#vulpes libris

[nicolagriffith]

Writing space, September 2016

Writing space, September 2016

On Monday, Vulpes Libris republished a slightly edited piece about my writing space that I first published here five years ago. (One of their contributors Kate Macdonald wrote a splendid review of Hild. Kate also runs her own site, on writing, reading and publishing, and wrote a great academic paperarguing that “writing the past as an estranged history gives authority to the female experience in…

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[crystalchandlyre]

I unearthed a little treasure of an interview - no "circus question" here

"VL (interviewer): Now, I believe that in life you’re actually quite a cheerful soul... so, are you drawn to darker characters because they’re more interesting to play … or are you just not offered happy chappies?

RA: I think I am drawn to darker characters because I am quite a cheerful person; there are more questions to ask of these characters...I always look for good within bad and vice versa. That’s what appeals to me about Richard III. The villain, the hunchback, child murdering, usurping monster – I want to try and find the man who loved Anne Neville, passionately, from childhood until death, who was inconsolable at the loss of his only son and who put in place the ‘even handed’ judicial system, which we enjoy today; and then have him ‘slaughter’ the Princes in the Tower. It’s all about contradictions..."

[x] "VL: Can we talk about Guy of Gisborne for a minute? ...Were you satisfied with his departure – and will you miss him?

RA: I always maintained that Gisborne was only interesting when he wasn’t getting what he wanted...Much has been said critically about contradictions within this character, but it is my belief that much of our expectations of dramatic characters especially written for TV are paradoxically unrealistic...One of my great mantras is that ‘characters are at their most interesting when they are behaving out of character’, so when actors say:  “my character just wouldn’t do that”, I always say ‘well see what happens when you ‘make’ them do that!’ I had to instruct myself like this quite frequently with Guy of Gisborne, which is why he became interesting to me. He helped me to develop as an actor, for this reason..."

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