20 Questions with … Miriam Margolyes

In 1989 she premiered her one-woman
show, Dickens’ Women, at the Edinburgh Festival
Fringe, before playing it in cities around the world. The show is
currently touring nationally as the flagship production of Dickens
2012, the international celebration of the bicentenery of the
writer’s birth. It is the first time the production has toured the
UK.

Co-devised and directed by Sonia
Fraser, the Olivier Award-nominated piece explores some of the most
colourful female characters in Dickens’ novels, including many based
upon real women from the writer’s life. It tours the UK until 13 October.

Date & place of
birth?
Oxford, UK. 18 May 1941.

Lives now in?
Clapham, South London

What made you want to
become an actress?

There was no choice.

What else might you have
done professionally?
I could have been a laywer, an estate
agent or a probation officer

First big break?
The Girls of Slender Means
on TV in 1976

Career highlight so
far?
Receiving the BAFTA for Best Actress in
a Supporting Role for The Age Of Innocence

Favourite co-star?

Dame Eileen Atkins

Favourite
playwright?

Chekhov

What was the first thing
you saw on stage that had a big impact on you?
Aladdin at New
Theatre Oxford in 1948

And the last?
Mark Rylance in Jerusalem

What’s the best advice you
have ever received?
“Play the opposite” (Max
Stafford-Clark) and “murder your darlings” (Peter Hall)

And the worst?
“Give up the stage” (John
Harrison)

Would you ever return to
Wicked?
No

What’s your favourite
book?

Little Dorrit

Favourite holiday
destination?
Tuscany

Why did you want to get
involved with this production?

It’s been my life’s task to bring
Dickens to a modern public.

Summarise Dickens’
Women in five words
Unexpected, revealing, hilarious,
moving, mesmerizing.

Who is your favourite
Dickens woman?
Miss Havisham (Great
Expectations)

Which town are you most
looking forward to visiting on tour?
Hull; because I have an aged relative
there.

What have you got lined up
next?
An Aussie TV series called Miss
Fisher’s Murder Mysteries