More Rosebud - Adrian Lester
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What was Adrian Lester's childhood like in Birmingham?
Can you have too much of a good thing? Can you? That's the question. Well, if it's only a good thing, you can. But if it's rosebud, sure you can't. Of course you can't. That's why this Tuesday we're bringing you, every Tuesday, more rosebud. Stay tuned. Cue the music.
Cue the music. Thank you.
Hello, this is Giles Brandreth with another episode of More Rosebud. This is Rosebud launched on a Tuesday. Every other Tuesday we dip into my diaries from, oh, half a century ago. But then every other Tuesday we have a guest.
How did being a chorister influence Adrian Lester's career?
And this week it's a very special guest, one of my favourite actors. And I'm here with my producer and friend Harriet Jane. Tell everybody who our guest is going to be in just a moment.
It's Adrian Lester.
Yeah. Do you know his work? Do you admire his work?
I love his work.
Yeah.
I first fell seriously in love with his work when I saw a film version of Love's Labour's Lost, the Shakespeare play.
Oh, yes, yeah, you talk about that.
Yeah, directed by Kenneth Branagh, musical version, and I just thought, I'd already seen him, I think, at the RSC, and I thought, yeah, he's great. But in this, he had such swagger and style, and he's just fantastic.
Yeah.
And the reason I'm excited that we've got him as a guest this week is that he's appearing in the West End of London, I think at the Noel Coward Theatre. They now love to name theatres after playwrights. It was quite satisfactory to me when it was called the New Theatre. But anyway, they wanted to call it that. There's going to be a Judi Dench Theatre now. The Duke of York's is going to be called the Judi Dench. Yeah. Or is that, no, that's the Shaftesbury.
The Shaftesbury, yeah.
The Duke of York's is going to be called the Tom Stoppard Theatre.
Well, I'm not surprised they're changing the name of that Giles.
But the grand old Duke of York it was named after.
That's true.
He never did anybody any harm, so far as we know.
When's the Giles Brandreth Theatre opening?
It's going to be a puppet show theatre on the beach of Broadstairs.
What experiences shaped Adrian Lester's path to drama school?
Oh, that's a good idea, Giles. A couple of summers from now. Come on, guys, let's do it.
Yeah, I don't think it's fun.
Adrian Lester is appearing at the Noel Card Theatre in a production of one of my favourite plays outside the works of William Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov, Heinrich Ibsen, my favourite playwright... Overall, probably, could be Georges Fedot, who wrote those wonderful French farces. But this is my fourth favourite playwright. And I've read several of his plays. There's only one that works. What is the play?
Cyrano de Bergerac.
And do you know the name of the author? Possibly not, in your head.
Is it Rostand?
Well done. Edmond Rostand, who, when I first saw this play as a child, it's a great romantic comedy tragedy. It's the story of the guy with the huge nose. If you don't know, I don't want to tell you the story because you must go and see the play. If you haven't seen the play, there are various movie versions of it. One very brilliant contemporary music movie version with Steve Martin. But the classic one is with Gérard Depardieu. It's a most wonderful play. I would say after, well, arguably, could you almost say the best play written in the 19th century?
Well, apart from The Importance of Being Earnest.
That's exactly. It possibly rivals that.
Yeah.
Because there's emotion in this. There's a romance. The Importance of Being Earnest is an outstanding comedy, but this is a play about life and about love.
How did Adrian Lester's early performances impact his acting style?
Well, it's perfect for you, Giles, because it's about love letters. And you're a big love letter writer, aren't you?
I am.
Yeah.
I still believe in the love letter.
Mm-hmm.
Loving that play, I read the rest of Austen's work, starting with L'Aiglon, which is another most famous play.
That looks good.
Yeah, it isn't.
Oh, dear.
It's about Napoleon's son, Napoleon II. And L'Aiglon, he aspires to be the eagle. He isn't the eagle. And it didn't work for me when I read it, and I don't think it's been successfully produced that way. All I'm saying is I have a lot of emotional investment in the play Serrano de Bergerac.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What was Adrian Lester's childhood like in Birmingham?
0:00–0:52
2
How did being a chorister influence Adrian Lester's career?
0:52–2:21
3
What experiences shaped Adrian Lester's path to drama school?
2:21–4:06
4
How did Adrian Lester's early performances impact his acting style?
4:06–6:00
5
What is the significance of Cyrano de Bergerac in Adrian Lester's career?
6:00–9:15
6
How does Adrian Lester perceive love and relationships in his work?
9:15–10:57
7
What challenges has Adrian Lester faced as an actor?
10:57–12:54
8
What lessons has Adrian Lester learned from his acting journey?
12:54–56:11