Zoë Wanamaker - Actor

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:00:04. > :00:14.for Democracy party. They want to swear to safeguard, protect rather

:00:14. > :00:19.than safeguard the constitution. Now it is time for HARDtalk. This

:00:19. > :00:22.is the Globe Theatre in London. It is a magical recreation of the

:00:22. > :00:27.place where Shakespeare honed his theatrical genius in the late 16th

:00:27. > :00:34.century. Over the next six weeks, something remarkable is happening

:00:34. > :00:38.here. It be one of his 37 plays, each in a different language,

:00:38. > :00:43.performed by theatre companies from around the world. My guess is the

:00:43. > :00:47.honorary president of the Globe Theatre, Zoe Wanamaker. It was her

:00:47. > :00:54.father whose drive and determination led to the building

:00:54. > :01:04.of this theatre. Today, Shakespeare, the stage and the family's artistic

:01:04. > :01:26.

:01:26. > :01:30.Zoe Wanamaker, welcome to HARDtalk. Thank you. You and your family are

:01:30. > :01:40.so intimately tied to the theatre. Does it feel very special coming

:01:40. > :01:44.

:01:44. > :01:48.here? Yes, yes it does. It feels unbelievable, actually. Sam, I

:01:48. > :01:54.suppose I should call him Sam because it is better than Daddy, he

:01:54. > :02:01.struggled so hard for this. I could never understand why it was such a

:02:01. > :02:08.struggle but yet he persisted. The tenacity of the man was astounding.

:02:08. > :02:14.His vision was also astounding. said this after his death, of

:02:14. > :02:17.course he died before this thing was finally finished, you said "for

:02:17. > :02:25.25 years of his life, I think he sacrificed himself for what became

:02:25. > :02:35.an almost impossible quest to get this theatre built." and Arthurian

:02:35. > :02:42.quest is quite an image. Was it his obsession? Yes. I think it has been

:02:42. > :02:49.an obsession of his for a very long time. I think he first started in

:02:49. > :02:56.1948, 49. He could not understand why the Gold was not here. There

:02:56. > :03:06.was a plaque on the wall. -- Gold. From photographs that I had when he

:03:06. > :03:14.was young, he was about 18, he was doing shows, cut down Shakespeare

:03:14. > :03:18.all day. There is a photograph of him standing very proudly doing in

:03:18. > :03:25.Midsummer Night's Dream. There is a whole list of plays. He was doing

:03:25. > :03:31.that then. He is a Jewish boy, an American Jewish boy. An American

:03:31. > :03:36.Jewish boy from Chicago. I do not understand, of what was the

:03:36. > :03:39.connection to Shakespeare? It is so deep. I think what he was trying to

:03:39. > :03:47.get this place build, they thought he wanted to build an American

:03:47. > :03:54.theme park. Yes. Even though the theatrical community that was

:03:54. > :04:00.around then was the very anti-it, they thought it was going to be

:04:00. > :04:06.exactly as you say, and there was this snobbery about it. I think

:04:06. > :04:13.because he was an American and an interloper to some extent, there

:04:14. > :04:19.was also a feeling that he was rich, because he was an American,

:04:19. > :04:24.naturally, and he should build it himself. He was asking of the

:04:24. > :04:31.Committee of Suffolk to do that. He was not only asking for the theatre,

:04:31. > :04:35.he wanted a kind of a university here. He wanted it to be the world

:04:35. > :04:43.centre for Shakespeare studies. He had an image of the South Bank

:04:43. > :04:49.suddenly becoming a place of art, like this then in Paris. He said to

:04:49. > :04:55.me, "you wait, Suffolk is going to explode. This whole area is going

:04:56. > :05:02.to take off." And it has. This part of London has completely changed

:05:02. > :05:07.over the past 20 years. Yes. Here is an intrusive, personal question.

:05:07. > :05:13.Do you resent as a doctor, alongside your mum Andrews Sisters,

:05:14. > :05:23.the fact that, to use your idea, but this Arthurian quest took over

:05:24. > :05:25.

:05:25. > :05:29.his life? I could not understand it. There were a lot of doubters. I

:05:29. > :05:34.wondered why he was doing this, why he was giving himself such a hard

:05:34. > :05:40.time. He was completely driven by this complete a belief that it

:05:40. > :05:46.should happen. He believed they should be a success, an exciting

:05:46. > :05:52.place. No, I wasn't resentful at all. I think my mother might have

:05:52. > :05:56.been. It is interesting to reflect when we think about what ultimately

:05:56. > :06:01.was achieved here and what your father will always be associated

:06:01. > :06:06.with, it is interesting to reflect that, when he first came to the UK,

:06:06. > :06:10.and of course he had been a leading actor and director in the US for

:06:10. > :06:20.some time, when he came here, he and your mother were living under a

:06:20. > :06:24.huge cloud because they were living in exile. Your dad had been

:06:24. > :06:27.blacklisted and was being investigated. We now know that he

:06:27. > :06:34.was under surveillance by British intelligence as well. Were you

:06:35. > :06:42.aware of any of this? The not at all. Did he talk about it later in

:06:42. > :06:50.life? Later in life, yes. When after Miller was still alive and we

:06:50. > :07:00.were doing The Crucible, that was very much about McCarthy, he said

:07:00. > :07:01.

:07:01. > :07:06.that he had joined the Communist Party. He said they wanted to

:07:06. > :07:13.support the Soviet Union. This was during the wall as well. Then he

:07:13. > :07:23.gradually realised as said he wanted to resign from the Communist

:07:23. > :07:29.Party. -- during the war. That stigma never left. As far as the

:07:29. > :07:36.story, as far as my mother tells it, he was asked to do a film in

:07:36. > :07:39.England and that is how he got leave to go because he had to go to

:07:39. > :07:47.work and mummy put everything in storage, the house in Connecticut,

:07:47. > :07:55.which he had built, and they put everything in storage and they came

:07:55. > :07:59.here. Then he was summoned to go before the committee. Neither of

:07:59. > :08:09.them were in the country so that was not possible. Then his passport

:08:09. > :08:13.

:08:13. > :08:23.was taken away. There they lived here. It was not a surprise to me

:08:23. > :08:25.

:08:25. > :08:28.that the Gold happened. -- Globe. Then he started working here. The

:08:28. > :08:33.Liverpool theatre raised its head and he opened a theatre in

:08:33. > :08:39.Liverpool which was open 17 hours a day. There was a coffee bar,

:08:39. > :08:47.restaurant, a little art gallery, shows for kids... De ringing the

:08:47. > :08:52.theatre to the masses. -- bringing the theatre. It was the first

:08:52. > :08:58.theatre of its kind in England. I could be wrong about that. He had

:08:58. > :09:02.West End actresses and actors coming to play in Liverpool. Before

:09:02. > :09:08.we finished with your father, one last question about this. It seems

:09:08. > :09:11.to me that this story has unfolded throughout July. Over the last few

:09:11. > :09:16.years, but you have learned extraordinary things about the

:09:16. > :09:19.degree of stability was under in this country and the fact that at

:09:19. > :09:23.one time British intelligence had him on the list so that if there

:09:23. > :09:28.was ever a war with the Soviet Union, your father was going to be

:09:28. > :09:35.interned as a suspect, I wonder, as all this has come out, has this

:09:35. > :09:39.made you feel conflicted about the sense to which you feel the

:09:39. > :09:46.British? You were born an American but you are British. Has this

:09:46. > :09:50.change your view at all? No. It has not changed my view. I think the

:09:50. > :09:58.world has changed since I was growing up. I know my parents loved

:09:58. > :10:07.being here. They loved being in England. They loved the English.

:10:07. > :10:17.They felt that it was a happy place to be, even after the war. Also,

:10:17. > :10:20.

:10:20. > :10:29.when I went back I did a programme called Who Du You Think You Are? It

:10:29. > :10:35.was an eye-opener. I was standing beside Abraham Lincoln's memorial.

:10:35. > :10:41.I was looking at that extraordinary Parc and seeing what used to be

:10:41. > :10:47.marsh land. -- Park. The effort of millions of people that went into

:10:47. > :10:51.making it. It was a very powerful feeling. I felt very proud to have

:10:51. > :10:57.that American passport. Went in that strikes me is Richard Dadd,

:10:57. > :11:01.clearly, was a man of very strong principle and strong belief. -- is

:11:01. > :11:05.that your dad. He had strong opinions about you. When you

:11:05. > :11:10.decided to go into acting, it was very much against the advice of

:11:10. > :11:15.your parents. You said that your father always keep you note that

:11:15. > :11:19.your performances. You said that when he asked -- when you asked for

:11:19. > :11:26.them, he was deeply honest and can be very hurtful. You chose a

:11:26. > :11:32.difficult path for yourself. Yes. Why? Why did you believe that you

:11:32. > :11:37.had to act, even the your parents said it may be a bad idea for you.

:11:37. > :11:45.It was something that I really wanted to do. It was something that

:11:45. > :11:55.I saw in both of them, my mother as well, a passion about. It is a

:11:55. > :11:58.

:11:58. > :12:08.passionate job. It is a hard job and it is tough. I am fascinated

:12:08. > :12:13.about this craft. As long as that passion and interest stays with you,

:12:13. > :12:21.I think there was nothing that they could do. Sitting here particularly,

:12:21. > :12:26.I get the real sense of her exposing it is. Yes. You are on a

:12:26. > :12:30.stage, unlike even film and television where if you miss

:12:30. > :12:36.something upbeat and do it again, on the stage, there is no place to

:12:36. > :12:46.hide. -- If you fluff something, you can do it again. You get to

:12:46. > :12:49.

:12:49. > :12:53.rehearse. You get to practise. The wonderful thing about life theatre

:12:53. > :12:57.is the relationship with the audience and that is exactly what

:12:57. > :13:04.this theatre gives. You can rehearse for a long time without

:13:04. > :13:10.the audience but once you get into the theatre, that is when you start

:13:10. > :13:16.learning again. That is because you're working with a 4th person,

:13:16. > :13:23.an animal, a beast. That is the excitement and that is the joy.

:13:23. > :13:28.just wonder whether it is frustrating for you because for

:13:28. > :13:33.decades she had been at the top of the tree in acting and classical

:13:33. > :13:40.performances of Shakespeare and Chekhov on all sorts of things but

:13:40. > :13:45.there are a lot of people who work in popular sitcoms or do cameos in

:13:45. > :13:54.Harry Potter a Dr Who and reach an audience of tens of millions and

:13:54. > :14:01.frankly the theatre cannot do that. Is that frustrating? That is a fact.

:14:02. > :14:07.It is a fact. The medium of film and television is so powerful. You

:14:07. > :14:11.know, you can be playing Hamlet here to packed houses for a year

:14:11. > :14:20.and you won't reach the amount of people that you would for one night

:14:20. > :14:25.on television. It is crazy but it is true. It doesn't, that is the

:14:25. > :14:30.way it is for all stop you say it is the way it is with the sense of

:14:30. > :14:34.resignation. -- the way it is. You see it is the way it is with the

:14:34. > :14:38.sense of resignation. There are things you have not accepted with a

:14:38. > :14:42.sense of resignation. Things you have addressed with your long role

:14:42. > :14:47.in one of Britain's popular situation comedies, you had to

:14:47. > :14:52.fight tooth and nail to get pay that was equal to Robert Lindsay.

:14:52. > :15:01.You said it was not fair. Women do not get paid as well, do not get

:15:01. > :15:05.treated as well as men in the the acting profession. It is a big

:15:05. > :15:13.beer. There are more powerful woman pop singers now than there

:15:13. > :15:23.everywhere. That is great. That is important. I suppose it is, I think

:15:23. > :15:23.

:15:23. > :15:31.the next generation will probably You are treading a fine line.

:15:31. > :15:37.Clearly you care but there is a limited the amount you can do. He

:15:37. > :15:42.was so political and so determined to play a political party, do you

:15:42. > :15:49.think you inherited that and do you get angry about things? I do get

:15:49. > :15:54.angry about things. But I do not have his clarity. I leave it to

:15:54. > :16:00.those who can to do it. When it comes to some think like,

:16:00. > :16:08.principles, I do have principles and I stick to them. Here is one

:16:08. > :16:13.thing, not so much as an actor, but more in your role and the Globe

:16:13. > :16:19.Theatre as honorary president. The Governor is proposing to change the

:16:19. > :16:25.way in which donations are treated for tax purposes, making it less

:16:25. > :16:31.attractive for big donors to give chunks of money to theatres such as

:16:31. > :16:36.this one. This fit any said because you rely on charitable donations. -

:16:36. > :16:46.- this theatre. Tell me what your responses to what the government is

:16:46. > :16:51.

:16:51. > :16:59.doing. There is a Yiddish word for this. It means crazy. It is crazy.

:16:59. > :17:09.I think in order to try and look smart, this government is cutting

:17:09. > :17:14.

:17:14. > :17:23.off its nose to spite its face. In America they have it right. There

:17:23. > :17:29.is a tax break in making charitable donations. There is some sort of

:17:29. > :17:34.kudos for doing that. And here... There is going to be the Sam

:17:34. > :17:40.Wanamaker Theatre, an indoor theatre. That is the ambition to

:17:40. > :17:46.complete it. Yes. Given what has just happened, or what is about to

:17:46. > :17:50.happen in terms of the change in the tax rules, will it get

:17:50. > :17:58.finished? If this plan goes through will it get this? Yes, of course.

:17:58. > :18:04.You have the money? We have some of the Murray. We have �4.5 million.

:18:04. > :18:08.We need �7 million. It is going to be finished. If I am anything like

:18:08. > :18:13.my father I will make sure it will get done. Let's talk about what is

:18:13. > :18:18.going to happen here soon. That reflects a lot of these but you

:18:19. > :18:23.have talked about, that your father had. There are feared to companies

:18:23. > :18:28.from all over the world to do Shakespeare in a 37 different

:18:28. > :18:33.languages for 37 different Shakespeare plays. What is it, with

:18:33. > :18:42.all your experience, about Shakespeare's that makes him so

:18:42. > :18:51.ensuring for so many people across the world? -- enduring. I think

:18:51. > :18:59.Shakespeare understood the human heart better than anyone. I feel

:18:59. > :19:02.that he is next to God in some ways because of his inside fullness, his

:19:02. > :19:07.sensitivity, his incredible knowledge of human nature, his

:19:07. > :19:13.understanding of human nature, their frailties. His jokes still

:19:13. > :19:19.work, most of them. Did you remember, when you opened this

:19:19. > :19:26.place, while the Queen opened it but you were invited to be the

:19:26. > :19:33.first speaker. Yes. You did a prologue. From Henry the fair.

:19:33. > :19:39.were the opening words? For the news of a fire. I am not going to

:19:39. > :19:45.go on. It is a perfect speech in the chorus of Henry the Fed. It is

:19:45. > :19:55.exactly what the Globe Theatre CEO what my father felt about this

:19:55. > :19:56.

:19:56. > :20:03.place. -- Henry the Fifth. It asks the audience to use their

:20:03. > :20:12.imagination and to imagine soldiers and kingdoms and kings and queens

:20:13. > :20:19.and battles, and imagine them. Within this wouldn't Churcher. --

:20:19. > :20:23.wouldn't it structure. For me that was extremely hard to do. It was

:20:23. > :20:29.all so exciting. I see the light shining in your eyes as you

:20:29. > :20:39.remember that. Why have you never know grief to actually perform

:20:39. > :20:46.

:20:46. > :20:56.here? -- -- why have you never agreed. Too much would be on me.

:20:56. > :21:06.Too little would be on the work. That is why I have not. I know what

:21:06. > :21:07.

:21:07. > :21:13.it cost them, but my father and my mother, in energy and frustration -

:21:13. > :21:21.- both. It is quite moving when I come in here, every time I come in

:21:21. > :21:26.this building. I feel very emotional. It is an exciting space.

:21:26. > :21:32.It is a fantastic space. You talk about they motion are connected

:21:32. > :21:42.with this space. I will ask you one last thing -- they motion. I know

:21:42. > :21:43.

:21:43. > :21:53.it is difficult. -- the emotion. One thing you have made a point of

:21:53. > :21:54.

:21:54. > :21:58.speaking about his euthanasia -- is. Your father had a difficult death.

:21:58. > :22:03.You enjoy sisters have spoken openly about the way you feel that

:22:03. > :22:12.is wrong and the way you feel the law should allow people the freedom

:22:12. > :22:22.to help their loved ones to die -- you and your sisters. Do you think

:22:22. > :22:23.

:22:24. > :22:31.Britain is moving towards that idea of an -- allowing the youth in --

:22:31. > :22:38.euthanasia. I feel very strongly about it. If somebody does not have

:22:38. > :22:47.any quality of life, what is the point? I just get emotional about

:22:47. > :22:54.it. I can speak emotionally about it. My father was told he only had

:22:54. > :22:58.six months to live. He survived by nearly a year. With that tenacity

:22:58. > :23:08.of holding on a desperately, because he wanted this place to be

:23:08. > :23:17.built and he wanted to see it... And then not being allowed to end

:23:18. > :23:27.his life peacefully, quietly, in his own bed... It does raise the

:23:28. > :23:29.

:23:29. > :23:32.question if you feel so strongly about it, which you with your

:23:32. > :23:38.sisters, would you have been prepared to end his life? Yes,

:23:38. > :23:48.absolutely. Are you sure? Yes. We were prepared. My only problem is

:23:48. > :23:58.that... Sorry. It was slightly comic. I did not want him to fight

:23:58. > :24:07.me. He was a strong man. It should not be that the family is put in

:24:07. > :24:17.this kind of position where it is called murder. We were on the list

:24:17. > :24:26.of potential murderers. To end, we look around here. Your father's