A Cup Of Tea With Juliet Stevenson

Juliet stevenson is best known for her BaFta-nominated turn as nina in Truly, Madly, Deeply and her starring roles in Mona Lisa Smile and Being Julia. But, in recent years, the actress has gone back to her theatre roots, having most recently starred in Hamlet and Mary Stuart. Here, over a cuppa, she tells us of her love of shakespeare and theatre.

How do you like your tea?

I’m fuelled by tea, I live on tea, I love tea. PG Tips – really ordinary tea – with milk and a bit of honey.

Who would be your ultimate guest to invite for tea?

Shakespeare, and I’d also love Elizabeth I.

What is it about Shakespeare that you love so much?

The thing about Shakespeare is he was just an ordinary bloke. He wasn’t posh, he wasn’t writing from some lofty position. He really was a working man with his sleeves rolled up, and he came from lower-middle-class Stratford-uponAvon to London and worked hard.

I think he wrote with genius, but had his feet also deeply on the ground. He had a common touch and was always writing about human nature as he genuinely encountered it.

Why do you think so many people don’t like his work?

People are really scared of Shakespeare. There’s no doubt that, for some people, Shakespeare is killed off for you at school. But homage to Hamlet director Robert Icke, who’s only 30 – he thinks the play really speaks to our times, and he made it very accessible.

Shakespeare had his finger on the popular pulse as well as being a genius, which is rare. And he’s funny and outrageous, and radical and quite conforming, so there’s something for everyone.

Do you prefer film, TV or theatre?

I genuinely love them all because they offer different things, but you can’t beat that feeling on stage of being in a house full of people every night. Being in Mary Stuart was a dream, because it was two amazing roles and a house full of people.

Every night you think, What am I going to do tonight? What am I going to find tonight? It’s always different, and the power you have on stage is amazing. Nobody can edit you or cut you, stop you. It’s just you and that audience.

‘The power you have on stage is amazing’