Debut Pinter for Jack Riddiford at Chichester Festival Theatre

Just as it is for the two other members of the cast, The Caretaker is Jack Riddiford’s first Harold Pinter.

Transcript

00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now, I really

00:07can't wait for The Caretaker in the Minerva, Harold Pinter, revived in the Minerva, directed

00:13by Justin Oviere, the theatre's artistic director, just the three actors in it, one of whom is

00:19Jack Riddiford, you are playing Mig. Now, this is your first Pinter, and really interestingly,

00:25you said, when we were speaking just now, that you kind of avoided Pinter for a while

00:30out of fear. What was that fear? And is that fear evaporating now?

00:37I did, yeah, I did. Like I said earlier, it was kind of a similar fear when I first got

00:46into acting that I had towards Shakespeare, where I knew I liked it, but there was this

00:55fear of rules, or people's opinions, or ways that these characters should be done, and

01:02these characters have such weight. Like I eventually found with Shakespeare, is that

01:10you just have to find your own love for it. And now I am discovering that with Pinter.

01:18I always loved watching Pinter. It was like I felt like I didn't have the key to get in.

01:27You're gaining that key now, are you?

01:30I think so, yeah, because you find your own love for it. Pinter is just realism. Pinter

01:40is, again, like I said earlier, Pinter isn't a style, Pinter is just realism. These pauses

01:56in these things, they are active, they have intentions behind them.

02:01And you're saying one of the rewards for doing this is that it is so challenging, isn't it?

02:06One of the toughest scripts to learn you've ever had.

02:10Yeah, it's relentless. It's absolutely relentless. And you have to be active with it, otherwise

02:15it swallows you up. You can't leave any room for sitting back and observing. I feel, in my

02:29personal opinion, to serve this text, and to serve this play, you have to be active, front-footed.

02:36Even within the pauses, even in silence, even in the stillness, they're not just...

02:46It's not just a pause or a silence for the sake of a silence. Those things need to be full.

02:54Fantastic. Well, it's a lovely prospect to see this in the Minerva before too long.

02:59Really lovely to speak to you, Jack. Thank you ever so much for your time.

03:05Thank you.