Proceeding a few days of anticipation and subtle cajoling, I persuaded Tim to give my assistant photographer (and beloved sister) Lilli and I the opportunity to meet him at Shakespeare’s Globe for a bit of a photo session. But of course, it didn’t quite go to plan. The Othello rehearsal ran over by forty-five minutes and then the Globe stage was booked, so we had to take photos in the rehearsal room instead.
Which really wasn’t as bad as it sounds; because the room was spacious and there were a few props we could use to make it look more like a theatrical space. He’d obviously had a hard day (they’re only two weeks into rehearsals), and I got the feeling we needed to move things along swiftly. After Lilli had done her stuff with the camera, I suggested we buy Tim a drink – he really looked like he needed it! So we vacated to a pub near by.
The Thames looked beautiful as the sun set and throng of foreign kids idled beside us – we looked for an outside table to soak up the atmosphere, but hundreds of others had the same idea. Tim insisted on buying us both a G&T and we settled at a less-than-ideal table by a frosted glass window. The first ten or fifteen minutes of the interview were a bit strained, Tim seemed a little on edge, but he soon relaxed and settled into his answers.
I started with questions about the production of Othello and how rehearsals were going. He was very forthcoming and gave an in-depth analysis of the play and his character, Iago. Who incidentally – has the most lines (other than Hamlet) in any of Shakespeare’s plays. Iago is one of Tim’s biggest challenges yet, but one he says he’s determined to crack. It was interesting to hear Tim say that if there wasn’t a certain amount of fear involved in a role, it wasn’t worth pursuing – he wants to be constantly pushed by his character.
And for a man who never intended to be an actor – this speaks volumes. It was fascinating to discover that Tim only discovered his talent when his geography teacher secured him a place at the National Youth Theatre – without him even knowing! But it was obviously a push in the right direction, because he hasn’t looked back from the day that he reluctantly accepted a role in his first school play. Before he got the acting bug, Tim wanted to be a poet/novelist/tennis player, shying away from anything collaborative. To reach such a level of professionalism in the fickle entertainment trade is some feat, and the relative obscurity he came from only adds to the endearment of his rise to fame.
We also talked about his role in Severance and how he’d love to work with director Chris Smith again, and his love for working on radio and animation voice-overs. The only question he wouldn’t answer was about future projects. Understandably he doesn’t want to jinx himself by saying, “yes, I’m playing the lead in the latest Tarentino and then back to the theatre for Macbeth.” But it left me really wanting to know what he’s been offered. It must be big, if he’s worried about getting his own hopes up.
Tim had to rush off just after an hour into the interview – I had many more questions, but had plenty enough material to go home with. I think it went well, it was just a shame that the location wasn’t ideal and that Tim had had a heavy day of draining rehearsals. But it wasn’t just him who was drained. I got up after a measly three hours sleep (I always worry myself out of sleep the night before a big day), to catch the 7.01 from Penmere.
Why did I wear THOSE SHOES? Bearing in mind I’ve only ever worn my T-bars under a layer of alcohol cushioning, I didn’t realise that even before I’d left the train – I was going to be in agony all day. And to add insult to injury, I had to stand up in the train from Taunton to London because (of course) everyone and their cousin were travelling home after an Easter weekend away. I can’t even be bothered to moan about public transport, I did enough of that in the radio workshop last week…
Lilli was in the same league of pain as me, except she had socks on and so avoided the sweaty, squeltchiness entailed with bare feet and early summer heat. We hobbled around like a pair of cripples, trying our hardest to look sophisticated. We had a little light relief at lunch in the park, but by the time we’d walked to Trafalgar Square – we were gagging to find a Boots for some kind of blister/ball-of-foot assistance. We bought two pairs of insoles and found a quiet spot to load them up.
Only they didn’t make the slightest bit of difference.
I started to feel guilty that we hadn’t done anything with our day, so we got on the tube to Tate Modern. But when we got there all we could do was sit and watch as we regained consciousness in our lower extremities. If we’d have been in trainers our day would have looked remarkable different. We probably could have taken in at least two exhibitions, done some shopping and avoided most of the tube stops. I just had to go and ruin both my feet and my capacity to travel as normal.
I was so worried about this discrepancy that I started to think it would affect the interview and my performance as interviewer. Needless to say, it didn’t actually make any difference to the interview, but bloody hell – we still had to get back to Paddington and then to bed… in…those…heels. Those wretched but oh-so-beautiful heels…I officially no longer wish to suffer in the name of fashion or professionalism!
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