 Speaker 1: to make the page make you want to cook a 647 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:45,800 Speaker 1: recipe and make it clear. So it all starts with that. 648 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:47,440 Speaker 1: And is that the way it is with you? 649 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,480 Speaker 2: With Lindsay Turner, she's the director of the Crucible, and 650 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:51,960 Speaker 2: she and I have worked together now for quite a 651 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:54,120 Speaker 2: long time, for ten years. Actually, I spend quite a 652 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:56,040 Speaker 2: lot of time on a farm in Sussex and she 653 00:32:56,120 --> 00:33:01,959 Speaker 2: came down there oka tell me that I haven't I 654 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:04,200 Speaker 2: only just got I haven't done much with it yet. 655 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:07,800 Speaker 1: What do you want to do? This is a diversion 656 00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:09,080 Speaker 1: from the Crucible. 657 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:12,959 Speaker 2: But well, my dream would be that the people in 658 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:16,160 Speaker 2: my studio who are on computers a lot of the time, 659 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:19,480 Speaker 2: I would really like it that on a Friday or 660 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:21,960 Speaker 2: maybe once a month or what often we can do it, 661 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:24,640 Speaker 2: they would come to the farm and put their hands 662 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:27,120 Speaker 2: in the earth. And it's just a visual symmetry as well. 663 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:29,960 Speaker 2: If these hands are on computer keys all the time 664 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:34,120 Speaker 2: and these imaginations are everywhere, but the nature of our practices, 665 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:35,840 Speaker 2: they're making models, but a lot of the time they're 666 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,560 Speaker 2: on computers, and I think it be beautiful for them 667 00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:42,160 Speaker 2: to be hands in earth, you know, helping to grow 668 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:46,840 Speaker 2: the food that we then eat. That would be the dream. Yeah, 669 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:48,200 Speaker 2: that's the dream. So that's what we're great. 670 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:50,840 Speaker 1: It takes time. We went to the farm with So I. 671 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:52,480 Speaker 2: Went to the farm with Lindsay and we sat and 672 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:56,360 Speaker 2: we read the Crucible. We just read the whole thing aloud. 673 00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:59,280 Speaker 2: And that's what we always do, is we read it 674 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:03,240 Speaker 2: so that play exists between us. We just share the parts, 675 00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:07,440 Speaker 2: so that before we start, even before talking about. 676 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:09,279 Speaker 1: Was it her idea to put it on? Was it her? 677 00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:11,080 Speaker 1: She brought it to the nation. 678 00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:13,400 Speaker 2: She had the vision to do it, and she had 679 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:16,279 Speaker 2: a really clear vision for how she wanted to do it. 680 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:19,879 Speaker 2: But even after that first reading, we started to say, 681 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:21,920 Speaker 2: what if. What if the first scene was just this 682 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:26,520 Speaker 2: group of girls sitting at the back of the congregation muttering, 683 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:28,440 Speaker 2: and then one of them gets slapped and we just 684 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:30,680 Speaker 2: see them from the back. So we sort of conjured 685 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:33,040 Speaker 2: the first scene and that led to the environment and 686 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:34,520 Speaker 2: the sculpture around it. 687 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 1: Would you direct yourself? Would you say I can do both? 688 00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:41,280 Speaker 2: Yeah? I sometimes do, especially with the music, and sometimes 689 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:44,960 Speaker 2: but I really like the collaboration with the director. I 690 00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:48,000 Speaker 2: direct the materials and the you know how the life 691 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:51,840 Speaker 2: video and the materials might coalesce, and she directs the 692 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,400 Speaker 2: performers and the cast, and it's a lot of directing 693 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,520 Speaker 2: of different material and human things. 694 00:34:57,800 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 1: Do you go where do your players aren't? Do you 695 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:03,919 Speaker 1: go often to see it? And how this said once? 696 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:06,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm normally onto, I'm normally onto the next thing, 697 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:09,440 Speaker 2: but I love to go back. Yeah, you know, especially 698 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:11,239 Speaker 2: towards the end, towards the final night. 699 00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:13,840 Speaker 1: What was it like working with Beyonce then from the 700 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,480 Speaker 1: Crucible to Beyonce or was a Beyonce to the Crucible? 701 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:19,360 Speaker 2: Well, I've been working with her for a long time 702 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:24,080 Speaker 2: because we started in twenty fifteen. Oh yeah, that's a 703 00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:29,000 Speaker 2: very big team, lots of extraordinary collaborators over time all 704 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:32,680 Speaker 2: over the world and a massive production and also with 705 00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:35,759 Speaker 2: able test Fay the weekend so his stadium show was 706 00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:37,640 Speaker 2: also happy at the same time, so there was one 707 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:42,120 Speaker 2: night where you could go and see Beyonce the weekend 708 00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:45,520 Speaker 2: or another place near England, which is really good. 709 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,560 Speaker 1: To see that on Monday, Yeah, way to see that. 710 00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:52,120 Speaker 2: I tell you what's fun about that is it's a 711 00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:56,319 Speaker 2: really divided audience. It's an audience who loved theater but 712 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:58,600 Speaker 2: might not always be so interested in football. Yeah, it's 713 00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,360 Speaker 2: an audience who really might not normally set for in 714 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:04,080 Speaker 2: a theater but love football, like my son who doesn't 715 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:07,000 Speaker 2: like theater but likes football. So Ludo will come for that. 716 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:09,719 Speaker 2: And at the beginning there's a little shiftiness like am 717 00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:11,880 Speaker 2: I going to hate this? How's it going to be? 718 00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:16,600 Speaker 2: And by the end, yeah, everyone is crying and singing 719 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,640 Speaker 2: Sweet Caroline together and it's a bit like we've been 720 00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:23,560 Speaker 2: talking a little bit about national assemblies and how they 721 00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:25,880 Speaker 2: might form a new kind of form of governance and 722 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,480 Speaker 2: new ways to participate in democracy, and actually at the 723 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,880 Speaker 2: end of that it gives you hope that actually, given 724 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:38,240 Speaker 2: the right stimulus and the right materials and environment, people 725 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:40,480 Speaker 2: can find common ground. 726 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:43,560 Speaker 1: In the pandemic. When we close the River caf If 727 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:46,360 Speaker 1: you don't ask me what's important in the city, I 728 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:52,319 Speaker 1: would have said, you're a theater of concerts, parks, playgrounds, hospitals. 729 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:54,800 Speaker 1: You know, put restaurants way down. But you realize it 730 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:58,759 Speaker 1: going to see what you're just describing, or to come 731 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:01,000 Speaker 1: perhaps to a restaurant and see people you might not 732 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:04,239 Speaker 1: have seen for years that you pump into or that 733 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:06,759 Speaker 1: you're again the thing of being taken care of, that 734 00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:10,560 Speaker 1: you can walk in and feel that you know it's 735 00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:12,640 Speaker 1: going to be okay. You might have had an argument 736 00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:15,920 Speaker 1: or been stuck in traffic, or lost your job, or 737 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:19,200 Speaker 1: getting divorced or getting married, or you know, happy things 738 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,480 Speaker 1: are saved up for months to come, but that somehow 739 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:23,839 Speaker 1: when what you want, and I think what I want 740 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:26,640 Speaker 1: both of us, is to have somebody walk through the 741 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:28,720 Speaker 1: door and feel it's going to be okay and leave 742 00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:30,800 Speaker 1: feeling better than when they arrived. 743 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:33,440 Speaker 2: I think so, and I think it comes back to 744 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:36,640 Speaker 2: ritual and the passing of time, because if you've been 745 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:41,040 Speaker 2: working intensely, and you walk into a restaurant and you 746 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:42,840 Speaker 2: know that there's going to be a new rhythm to 747 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:45,319 Speaker 2: the rest of that day. First, it's going to be 748 00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:50,040 Speaker 2: the ritual, the welcome, the formalities, the choosing the glass 749 00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:53,080 Speaker 2: of whatever you're going to drink, the course one, the 750 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:56,560 Speaker 2: course too. This is a clock in itself, the same 751 00:37:56,560 --> 00:38:00,319 Speaker 2: when you go to the theater. And actually, now after 752 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:04,600 Speaker 2: having become temporarily extinct, all of my practice was temporarily extinct. 753 00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:07,840 Speaker 2: Me and Jack, we both have devoted our lives to 754 00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:11,279 Speaker 2: mass gatherings. Yeah, and suddenly mass gatherings were weapons of 755 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:11,960 Speaker 2: mass destruction? 756 00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:12,719 Speaker 1: Did you do? 757 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:19,240 Speaker 2: Panicked? Talked a lot on zoom, became a radio station. 758 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:21,480 Speaker 2: Would have been better to shut up and go off 759 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:22,840 Speaker 2: and do a sabbatical, but didn't. 760 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:24,919 Speaker 1: But we didn't know. I spent every day. 761 00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:26,759 Speaker 2: Jack looked at me, he said, as you're like a 762 00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:30,440 Speaker 2: mad sort of ringleader doing zooms. He said, just leave 763 00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:32,600 Speaker 2: your people alone. They're happy to have some time off. 764 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:35,799 Speaker 1: But somehow the contact at some point, wasn't it what 765 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:38,000 Speaker 1: I felt? Well, how we feel now? 766 00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:40,759 Speaker 2: Like the other day going to the weekend's concert where 767 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:45,480 Speaker 2: it's eighty no screens, eighty thousand people singing together, one 768 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:50,480 Speaker 2: five h eight man holding eighty thousand people in a stadium. 769 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:52,400 Speaker 1: We look, we're pinching. 770 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:54,239 Speaker 2: Ourselves, just thinking a few years ago this felt like 771 00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:58,320 Speaker 2: it would never happen again. And for me, it's so vital, 772 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:01,799 Speaker 2: one of the most important things we do, I think, 773 00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:03,400 Speaker 2: as humans being together. 774 00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:06,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, let's talk about this book. Yeah, let's definitely 775 00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:09,120 Speaker 1: talk about this book. I want you to describe this 776 00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:11,960 Speaker 1: people who are listening about what we have at the 777 00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:13,960 Speaker 1: table between you and myself. 778 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,880 Speaker 2: So what's sitting in between me and Ruthie right now 779 00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:22,800 Speaker 2: is a book. It's a small twenty two centimeter square 780 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:26,399 Speaker 2: by about I'm going to say about eight centimeters thick, 781 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:29,600 Speaker 2: so it's a chunky object, and it's got a hole 782 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:33,480 Speaker 2: cut out of the front. And then in the following 783 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:38,160 Speaker 2: pages are more offset holes, and around the holes are 784 00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:41,480 Speaker 2: drawn the names of everyone who's ever participated in any 785 00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:45,759 Speaker 2: of the collaborative works that I've made over time. Then, 786 00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:50,880 Speaker 2: as you unfold its thousand pages, there are seven hundred 787 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:54,600 Speaker 2: images mainly of a sort of parallel series of works 788 00:39:54,600 --> 00:40:01,520 Speaker 2: that I've been making for thirty years, small paper sculptures, paintings, drawings, 789 00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:04,440 Speaker 2: and then Finally, by the end there's fifty thousand words 790 00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:07,080 Speaker 2: in it as well of text of commentary, and then 791 00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:10,279 Speaker 2: by the end there are pictures of most of about 792 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:12,880 Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty projects. So it's like doing a 793 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:14,480 Speaker 2: big end of year tax return. 794 00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:15,879 Speaker 1: How long did it take you to. 795 00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:19,080 Speaker 2: I started it seven years ago, and then my first 796 00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:21,600 Speaker 2: deadline was four years ago, so I've been missing deadlines. 797 00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:24,919 Speaker 1: Really have four extra extra years of work. 798 00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:25,359 Speaker 2: That's it. 799 00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:28,200 Speaker 1: This is a very good way of putting it. I 800 00:40:28,239 --> 00:40:30,440 Speaker 1: had you stop four years ago, the book might have 801 00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:32,439 Speaker 1: stopped a lot of beautiful work. 802 00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:33,200 Speaker 2: This is true. 803 00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:36,879 Speaker 1: That's a bit. It's available in your local bookstore. It 804 00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:41,120 Speaker 1: is all good bookstores are online, yeah, and Amazon. 805 00:40:41,239 --> 00:40:45,200 Speaker 2: It's sitting number one, but number one best in artist monographs, and. 806 00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,840 Speaker 1: It's published by terms in Hudson. And it's a beautiful, 807 00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:53,040 Speaker 1: beautiful object, beautiful book, and it's showing beautiful work. So yeah, 808 00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:56,279 Speaker 1: to the next one. If we go back, if we 809 00:40:56,440 --> 00:41:01,320 Speaker 1: like ritual, tradition and consistency. If you think about food, 810 00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:04,279 Speaker 1: it's a question that I always ask at the end 811 00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:07,759 Speaker 1: of what has today been a wonderful conversation. Food is 812 00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:10,399 Speaker 1: we have when we're hungry, when we're tired. When, as 813 00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:13,040 Speaker 1: you say, you need protein, when you need energy, when 814 00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:15,520 Speaker 1: you want to feed your children or be fed. It's 815 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:18,799 Speaker 1: also comfort. What would be a food you might go 816 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:20,040 Speaker 1: to for comfort? 817 00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:24,080 Speaker 2: It is my cheese and tomatoes on top. It is. 818 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:26,239 Speaker 1: It is. It's mainly tomatoes and. 819 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:29,120 Speaker 2: Red peppers and with a bit of cheese on top, 820 00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:32,719 Speaker 2: and you know, some really good outive oil, some salt 821 00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:36,360 Speaker 2: and pepper. Make two slices of it, just bake it, yeah, 822 00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:37,919 Speaker 2: and then maybe a little glass of wine. 823 00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:40,239 Speaker 1: Would that if we're going to the wine and the 824 00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:43,799 Speaker 1: cheese and tomatoes, that sounds like a very very comforting meal. 825 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:46,919 Speaker 1: Thank you for today, Thank you for my friend think. 826 00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:54,040 Speaker 1: Thank you. If you like listening to Ruthie's Table for 827 00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:58,279 Speaker 1: would you please make sure to rate and review the 828 00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:03,239 Speaker 1: podcast on the iHeart Rate app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or 829 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:10,479 Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. Ruthie's Table four 830 00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:14,160 Speaker 1: is produced by Atomai Studios for iHeartRadio. It is hosted 831 00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:18,080 Speaker 1: by Ruthie Rodgers. It's produced by williem Lensky. Our executive 832 00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:21,640 Speaker 1: producers are Zad Rodgers and Fay Stewart. Our production manager 833 00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:22,600 Speaker 1: is Caitlin Paramore. 834 00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:32,120 Speaker 2: Special thanks to everyone at the River Cafe,