3
‘snake’
Built by DH Lawrence poem A dramatic depiction of finding a snake drinking out of a water trough and clumsily throwing this chunk of wood at it. “I don’t think so,” he says. Towards the end, there’s a great line: “And I missed my chance with one of the rulers of my life.” I read this poem on Dicky Attenborough’s 80th birthday. As you know, he became Lord Attenborough. And so I finished reading. “Thank God I didn’t miss the chance.”
Four
World War I history on page
Many of us living in peacetime must find World War I, like the rest of 20th-century history, utterly incomprehensible. Sometimes it has to be translated musically, graphically, poetically and dramatically. I read AJP Taylor’s History of World War I. At his home in Oxfordshire, he has a monumental book of World War I photographs published in 1933, just after Hitler came to power. I’m also thinking about a World War I movie.
Five
History of World War I in Music
Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem” provided me with a concrete view of an entire horrific period of history. For some reason, I can’t say it any other way, I felt that way. I think that’s what artists do. It makes us feel what we don’t understand. And sharing that feeling with the tribe is an artist’s great gift.
6
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
I saw him live at the Royal Albert Hall many years ago shortly before his tragic death. It was Pavarotti more than anyone who said that the greatest voice in the world was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. And it is the most extraordinary voice, range. Devotional music, music that sings to or about the transcendent, higher power, is performed with energy and grandeur, but it comes from a humble center.
7
“Waiting for Godot”
It was directed by the late Sir Peter Hall, who co-starred with the late Alan Howard and directed the first ever Godot. So for him, it’s come full circle. It was extraordinary to have Beckett, Hall and Howard in the rehearsal room with that power. It was an Old Vic and I didn’t want that run to end. There were times when I wasn’t sure if I was acting or praying great on stage.
8
Sergey Eisenstein
I went to a very good English school, and thanks to some wonderful luck, the president of the Film Society decided to show Eisenstein’s film. I was completely fascinated by the sheer scale of it.I remember [in “Ivan the Terrible”] This endless line of humans. Now they would say to the actor who plays Ivan, “Don’t worry about that, we’ll do it in CGI.” So the actor has no counterpart. It works in a vacuum. But some directors believe they can capture the same body chemistry changes that an actor would have when being chased by 100,000 people. Look at “Gandhi’s Salt March”. How do you think I felt in front of that? Extraordinary. I don’t think my sandals were on the ground.
