1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:04,439 Speaker 1: You're listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership with Montclair. 2 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: Ask Gray Findes about Carrie Mulligan and he will tell 3 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: you she is a brilliant actor and was a uniquely 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: brilliant partner in their movie The Dick. Ask Lord Michaels 5 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: about her hosting Saturday Night Live, and he will say 6 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 1: she was one of the best in almost fifty years. 7 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 1: Ask David Hare, the writer and Robert Fox, the producer 8 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: of their place, Starlight, and they will talk about her 9 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: killer ambition for authenticity and excellence and her kindness to 10 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 1: everyone involved. To day, twenty four hours after being nominated 11 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: for an Academy Award for Best Actress in the movie Maestro, 12 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: she is here in the River Cafe kitchen cooking scallops 13 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:51,239 Speaker 1: and sage with River Cafe executive chef Shawn Owen. And 14 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: I know that when this morning is over and all 15 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: of you ask me about Carrie Mulligan, absolutely and for 16 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: sure the answer will be I love her so nice. 17 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: So kay you just we're cooking the recipe which I 18 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: would love you to read for scallops, and then we'll 19 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: talk about everything. 20 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:23,320 Speaker 2: Eight medium scallops olive oil, sea salt. 21 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: And freshly ground pepper. 22 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:28,639 Speaker 2: One tablespoon salted capers prepared, half a bunch of sage 23 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,480 Speaker 2: leave stalks removed, one lemon. Brush a frying pan with 24 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 2: a little oil and place over high heat. When smoking, 25 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 2: add the scallops. Season with a little salt and pepper 26 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:40,680 Speaker 2: and cook for two minutes on one side. Turn the 27 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 2: scallops over and immediately add the capers and sage leaves, 28 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 2: plus a little extra olive oil so the sage leaves fry. 29 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 2: Cook for a further two minutes, shaking the pan constantly, 30 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 2: Squeeze the juice of the lemon and serve. 31 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 3: Get the pan really hot. 32 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, put the scollops around the and see. 33 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 3: Them, and then let's check in a turning minute more. 34 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 3: I'm trying to think about a scolet and thinking about 35 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,519 Speaker 3: what's delicious about a scolp? 36 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:12,920 Speaker 1: Is it a texture as it because it's. 37 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 3: A very delicate sweetness. 38 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:18,639 Speaker 2: I think it's a sweetness because I'm funny with texture 39 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 2: some things. And yeah, I think it's the sweetness of something. Yeah, 40 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 2: and usually a pretty good thought, right, yes, exactly exactly. 41 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: How long is this? Then? I reckon two or three minutes? 42 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:34,800 Speaker 2: And then that's it. 43 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:35,359 Speaker 1: Yeah. 44 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, then sweeze a bit of lemon in now good 45 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 2: old generous amounts of olive oil, isn't there? 46 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 1: Yeah? I love that. Well, we're on pips of it here. Yeah, 47 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: but it's very good. 48 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, easy, easy. 49 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:56,520 Speaker 3: It's about getting the right amount of color on and 50 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 3: letting them sit. And then you know you can put 51 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 3: instead of lemon juice, you can put vinegar. Yeah, instead 52 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 3: of capers, you can put actuvies. Instead of saved you 53 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 3: can put that as all. 54 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 2: That's delicious, cool, Thank you. 55 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: So much so having cooked it? What was that like? Oh, 56 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: it's so well. 57 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 2: It's one of those things that I would have. I'd 58 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 2: love to do at home, but I feel like you 59 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 2: need to do it when people are already there because 60 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 2: you want to give it, you know, to people straight away. 61 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 2: I wouldn't have the confidence with that, but I think 62 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 2: I would have a good at now good. I think 63 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 2: it's about having really good scollops. And I always love 64 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 2: when you actually are in a kitchen you see how 65 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 2: much olive oil goes and everything A little bit of olive. 66 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: Oil, a lot of oil. Yeah, And so when you 67 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: say that you would like to do it for dinner, 68 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 1: for people coming to dinner. But then there is that separation, 69 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: isn't there where you're cooking and they're there. Do you 70 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 1: like to cook around people or do you like our 71 00:03:57,640 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: house we have. 72 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 2: It's like a farmhouse kitchen. So we have a big 73 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:05,640 Speaker 2: we don't have like a cooking isle or separate. It's 74 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:08,360 Speaker 2: sort of a one big room, sort of a big table. 75 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 2: It was an old chemistry lab table and that's in 76 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 2: the middle of the room. And then so everything kind 77 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 2: of you cook around My husband is more. He does 78 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:19,280 Speaker 2: it more than like he does all the big event 79 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 2: cooking like Christmases and you know, Sunday races and things 80 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 2: like that. I'll do if we've got you know, ten people, 81 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 2: I'll do like a big stew or a big. 82 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:30,480 Speaker 1: Castrole or something like that. 83 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 2: But he's he's good at knocking stuff up, like we 84 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 2: have barely anything in the fridge, and he can make 85 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 2: something out of that, whereas I need a very clear. 86 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 1: And yeah, you have cooked on stage? Was it? That's 87 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: just it? No, it was west End? What was it 88 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:49,920 Speaker 1: a first room west End? 89 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 2: It was first in the west End. 90 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,799 Speaker 1: Yeah, David was telling me this morning about cooking spaghetti 91 00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:59,919 Speaker 1: bollonnaise on stage. And he was saying that Stephen Dawdry 92 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,040 Speaker 1: being Stephen Daldry, insisted on having a chef come from 93 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: somewhere who was one of the great chefs to tell 94 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: me about cooking. Answer. Was it the first time you'd 95 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:16,359 Speaker 1: ever had to cook on stage? Yeah? Eating onstage? Really? 96 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, because I would I would cook it in the 97 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 2: first half and I would eat it in the second half. 98 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: What was it like? 99 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:26,279 Speaker 2: It was very basic, but there was a musicality to 100 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 2: the way. So much of it was cooking. It was 101 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 2: one thing, but also fitting it in because she's cooking 102 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:37,080 Speaker 2: in what turns into an enormous row, and so much 103 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,720 Speaker 2: of the physicality of the cooking was in the sort 104 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:45,680 Speaker 2: of smashing of garlic and chopping, and you know, so 105 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,840 Speaker 2: I had to be cooking but also furious, but also 106 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 2: controlled that I didn't cut my finger off whilest I 107 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:55,920 Speaker 2: was furious. So and there was a lot of kind 108 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 2: of comedy to you know, the way that Bill would 109 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 2: come over and sort of aunts and judge the way 110 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:03,560 Speaker 2: that it was being cooked. And you know, putting the 111 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 2: oil in first or not putting the oil in. That 112 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 2: was one of the little gags. But yeah, and the 113 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,560 Speaker 2: theater would fill with the smell of cooking, And so 114 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:14,279 Speaker 2: I used to say to anyone who was coming to 115 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 2: see it, particularly my dad, you have to eat before 116 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 2: you come, because if you come and you watch a 117 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 2: play that I mean, it's like for two and a 118 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 2: half three hours long, you know, and you're hungry, you're 119 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:26,600 Speaker 2: going to hate it, And that's so unfair of us. 120 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: Was it for real or was it mostly theater? Was 121 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:31,719 Speaker 1: it it was totally edible. 122 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 2: I mean, it probably wasn't great, but it was you know, 123 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:37,160 Speaker 2: I ate it and it was tasted fine to me. 124 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, I about eating on stage. 125 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:41,719 Speaker 2: When I did it in New York, I was pregnant, 126 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:44,600 Speaker 2: and I did go through a phase of feeling incredibly 127 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:46,560 Speaker 2: unwell and nothing was good to eat. 128 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:48,039 Speaker 1: So for a while it wasn't. 129 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 2: I was taking very small nibbles in the second half, 130 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 2: but no, generally I kind of loved it. 131 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:56,000 Speaker 1: And in film there are also scenes of you eating, yes, 132 00:06:56,040 --> 00:07:00,359 Speaker 1: and drive in the diner and not eating, and so 133 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: most recently in Maestrow, which I saw at the opening 134 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: night in your phenomenal great movie and very compelling. You know, 135 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 1: I grew up with the Bernstein's, you know, I didn't 136 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: know them, but I mean as as major figures in 137 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 1: our lives from not just West Side Story and his concerts, 138 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: but their their involvement in social politics, for which they 139 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: were hugely maligned, which was unfair by Tom Wolfe for 140 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: the radical chic because and especially your character Felicia was 141 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 1: really involved in the civil rights struggle in the Vietnam War. 142 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 1: And as a character, I thought that it wasn't so what, 143 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 1: it wasn't really that much in the film. But she 144 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:49,160 Speaker 1: was formidable. 145 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 2: She was, and it was at one point a whole 146 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 2: radical chic scene. Yeah. Yeah, but I think you know 147 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:01,240 Speaker 2: the thing, the script evolved David five years. But yeah, 148 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:02,960 Speaker 2: and she wasn't actually when I went to I went 149 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,280 Speaker 2: to Chile and I met her family there and they 150 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 2: talked about you know, she was active from a young age, 151 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 2: from when she was a teenager in Santiago. She waschet. 152 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:19,440 Speaker 1: I wonder whether he was then and Chile had that 153 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:20,880 Speaker 1: been before I think before. 154 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, But she was very but she was a real homemaker, 155 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 2: you know, she she didn't cook. I don't think I 156 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 2: think she had Julia Vega. She had people in her 157 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:37,200 Speaker 2: life that were but she everything was. They called her 158 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 2: the living the dining room, at the apartment of the Dakota, 159 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,439 Speaker 2: the French restaurant, because every time anyone came, it was 160 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 2: beautifully kind of table every tablescape was unbelievable, the flowers 161 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 2: that were brought in, and I think every kind of 162 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 2: environment where she was a host was very kind of 163 00:08:55,679 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 2: beautifully put on. And she talks about being responsible for 164 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:02,679 Speaker 2: the kitchen of life, and that everything was you know, 165 00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 2: it was ordering the best produced and ordering the best 166 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 2: flowers and ordering you know, that was a big part 167 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:12,199 Speaker 2: of her life, particularly in New York, also upstate, I think, 168 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:14,320 Speaker 2: but in New York that was a big part of 169 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:19,480 Speaker 2: her kind of she loved fostering this kind of beautiful environment. 170 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: What was the filming like, what was the experience of 171 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 1: doing that movie? 172 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:28,280 Speaker 2: It was amazing, I mean it was. It was the 173 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:30,680 Speaker 2: closest I think to a part that I had played. 174 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 2: I always sort of felt like I had played you know, 175 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 2: Nina and the Seagull and you know, Kira and Skylight 176 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,720 Speaker 2: and doing this monologue of girls and boys. I had 177 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:46,960 Speaker 2: these kind of kind of epic roles on stage, and 178 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 2: I felt when I read Felicia that she had that breadth. 179 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 2: So she had that kind of you know it felt 180 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 2: like a kind of Chekhov all. It felt like she's 181 00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:59,720 Speaker 2: got this huge journey and she starts and she actually 182 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 2: not dissimilar to Nina in some ways, because she does 183 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:07,760 Speaker 2: start as this actress with this burning ambition and as 184 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:14,320 Speaker 2: disillusioned and you know, driven to you know too well 185 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:17,679 Speaker 2: in my opinion, not madness, but driven to sort of 186 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 2: to a completely different place by the end of the 187 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 2: story and having. 188 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 1: Become a completely different person. 189 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 2: And I feel like Felicia really has that huge you know, 190 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,800 Speaker 2: she came to New York, you know, bright as a 191 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 2: button and full of hope and ambition, and you really 192 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:36,080 Speaker 2: do get a sense of her being worn down by 193 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:41,360 Speaker 2: her experience. So just the character on its own was amazing. 194 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:44,720 Speaker 2: The way that Bradley works is so unique and so 195 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:50,360 Speaker 2: and I loved completely different experience, nothing like I'd ever 196 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:53,480 Speaker 2: done before, completely, you know, and I think because he's 197 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:56,600 Speaker 2: in it as well. But you know, the most amazing 198 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:59,480 Speaker 2: set where you don't feel like you're in a film set, 199 00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 2: feel like you're walking on stage. 200 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: And that was right. Where where did we shot. 201 00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:10,600 Speaker 2: We shot in Tanglewood for the first week, which was amazing. 202 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 2: Then we shot in New York and then We were 203 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:17,680 Speaker 2: on a sound stage in Brooklyn for a minute, and 204 00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:19,920 Speaker 2: then we had a break and then we shot Ely 205 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 2: Cathedral and we shot in a sound stage in London 206 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:24,440 Speaker 2: as well. 207 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:29,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, and I in terms of again about eating, in 208 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: food and nourishment, this is a character who wastes away, 209 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: who starts disappearing, and the way you conveyed her fragility 210 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 1: and his emotions, dealing with you know, her husband's the effect, well, 211 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: dealing with the effect and the family. And so to 212 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: see this strong woman in the beginning that you played 213 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:54,920 Speaker 1: and then how was that for you when when having 214 00:11:55,000 --> 00:12:01,120 Speaker 1: to show someone dying a terrible disease is Yeah, it 215 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,080 Speaker 1: was I think, you know. 216 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:08,320 Speaker 2: We we shot her younger stuff right at the beginning 217 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:10,520 Speaker 2: of the shoot, and then we jumped straight to a 218 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,320 Speaker 2: scene after she's diagnosed with cancer. And it was the 219 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 2: first time I think I played anyone over a span 220 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 2: of so many years. So she was the first week 221 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:21,080 Speaker 2: it was sort of a younger wig in black and white, 222 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:25,560 Speaker 2: and then the following Monday I had prosthetics on and 223 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:27,359 Speaker 2: I think. 224 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:29,200 Speaker 1: I was surprised. 225 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:30,640 Speaker 2: Actually, I thought that there would be a lot more. 226 00:12:30,679 --> 00:12:32,760 Speaker 2: I'd have to like map it a lot more but 227 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:35,079 Speaker 2: it was interesting once I was in the prosthetics and 228 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 2: the costume of that point in her life. It's funny 229 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:41,280 Speaker 2: what it does looking at yourself in the mirror when 230 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:44,839 Speaker 2: you know, we did the makeup for when she's right 231 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 2: at the end of her life. Took about four and 232 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:50,960 Speaker 2: a half hours and was prosthetics and lots of painting 233 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 2: in and these incredible contact lenses that took out the 234 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:57,840 Speaker 2: sort of white around my eyes. And when I had 235 00:12:57,840 --> 00:12:59,080 Speaker 2: the head scarf on, and. 236 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 1: You know, you look in the mirror and you do 237 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:02,640 Speaker 1: feel different. 238 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:05,679 Speaker 2: It is an odd thing to look at Also, because 239 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:08,440 Speaker 2: we weren't trying to make her look I wasn't trying 240 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:10,959 Speaker 2: to look like Felicia, because Felicia isn't a well known 241 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,680 Speaker 2: face in the way that Bradley needed to look like Lenny. 242 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:15,560 Speaker 1: We I just looked like myself. 243 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:18,880 Speaker 2: And so, you know, I remember saying to Duncan, who 244 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:21,680 Speaker 2: was doing my prosthetics and Sean Gregg makeup artist, I said, 245 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 2: is this basically a time machine, like you know, without 246 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,560 Speaker 2: the illness before the illness? Is this essentially you know? 247 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 2: And I do look. 248 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:29,160 Speaker 1: Exactly like my mom. 249 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:32,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, in the palm court, you know, I look exactly 250 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,760 Speaker 2: how my mom does, and so it was it kind 251 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:39,240 Speaker 2: of interesting. Yeah, the whole thing was very interesting, But 252 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:41,600 Speaker 2: when it came to the six stuff, it was a 253 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 2: lot of it was based on Bradley's experience of his 254 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 2: father who had cancer and pastway accounts, so and I 255 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:51,160 Speaker 2: knew that, you know, some of the detail that had 256 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 2: been written in folding up the napkins was something that 257 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 2: Bradley's dad did, and lots of it was so lots 258 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:04,000 Speaker 2: of I've felt constantly aware of him. And then also 259 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:08,240 Speaker 2: when people would see me in the makeup, and I think, 260 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:10,320 Speaker 2: you know, if you've had anyone in your life who's 261 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 2: been through an illness that has affected them like that 262 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:18,400 Speaker 2: physically and visibly, you know. I remember an ad sort 263 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 2: of like bursting into tears because she just sort of 264 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 2: it reminded her too much of someone that she loved, 265 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:30,000 Speaker 2: and so I felt just really determined to not to 266 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:32,600 Speaker 2: get it right, but also that if there was something 267 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:35,600 Speaker 2: about the sort of general sense of everybody. By that point, 268 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:37,640 Speaker 2: we just had the most incredible crew. There was so amazing. 269 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:40,440 Speaker 2: It really felt like that it didn't when you walked 270 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 2: on set. It wasn't like this actor has this hard 271 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:45,040 Speaker 2: thing to do. It was like, oh, this person's not well. 272 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:48,480 Speaker 2: And that was an incredible kind of feeling. And that's 273 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 2: how the set felt that whole week when we showed 274 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:52,480 Speaker 2: you No, who didn't it? 275 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:53,760 Speaker 1: What was that like? 276 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:56,400 Speaker 2: I mean I ate at home and I ate, but 277 00:14:56,560 --> 00:15:01,600 Speaker 2: when I was at work now, I just yeah, because 278 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:04,080 Speaker 2: there was you know, and I remember the physical the 279 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:06,920 Speaker 2: way that she remember Mot Bridges, our costume designer, brought 280 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:10,120 Speaker 2: this little shawl that goes over her shoulders when she's 281 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:12,840 Speaker 2: receiving visitors, and it's so it was my grandmother. My my 282 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:16,680 Speaker 2: grandmother had dementia. She didn't but she did lose lots 283 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:19,280 Speaker 2: of weight and she did get you know, as she 284 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 2: was unable to feed herself, you know, she it was 285 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:24,680 Speaker 2: you know, it was constantly trying to get her to 286 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 2: intake nutrition. But I remember the way her shoulders kind 287 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 2: of came forward and it was so highlighted by this 288 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:36,760 Speaker 2: this shawl that was over her. And so when he 289 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 2: brought that shawl, that sense of fragility and it was 290 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,200 Speaker 2: just so it just I felt it, you know, just 291 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:46,320 Speaker 2: it was so kind of eerie. How you know that 292 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 2: physicality is just so familiar. 293 00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:59,600 Speaker 1: Did you know the river cafe has a sharp It's 294 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: full of our favorite foods and designs. We have cookbooks 295 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: and then in napkins kitchen ware, toad bags with our signatures, 296 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: glasses from Venice, chocolates from Turin. You can find us 297 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 1: right next door to the River Cafe in London or 298 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:24,960 Speaker 1: online at shop the River Cafe dot co UK. Growing up, 299 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 1: you grew up in a hotel, is that right? For 300 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: the first we grew up in Yeah, we lived in hotels. 301 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:33,440 Speaker 2: I was almost eight. My father was a hotel manager 302 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 2: for Intercontinental for my whole childhood until I was sort 303 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 2: of eighteen, so I was born. I think we were 304 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 2: at the. 305 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 1: Brittannia when I was born. 306 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:47,760 Speaker 2: My dad was running the Brittannia hotel, and then in London, Yeah, 307 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:53,680 Speaker 2: and then the Yeah yeah, yeah so there and then 308 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:57,160 Speaker 2: the Mayfair. And then we moved to Germany to Hanover 309 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,240 Speaker 2: and Dusseldorf and he ran hotels there, and then we 310 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 2: moved back to London. He ran I can't remember in 311 00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:04,920 Speaker 2: the hotel he then he was at the Churchill in 312 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:06,880 Speaker 2: Portman Square, so he moved around those and he also 313 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 2: ran hotels in Vienna and Frankfurt. 314 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:11,959 Speaker 1: Yeah did you but you actually lived in the hotel. 315 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:13,720 Speaker 2: We lived in the hotel till I was eight. 316 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:15,560 Speaker 1: When you were a bit like Elowise. Do you remember 317 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: that book Allowas? Did you even know that growing up 318 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,440 Speaker 1: in the plaza? Would you run around the hotels? 319 00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:20,920 Speaker 2: Yeah? 320 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:23,520 Speaker 1: Fine, what was that like living in a hotel? 321 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:25,399 Speaker 2: It was amazing. I mean it was you know, it's 322 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:27,280 Speaker 2: kind of all we knew. But I look back and 323 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:29,200 Speaker 2: I think, oh wow, that was kind of an extraordinary 324 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:33,080 Speaker 2: way to grow up. And my brother and I were 325 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:37,280 Speaker 2: certainly you know, we would sort of roll around with 326 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 2: the the maids, you know, going into people's rooms after 327 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:44,680 Speaker 2: they checked out, and sort of you know, I remember 328 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:49,520 Speaker 2: sort of sitting in the basket with all the sheets, 329 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:52,320 Speaker 2: you know, with my hands holding on, rolling around the 330 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:55,040 Speaker 2: corridor and you know, sitting on with my whole body 331 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 2: wrapped around a hoover, you know, going up and down 332 00:17:57,840 --> 00:17:58,480 Speaker 2: the hallways. 333 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:00,520 Speaker 1: We were ordering room service. 334 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,160 Speaker 2: Did we had It was like that, you know, they'll 335 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 2: have a they'll have a little I mean in the 336 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 2: place at the hotels that we lived in the sort 337 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:10,800 Speaker 2: of an apartment in the top floor for the manager. 338 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,600 Speaker 2: So we lived in a Yeah, Mum talks about I mean, 339 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,080 Speaker 2: we had our own little mini kitchen and stuff, but 340 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:19,439 Speaker 2: it was more. Yeah, we didn't do room service, but 341 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,359 Speaker 2: we did have our linen changed. I'm pretty sure someone 342 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 2: always says that was a massive bonus and. 343 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:26,880 Speaker 1: Has been living at the arm the job and being 344 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: the manager and living there. Yeah, I mean great for 345 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:33,840 Speaker 1: the hotel to have the manager there. Yeah. Are you 346 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:34,920 Speaker 1: one of many? Are you? 347 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:36,040 Speaker 2: No? Just me and my brother? 348 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:36,640 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. 349 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 2: But we were bilingual because we moved to Germany when 350 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:41,080 Speaker 2: I was three, and we went to you know, we 351 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,600 Speaker 2: learned German. We went to I went to a German kindergarten, 352 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 2: Rudolph Stein in kindergarten. 353 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 1: And then I went to school in Hanover. 354 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:51,240 Speaker 2: We were with a lot of X you know, with 355 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:53,679 Speaker 2: military kids, and and then we were in distledor for 356 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:56,640 Speaker 2: in international school, and then we moved home. So we 357 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,680 Speaker 2: were there. We was the only thing I remember about 358 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:01,879 Speaker 2: the kitchen because we were, you know, nowhere near the kitchen. 359 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,560 Speaker 2: That was not And I was saying earlier, my dad, 360 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:08,680 Speaker 2: you know, I think briefly worked in kitchens on his way. 361 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:11,480 Speaker 2: He worked his way up from kind of collecting glasses 362 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:16,520 Speaker 2: in a restaurant to being the manager. Yeah, and he 363 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,680 Speaker 2: so whenever he cooks. Generally I exit the building because 364 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:24,880 Speaker 2: it's just not what is it like, he just likes 365 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:30,080 Speaker 2: things ordered and the way that they and you know, 366 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 2: for us to sort of come in and sort of 367 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 2: casually start munching on something, his heart was not not 368 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:35,360 Speaker 2: part of it. 369 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:37,800 Speaker 1: So that, yeah, it's but my. 370 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:41,040 Speaker 2: Memory of one of my birthday parties when I was 371 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:46,919 Speaker 2: little was at the hotel in Disseldorf, and you know, 372 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:51,080 Speaker 2: the pastry chef made a bunch of dough. We were 373 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:53,760 Speaker 2: all making little dollies out of dough, and then they 374 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:55,960 Speaker 2: took them off and cooked them in the kitchen and 375 00:19:55,960 --> 00:20:00,199 Speaker 2: brought them back. And the birthday cakes, you know, when 376 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:02,280 Speaker 2: we lived in hotels were always you know, those very 377 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 2: elaborate kind of I feel like they always had liquor 378 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:05,080 Speaker 2: in them. 379 00:20:05,119 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 1: They always had like. 380 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:11,200 Speaker 2: A bit of booze. It like properly kiddie birthday cakes, 381 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,119 Speaker 2: and they had like very beautiful writing in icing and 382 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,199 Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff. There was always such a 383 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:18,960 Speaker 2: sense of occasion in hotels. It's always like there's a 384 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:21,879 Speaker 2: big display for Christmas or there's a big you know, 385 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:23,680 Speaker 2: it was like there was always this sort of sense 386 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:28,119 Speaker 2: of there's a sort of event happening. But I always felt, 387 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:32,199 Speaker 2: really I like being nomadic. I don't mind, you know, 388 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 2: I like being in hotel tells I'm not someone who 389 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:36,920 Speaker 2: I don't need to bring. You know, some people sort 390 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:39,160 Speaker 2: of need to bring stuff with them to make wherever 391 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:40,240 Speaker 2: they are feel like home. 392 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:41,400 Speaker 1: Carries with her. 393 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:44,359 Speaker 2: Do you know the only time I ate lunch here 394 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:45,480 Speaker 2: was with Tracy. 395 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: Tracy she described, you know that she I think she's 396 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,200 Speaker 1: ever ordered room service. She would always, you know, I'd 397 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,159 Speaker 1: go out and find something and take her food on 398 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:57,760 Speaker 1: the plane or take an object. And as you say, 399 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:01,359 Speaker 1: I love hotels so much that I actually don't like 400 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:04,040 Speaker 1: when I'm upgraded to a suite because it reminds me 401 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:06,639 Speaker 1: too much of home. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I like the 402 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:10,159 Speaker 1: confines of a hotel whom you can find everything. You know, 403 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,359 Speaker 1: where your book is, you know where everything is. I 404 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:14,359 Speaker 1: always thought that maybe I'd be one of those women 405 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:17,399 Speaker 1: who age, you know, Richard be in a state at 406 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:19,840 Speaker 1: Clarages for the rest of, you know, of our days. 407 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,320 Speaker 1: I had said to him, if we saw our house, 408 00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:24,359 Speaker 1: how many nights do you think we'd get in claritges. 409 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:28,800 Speaker 1: He's like probably six. And do you think there was 410 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:30,840 Speaker 1: a performance that you had to behave in a certain 411 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: way with strangers. 412 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:34,359 Speaker 2: I think so, yeah, yeah, we had you know, we 413 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:37,680 Speaker 2: met people who were staying at the hotel sometimes and 414 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:40,399 Speaker 2: there was a real kind of day. It felt like 415 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:42,440 Speaker 2: being a bit of a like a diplomat's stater or something. 416 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 2: You know, someone would come and stay at the hotel 417 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 2: and you would greet them. 418 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:48,760 Speaker 1: You know, did that prepare you, do you think for 419 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:53,399 Speaker 1: acting in a certain way? I think yeah, perhaps. 420 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:57,639 Speaker 2: I think also moving around constantly, kind of being the 421 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:01,440 Speaker 2: new kid and meetings. The time I was eight, we 422 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:03,480 Speaker 2: had moved. You know, I'd been at a I think 423 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:09,320 Speaker 2: three places in Germany, three four schools, no three so 424 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:12,960 Speaker 2: nursery and then two schools and then home to a 425 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:15,840 Speaker 2: convent school in Buckinghamshire. And then when I was eleven 426 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:17,600 Speaker 2: I moved again, and then when I was thirteen I 427 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:19,639 Speaker 2: moved again. So we were so I think I was 428 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,119 Speaker 2: always kind of used to being new and having to 429 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,240 Speaker 2: introduce myself adapt to people, and you know that sort 430 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:26,439 Speaker 2: of thing. 431 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:28,439 Speaker 1: What was Cherman food like, do you have a memory 432 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:29,560 Speaker 1: of it or did you? 433 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:34,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, lots of quite meat meat based food. I mean 434 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,800 Speaker 2: we you know, we were amongst kind of lots of 435 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:42,879 Speaker 2: Brits as well, so but we spent we were amazingly lucky. 436 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,879 Speaker 2: We got to go skiing in Austria in our holidays 437 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,120 Speaker 2: and things, we you know, spent lots of We had 438 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:53,280 Speaker 2: lots of casia, keaza, spetzel and you know venus nitzel 439 00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:58,199 Speaker 2: and delicious like warm, brothy things to be able to 440 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:02,560 Speaker 2: warm up. But yeah, I think we you know, because 441 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:04,760 Speaker 2: it was also an international hotel. It was you know, 442 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:07,320 Speaker 2: it wasn't we were if I was eating stuff from 443 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 2: it wasn't necessarily German cuisine or anything. 444 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:13,280 Speaker 1: I usually asked people about their families and growing up, 445 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,480 Speaker 1: and restaurants were restaurants, But in your case, I often 446 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,919 Speaker 1: asked if restaurants were a special occasion, which was the tooth. 447 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 1: In my family, we went out to restaurants for somebody's 448 00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:27,159 Speaker 1: birthday and somebody's anniversary or something great had happened and 449 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:32,160 Speaker 1: you'd celebrate a restaurant. Here we see people just coming 450 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,200 Speaker 1: out for dinner with their kids all the time, and 451 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:37,040 Speaker 1: maybe it was just more for you, that was that 452 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 1: something that. 453 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:38,360 Speaker 4: Was just. 454 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 2: I suppose that I don't really remember going to restaurants 455 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:46,919 Speaker 2: at all. I don't remember going to nice you know, 456 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:50,480 Speaker 2: white tablecloth restaurants. Ever, with my we would go to 457 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 2: there was a pizza place in Duszledorf that we would 458 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:55,240 Speaker 2: go to, but like really a hole on the wall 459 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:56,879 Speaker 2: kind of pizza place, and that was sort of a 460 00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:59,880 Speaker 2: treat that we would go there. I don't think we 461 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:03,720 Speaker 2: went to I remember what for the Millennium my dad 462 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,240 Speaker 2: was running the Intercontinental in Vienna and there was a 463 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:10,080 Speaker 2: big Millennium meal there and I was fourteen and fourteen 464 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,960 Speaker 2: fifteen I think, yeah, fourteen, and my best friend came 465 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:18,920 Speaker 2: with me and we bought dresses, you know, for millennium 466 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:22,000 Speaker 2: and we sat and it was a proper white tablecloth, 467 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:26,399 Speaker 2: seven course meal thing, and that was very That was 468 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,760 Speaker 2: a big, big deal. So I don't think we did necessarily. 469 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,199 Speaker 2: Although when I was when we moved home and we 470 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,520 Speaker 2: were living in you know, Buckinghamshire, we used to go 471 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:38,240 Speaker 2: if there was anything to celebrate, we'd go to Mister 472 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:41,160 Speaker 2: Poone's the Chinese restaurant and go and have big Chinese 473 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:43,240 Speaker 2: and we did that kind of for years. 474 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:45,880 Speaker 1: Your parents cook for you, yeah. 475 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:48,480 Speaker 2: I mean Mum's always you know, she couldn't turn her 476 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 2: hand to anything. She was never a sort of passionate cook, 477 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:52,800 Speaker 2: I think because Dad was the cook. So if there 478 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 2: was meals that were cooked, it would be Dad, you know. 479 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:01,360 Speaker 2: And Mum, my grandmother was a was a wonderful Yeah. 480 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:02,679 Speaker 2: I loved baking. Yeah. 481 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 1: So where did she live? 482 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,639 Speaker 2: So she was my mother's Welsh So she was in Carmarthenshire. 483 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:13,320 Speaker 2: So and every time I went to her for any 484 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:15,640 Speaker 2: kind of length of time, we were just bake and bacon, bake. 485 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:17,640 Speaker 1: Oh well everything. 486 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:20,240 Speaker 2: Welsh cakes, famously delicious Welsh cakes. 487 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,239 Speaker 1: Welsh cakes, that's don't tell Sean, I asked you this 488 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 1: because I've lived in this country for. 489 00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 2: Well if you weren't it. But they're like their little 490 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,720 Speaker 2: mini sort of flat cake with raisins in and like 491 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:36,800 Speaker 2: a scone. Yeah, like a sort of flatter scone. But 492 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 2: she'd make amazing Welsh cakes. A cherry almond cake, a 493 00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:43,359 Speaker 2: delicious cherry almond cake that just got better the longer 494 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:44,840 Speaker 2: you left it in the tin. You know. 495 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:48,160 Speaker 1: It was that kind of thing. I know that you're 496 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,399 Speaker 1: you're from going from school. You knew that acting was 497 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: going to be an essential part of your life. Yeah, 498 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,880 Speaker 1: can you tell me how that happened? It was all 499 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,080 Speaker 1: I wanted to do. From a young age, but I 500 00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:07,560 Speaker 1: didn't think of it really as a career until I 501 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:12,720 Speaker 1: was probably twelve. You know, maybe I wanted to do 502 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:15,960 Speaker 1: musical theater. That was the big you know. That's my 503 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:18,200 Speaker 1: mum and I went to go and see every musical. 504 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:21,399 Speaker 1: Every time we could go into London, we'd go and 505 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:23,359 Speaker 1: see musical. We went to New York together, just the 506 00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:26,680 Speaker 1: two of us, and went saw did you Cabaret? Was 507 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:30,320 Speaker 1: the original? There's some Mendes Studio fifty four. We saw that. 508 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:33,040 Speaker 2: I told this to him the other day, but I 509 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,280 Speaker 2: saw Kevin Bacon in a one man show at the 510 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,399 Speaker 2: Walterkerr Theater. I forget the name of it. But I 511 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,359 Speaker 2: then later years later went and did The Seagull at 512 00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:43,320 Speaker 2: the Walter curR and it was a really crazy kind 513 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:45,720 Speaker 2: of full circle thing. So I was I was sort 514 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:48,800 Speaker 2: of wanted to do musical theater. Then was slowly sort 515 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:52,560 Speaker 2: of realizing that that was quite a big job in 516 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:56,200 Speaker 2: terms of dance and song. And I wasn't a dancer, 517 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,320 Speaker 2: and I kind of was a choir singer, but not 518 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:04,240 Speaker 2: a singer singer. Was not enormously interested in film so much. 519 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 2: I mean I loved movies. I loved you know, my 520 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:12,320 Speaker 2: favorite all of my favorite films like Indiana Jones, Last Crusade, 521 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:16,160 Speaker 2: and you know, I liked sort of Spielberg like proper movies. 522 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 2: And then I slowly realized that it was more kind 523 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:23,959 Speaker 2: of theater that I was probably just straight theater just 524 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 2: in place. So it was when I was at I 525 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:31,120 Speaker 2: auditioned for a bunch of drama schools basically and didn't 526 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:33,040 Speaker 2: get into any of them. But that was my first 527 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,280 Speaker 2: sort of big, sort of attempt to do to kind 528 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:39,200 Speaker 2: of make it a job, which didn't get very well. 529 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:42,560 Speaker 2: But then I found another kind of way in luckily 530 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:44,480 Speaker 2: actually right around the cord from me here, to go 531 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,840 Speaker 2: to Riverside Studios to do Young Blood Theater Workshop, which 532 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:50,520 Speaker 2: was an amazing I don't know if it still happens, 533 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:54,040 Speaker 2: but it was an incredible experience. It was once a week, 534 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 2: I did it for months, where you would come together 535 00:27:57,119 --> 00:27:59,200 Speaker 2: with a bunch of other actors of a similar age. 536 00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 2: But I'd ever acted really with boys before, you know, 537 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,359 Speaker 2: because I've been in an all girls school and for 538 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:07,879 Speaker 2: people from all different walks of life. And it was 539 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,480 Speaker 2: a lot of improvisation, a lot of just you would 540 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:13,440 Speaker 2: just be sitting all in the circle on the floor 541 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:14,520 Speaker 2: and then you would suddenly have to be in the 542 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 2: middle of the room doing a scene about something and 543 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:19,360 Speaker 2: it was just a real I loved it and made 544 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:21,399 Speaker 2: really good friends and we did I think one or 545 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:25,199 Speaker 2: two little productions there, and then an audition for a 546 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,439 Speaker 2: new version of Pride and Prejudice and that was my 547 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:28,120 Speaker 2: first job. 548 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:30,439 Speaker 1: So that so I knew we were working in pubs. Did 549 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:32,600 Speaker 1: you did you have to have a job that wasn't. 550 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, I left school and that was you know, I 551 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:37,359 Speaker 2: had not gone to rom school, so I was taking 552 00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 2: a gap year and it was in that year that 553 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 2: I worked in the pubs. 554 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:40,000 Speaker 1: Yeah. 555 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, I remember the food and it was like proper 556 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:43,800 Speaker 2: just pubs. 557 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:44,280 Speaker 4: Yeah. 558 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 2: I mean I worked on a barge, like a restaurant 559 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:50,600 Speaker 2: sort of barge in Marlowe, but I was serving, I 560 00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:55,320 Speaker 2: was never making. And then I worked in two pubs 561 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:57,440 Speaker 2: at the same time, just picking up shifts in the 562 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 2: in whichever one. But I'd liked I liked the sort 563 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:04,520 Speaker 2: of kind of energy of it. I think I also 564 00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:09,200 Speaker 2: quite like being in charge of giving people drinks. That 565 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:11,520 Speaker 2: I was behind this bar and I was eighteen, I 566 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:15,400 Speaker 2: probably looked about fifteen, and yet I was sort of 567 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,120 Speaker 2: pulling pints for you know, big burly men, and it 568 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:20,880 Speaker 2: felt kind of like quite a powerful position to be 569 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:22,560 Speaker 2: And yeah, yeah. 570 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a performance, isn't it an acting and cooking? 571 00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:28,200 Speaker 1: You know? I think the reason I always say that 572 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:32,080 Speaker 1: a lot of actors like to work, of course it 573 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:34,440 Speaker 1: suits them, you know, to work part time in a 574 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,640 Speaker 1: restaurant if they're trying to pursue their career, is that 575 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:40,920 Speaker 1: there is a lot of drama in a restaurant. Yeah, 576 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,960 Speaker 1: and the energy. Do you remember what you ate in 577 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,760 Speaker 1: those years? When I talked to Emily Blunt, it was, 578 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,600 Speaker 1: you know, hamburger after hamburger after hamburger, and eating and 579 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:54,920 Speaker 1: eating and eating. She ate, so she would describe, even 580 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: when she had small parts, that she would have two 581 00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:01,000 Speaker 1: hamburgers before going on stage. Ye wouldn't be in school. 582 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 1: But do you remember when you were away from or 583 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:04,920 Speaker 1: did you live with your parents when. 584 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 2: You were I didn't. I'm pride and prejudice. I moved 585 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 2: out for that job, and I do remember that we 586 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 2: were all in corsets, and I remember for the first 587 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:15,680 Speaker 2: and it was a very lovely production. It actually set 588 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:18,280 Speaker 2: me up for disappointment future productions because it was so 589 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:21,040 Speaker 2: we stayed in such nice hotels and the catering were 590 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:24,920 Speaker 2: so lovely, and I remember for the first month or 591 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:30,360 Speaker 2: so we had like really delicious like snacks, but you know, 592 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 2: yummy cakes and biscuits and like delicious granolla y things 593 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:36,440 Speaker 2: that we could nibble on. And after a while they 594 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:39,000 Speaker 2: had to take out our costumes because we'd all and 595 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:40,760 Speaker 2: our courses had to get sort of loosen to because 596 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:42,160 Speaker 2: we'd all've. 597 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:42,680 Speaker 1: Been having a lovely time. 598 00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:45,840 Speaker 2: And then I moved into a flat with two boys 599 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:48,600 Speaker 2: in Highgate and I think I ate you know, literally 600 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:52,640 Speaker 2: pot noodles. Whilst I did theater. I also got into 601 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:56,440 Speaker 2: a habit of having to have a double espresso before 602 00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:59,400 Speaker 2: I did a show. I didn't eat really before the 603 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:01,479 Speaker 2: play I did. I did a play at the Royal 604 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:04,760 Speaker 2: Court straight after which it was called forty Winks. It 605 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:07,000 Speaker 2: was a Kevin Elliott play. It was a real shock 606 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 2: for me because it went, you know, it was briden Bridges, 607 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,080 Speaker 2: was a summer of you know, real kind of sort 608 00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 2: of basically massive party and the best time and I 609 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:18,040 Speaker 2: and I and I was delighted. It was Royal Court 610 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:21,000 Speaker 2: is my favorite theater in the world, hands down. Ten 611 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:25,640 Speaker 2: million times. But I was playing a narcolepts, a girl 612 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,840 Speaker 2: with narcolepsy who also might have been a victim of rape. 613 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 1: I mean it was. 614 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:33,840 Speaker 2: It was really kind of harrowing and and in a 615 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:39,120 Speaker 2: very kind of surrounded by real heavy weight, incredible actors, 616 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:41,480 Speaker 2: and I suddenly thought, oh my gosh, this is not 617 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:43,840 Speaker 2: what I don't know how to do this at all, 618 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:47,640 Speaker 2: but it was. I was in real kind of just yeah, 619 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:48,880 Speaker 2: just theater. 620 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:53,160 Speaker 1: Have an espresso. The espresso started then before yeah, before 621 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:53,600 Speaker 1: the place. 622 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:53,960 Speaker 4: Yeah. 623 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 2: And I did that for years through theater until probably 624 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,840 Speaker 2: until I did Girls and Boys, and I stopped. 625 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:02,120 Speaker 1: Well to talk about because that the Royal Court is 626 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 1: actually our local theater hand car as we live further 627 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:07,880 Speaker 1: down the keys. What makes you love a theater? 628 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 2: I mean, I think that was my first theater, so 629 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,880 Speaker 2: that was special. Then I went back there and did 630 00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:21,160 Speaker 2: The Seagull when I was twenty one Christopher Hampton Ian Rickson, 631 00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:26,560 Speaker 2: and and that was just completely I just that that role, 632 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:30,920 Speaker 2: everything about it, I just and I feel like I 633 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:33,480 Speaker 2: kind of I don't know, there was something about the 634 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:40,520 Speaker 2: pre show thing. I would go underneath the I'd go 635 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:42,000 Speaker 2: down all the way down to the bottom of the 636 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:43,920 Speaker 2: stairs all the way back up again. I'd run around 637 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 2: like a mad woman before so because when Nina comes on, 638 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:48,040 Speaker 2: she's really out of breath, and I wanted to be 639 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:50,880 Speaker 2: genuinely out of breath. So I would run around, and 640 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:52,720 Speaker 2: then I would sort of burst onto stage at the 641 00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:57,160 Speaker 2: last minute. And the smell of it, I don't know, 642 00:32:57,200 --> 00:32:58,960 Speaker 2: there was just so much about that theater. Every time 643 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:00,720 Speaker 2: I step in there, I just feel, oh, I just 644 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:01,760 Speaker 2: love it it. 645 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, And so you would have your espresso before the play, 646 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,239 Speaker 1: and then and then afterwards, would you do that thing 647 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,120 Speaker 1: of going out to dinner with a bunch of friends, 648 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:12,720 Speaker 1: people who had seen the play. 649 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:15,200 Speaker 2: And sometimes I mean, Mason, what I also love about 650 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:17,880 Speaker 2: the Royal Court is the downstairs. I'd always just go 651 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:22,000 Speaker 2: down there afterwards and we all would you know. I 652 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:25,200 Speaker 2: don't remember eating. I remember I remember eating corner sans 653 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:27,520 Speaker 2: a little corners and a glass of red wine and corn, 654 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 2: you know, just loads of little corner shechans back then. 655 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:36,440 Speaker 2: But I don't remember going out for food much. I 656 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:39,520 Speaker 2: just sort of think I'd probably just go home and 657 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:41,400 Speaker 2: eat whata bits or something at the end of the night. 658 00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:45,480 Speaker 1: You know, there's money an issue, Yeah, at that time. 659 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, it was, you know, it's it was the minimum 660 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,320 Speaker 2: wage theater, so it was. And I was spending money 661 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:54,560 Speaker 2: on living in a highgate living and you know, paying 662 00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:58,400 Speaker 2: rent up there, so it wasn't Yeah it was. 663 00:33:58,800 --> 00:33:59,120 Speaker 1: I was. 664 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:01,120 Speaker 2: I ate quite a lot of cereal. 665 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:04,440 Speaker 1: Do you remember when food became a kind of measure 666 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:07,160 Speaker 1: of your success that you could say, I can afford 667 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 1: to eat well now because I'm I'm earning more money. Yeah. 668 00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:12,960 Speaker 2: I think I got really into sushi when I lived 669 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:13,480 Speaker 2: in New York. 670 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:17,879 Speaker 1: I was living in New York. 671 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:21,120 Speaker 2: Probably what was I doing. I was doing theater there, 672 00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 2: but I was also doing a bit of film. I 673 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:28,880 Speaker 2: did the film Steph McQueen called Shame and and I 674 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:31,640 Speaker 2: remember I remember. 675 00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:32,399 Speaker 1: Sitting down with. 676 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:37,960 Speaker 2: You know, my with a financial advisor sort of figuring 677 00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:40,439 Speaker 2: out working in America and working. And he looked at 678 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:43,000 Speaker 2: my bank's name as he said, oh, you seem to 679 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,960 Speaker 2: have spent lots of money on rent and sushi. 680 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:48,759 Speaker 1: I was like, that was pretty good. That's what we did. 681 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:51,640 Speaker 1: We lived in Paris. It was the same thing those days. 682 00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:52,920 Speaker 1: You had check books, and we used to look at 683 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,360 Speaker 1: our checkbook at the end of the mother stubs and 684 00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:58,839 Speaker 1: basically it was all restaurants. When we weren't working, we 685 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:02,080 Speaker 1: were just eating out, exploring, because you do learn about 686 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:04,200 Speaker 1: a culture through the food. 687 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:04,799 Speaker 2: Don't you. 688 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:12,200 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. If you like listening to Ruthie's Table for 689 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:16,440 Speaker 1: would you please make sure to rate and review the 690 00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:21,880 Speaker 1: podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever 691 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:30,959 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Thank you for a moment. I'd 692 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:35,000 Speaker 1: like to talk about war child, and I think that 693 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:38,080 Speaker 1: we see the effects of war, and we're seeing it 694 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:41,040 Speaker 1: right now, aren't we We're seeing it every day. And 695 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:45,000 Speaker 1: I was wondering what you feel about how that, how 696 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:49,800 Speaker 1: warchild affected your your views of children in poverty, children 697 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:52,719 Speaker 1: in danger, and food insecurity. 698 00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:56,680 Speaker 2: So I was doing Skylight and I was I would 699 00:35:57,200 --> 00:35:59,120 Speaker 2: I had this sort of you know, I have a 700 00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:04,799 Speaker 2: little routine that I largely stick to, is I go 701 00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:09,440 Speaker 2: into a theater at sort of five, eat, then have 702 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:12,600 Speaker 2: a nap for twenty minutes twenty five minutes poundnap, and 703 00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:14,360 Speaker 2: then I wake up and I have my coffee and 704 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:15,320 Speaker 2: I get. 705 00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:15,879 Speaker 1: Ready for the show. 706 00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:18,200 Speaker 2: But I would listen to the six o'clock news every night, 707 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:25,880 Speaker 2: and that summer of two thousand and fourteen was was 708 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:29,080 Speaker 2: terrible for children in conflict, and that a lot of 709 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:30,480 Speaker 2: the news was about what's happened. 710 00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:32,839 Speaker 1: In twenty fourteen, it. 711 00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:36,480 Speaker 2: Was when the U D's were escaping Isis, and there 712 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:40,160 Speaker 2: were there was a lot of coverage and lots of 713 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:42,520 Speaker 2: images on the news. I remember seeing on the news 714 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:44,960 Speaker 2: as well, all the u ZD refugees were on Sinjo 715 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:48,400 Speaker 2: Mountain and they were being evacuated, and I remember seeing 716 00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:51,840 Speaker 2: images of you know, mums and dads with their babies 717 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:55,319 Speaker 2: flinging them into the helicopter to try and get, you know, 718 00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:59,160 Speaker 2: someone to take the baby. And I didn't have kids then, 719 00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:02,520 Speaker 2: but I but I remember thinking, I cannot imagine what 720 00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:05,719 Speaker 2: it takes for you to think in this moment, I'm 721 00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:09,200 Speaker 2: just going to hurl my baby into someone as strange as. 722 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:11,240 Speaker 1: You know, and hope that they are even caught. 723 00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:15,840 Speaker 2: And what must that take to be in that And 724 00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:18,799 Speaker 2: I was just thinking about a lot, as everyone was. 725 00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:24,080 Speaker 2: And my brother had been in Afghanistan and he had 726 00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:28,319 Speaker 2: encountered this girl's school that had been shut down by 727 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:31,239 Speaker 2: the Taliban and he'd raised on his own lots of 728 00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:34,640 Speaker 2: money to help this school reopen so the girls could 729 00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:37,120 Speaker 2: get back to school. And he had written to a 730 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:39,880 Speaker 2: bunch of different endos asking for help kind of facilitating this, 731 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:42,680 Speaker 2: and War Child were the only ones that had written 732 00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:44,480 Speaker 2: back and made it very easy and so we'll take 733 00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:46,319 Speaker 2: and we don't need a commission, and we'll just we'd 734 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:48,359 Speaker 2: love to do this and help. And so he had 735 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:50,839 Speaker 2: come back from Afghanistan saying, like, this charity is really 736 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:55,279 Speaker 2: interesting and really cool. So I went to the Democratic 737 00:37:55,320 --> 00:38:00,160 Speaker 2: Republic of Congo that October and we went around and 738 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:02,120 Speaker 2: saw the projects that they were doing, met the children 739 00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:04,600 Speaker 2: they worked with, and at the end of that week, 740 00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:07,680 Speaker 2: I said, I'd really love to kind of focus on this, 741 00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:10,440 Speaker 2: and so they asked me to be an ambassador. I 742 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:13,839 Speaker 2: went to the Ukraine with them in two thousand and 743 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:16,720 Speaker 2: twenty two at the end of that year. 744 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:21,040 Speaker 1: Did you feel that children were Yeah, we're hungry. 745 00:38:21,320 --> 00:38:24,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's so different in country to countries. 746 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:26,840 Speaker 2: So in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the thing that 747 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:30,520 Speaker 2: I noticed was how I mean one of the camps 748 00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:35,480 Speaker 2: that we went to was an IDP camp internally displaced people, 749 00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:38,000 Speaker 2: and they were I mean, it was one of the 750 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:40,920 Speaker 2: worst places I've ever It was a really, really awful, 751 00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:43,960 Speaker 2: awful camp and two children there the week that we 752 00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:48,640 Speaker 2: visited had died of malnutrition of you know, had starved 753 00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:53,920 Speaker 2: to death. Basically, it's definitely a huge issue in some 754 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:56,319 Speaker 2: countries and some you know, I remember we were in 755 00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:59,800 Speaker 2: when we were in Budapest, we met some Roma refugee 756 00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:03,440 Speaker 2: toi ildren who were living in a in a homeless shelter. 757 00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:06,520 Speaker 2: They had fled the Ukraine. Their homes had been destroyed 758 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:08,640 Speaker 2: and they were now living in this sort of homeless 759 00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:11,960 Speaker 2: shelter in Budapest. And there it was you know, they 760 00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:14,440 Speaker 2: were having food provided, but it was food that they 761 00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:17,240 Speaker 2: had no connection to. They had no so the children 762 00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:20,120 Speaker 2: wouldn't eat. You know that you can't make a child 763 00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:22,520 Speaker 2: eat something they've grown up their entire life having the 764 00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:25,120 Speaker 2: And these women who were in the shelter, they said, 765 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:27,480 Speaker 2: all we want is a kitchen. We just want to 766 00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:30,239 Speaker 2: be able to make food. And their little three year 767 00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:33,560 Speaker 2: olds are just rejecting because they're just first of all traumatized, 768 00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:36,319 Speaker 2: but secondly they've got no So there was there was 769 00:39:36,640 --> 00:39:40,399 Speaker 2: food available, but it was packaged bought in kind of 770 00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:43,000 Speaker 2: you know, for them to be able to make food 771 00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:46,600 Speaker 2: that was familiar and comfortable and inexpensive, but something that 772 00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:48,520 Speaker 2: just for them to be able to provide their own 773 00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:51,080 Speaker 2: and also for these women who are also suffering for 774 00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:54,680 Speaker 2: their own trauma, for the ritual of cooking together as 775 00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:56,759 Speaker 2: a family, for that to be something that they could 776 00:39:56,800 --> 00:40:01,279 Speaker 2: do community wise, I think, you know, would have been 777 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:04,480 Speaker 2: such a powerful kind of healer for them. 778 00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:08,960 Speaker 1: Times and a communicator. 779 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,839 Speaker 2: When we were in Ukraine, we cooked with these women 780 00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:14,920 Speaker 2: in the in the shelter, and you know, I couldn't 781 00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:17,400 Speaker 2: speak any you know, we were completely you know, we 782 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:21,040 Speaker 2: had an interpreter, but really it was just peeling potatoes together, 783 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:23,960 Speaker 2: and you know, it's a wonderful way to communicate with them. 784 00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:27,400 Speaker 1: That story you told of the woman throwing her child 785 00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:29,359 Speaker 1: into the helicopter, I remember, Richard and I were living 786 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:32,400 Speaker 1: in Paris in the seventies. So you met someone whose 787 00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:37,840 Speaker 1: grandmother had knew that the you know, the Nazis coming 788 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,200 Speaker 1: to take them away from the Jewish ghetto in Paris. 789 00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:44,319 Speaker 1: And she said that she her grandmother and her mother 790 00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:46,840 Speaker 1: were on one side of the barricade caving on a 791 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:51,360 Speaker 1: train to towards Auschwitz. And they then nanny came rushing 792 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:53,080 Speaker 1: for them to see because she'd come home and so 793 00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:57,160 Speaker 1: and they threw her. They just threw her physical I mean, 794 00:40:57,200 --> 00:40:59,480 Speaker 1: throwing a child is quite a big thing. And then 795 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:03,480 Speaker 1: nanny and she never saw our parents again. So we 796 00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:08,080 Speaker 1: think about, you know, the lack of food being denial 797 00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:12,000 Speaker 1: for children and the lack of food being hunger, food 798 00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:15,759 Speaker 1: being a sign of illness or when your illness that 799 00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:19,319 Speaker 1: you're cutting yourself off from food and whatever you know, 800 00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:23,600 Speaker 1: and a sign of frailty. It's also it can work 801 00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:25,719 Speaker 1: the other way, which your food is joyous when we 802 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:28,239 Speaker 1: cook for our children. It's fun when you cook with 803 00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:31,440 Speaker 1: a hope, a chef. It's fun when your family and 804 00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:34,960 Speaker 1: your husband are there in their farm wanting to eat. 805 00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:38,240 Speaker 1: Maybe you've grown or maybe you've shopped for It also 806 00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:42,160 Speaker 1: is in times it's comfort. It's comfort from an it's 807 00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:44,960 Speaker 1: emotional eating that we don't always eat when we're hungry. 808 00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:48,560 Speaker 1: We eat when we feel something. So my last question 809 00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:51,200 Speaker 1: to you on this beautiful day and being here with 810 00:41:51,239 --> 00:41:54,720 Speaker 1: you and thank you for coming, is to say, Carrie Mulligan, 811 00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:57,200 Speaker 1: if you need comfort, which I hope you don't. I 812 00:41:57,200 --> 00:41:59,719 Speaker 1: hope life is just one joyous experience. But if you 813 00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:03,640 Speaker 1: need comfort, is there a food that you would reach for? Yeah? 814 00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:08,960 Speaker 2: My husband makes well. So when I had my first child. 815 00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:11,640 Speaker 2: We have a friend who lives near us who's sort 816 00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:15,239 Speaker 2: of a baby guru called Rachel Wadelove. She's amazing and 817 00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:19,839 Speaker 2: she basically taught us how to look after babies. Well 818 00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:23,719 Speaker 2: me at least, was work good at already. And she said, 819 00:42:23,719 --> 00:42:26,640 Speaker 2: when your breastfeeding, must have, you know, a slice of cake, 820 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:29,799 Speaker 2: you know all the time. But also this, she had 821 00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:33,400 Speaker 2: this recipe for this chicken casserole and it was just 822 00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:36,920 Speaker 2: really simple. But the crust on the top was wheatabix 823 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:38,960 Speaker 2: and cheddar cheese. 824 00:42:39,239 --> 00:42:45,520 Speaker 4: Yeah, and so Marcus makes this delicious Marcus, and it's 825 00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:48,239 Speaker 4: so yummy and it's just chicken and bention whatever. But 826 00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,080 Speaker 4: the crust is whetavix mushed up with a bit of 827 00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:54,160 Speaker 4: salt and cheddar cheese and it melts and it's heaven. 828 00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:56,080 Speaker 1: And whenever I'm feeling like. 829 00:42:56,160 --> 00:43:00,440 Speaker 2: A little bit depleted or done in, he'll make that 830 00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:03,239 Speaker 2: and will He'll make a big old thing of it, 831 00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:07,000 Speaker 2: and we'll start with like fairly conservative portions. 832 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:10,959 Speaker 1: And I think that's perfect. Okay, Well, thank you very much. 833 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:13,799 Speaker 1: It's a great, great time I'm with you. And now 834 00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:17,279 Speaker 1: you're going to go have scalps or whatever there is 835 00:43:17,320 --> 00:43:20,239 Speaker 1: in the River cop I do more together. Thank you, 836 00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:27,480 Speaker 1: thank you, thank you for listening to Ruthie's Table four 837 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:40,600 Speaker 1: in partnership with Montclair. Ruthie's Table four is produced by 838 00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:44,719 Speaker 1: Atamei Studios for iHeartRadio. It's hosted by Ruthie Rodgers and 839 00:43:44,719 --> 00:43:48,400 Speaker 1: it's produced by William Lensky. This episode was edited by 840 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:53,120 Speaker 1: Julia Johnson and mixed by Nigel Appleton. Our executive producers 841 00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:57,120 Speaker 1: are Faye Stewart and Zad Rogers. Our production manager is 842 00:43:57,160 --> 00:44:01,680 Speaker 1: Caitlin Paramore, and our production coordinator is Bellas. This episode 843 00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:05,680 Speaker 1: had additional contributions by Sean Wynn Owen. Thank you to 844 00:44:05,719 --> 00:44:08,120 Speaker 1: everyone at The River Cafe for your help in making 845 00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:09,440 Speaker 1: this episode