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CREDIT: Praslin Pictures Ltd
INTERVIEW
SB: I do think there are
parallels and that’s probably
why I tapped into this dancer’s
story. I think we all know what
it’s like to walk the fine line
between rigor and living freelyto live with an aim of ambition
and goals and then to allow life
to happen to you in a way that’s
not neurotic. I was interested in
the relation between dancing
and acting, between dancing
and any artistry and between
dancing and life.
How have people reacted to
Match?
PS: They have no idea what’s
coming. I can almost time to a
second when the first tear
appears. Then, soon after, I’m
surrounded by people who are
weeping.
What have you discovered
about yourself through
characters?
PS: This role in Match was such
a great experience. The past
becomes increasingly
interesting to me. I had an
experience recently in which I
learned things about my father.
Can you give an example?
PS: After the war in 1945, he
was a weekend alcoholic. He
was very upright and splendid
Monday through Friday, but
from eight o’clock on Friday
nights until midnight on
Sundays, he was a drunk. He
was violent and beat up my
mother and home was a scary
place to be on the weekends.
While shooting a documentary
about his military career for the
BBC, somebody presented me
38 THEGAYUK | ISSUE 16 | NOV 2015
with a news clip which said
Sergeant Alfred Stewart was
one of the last soldiers to leave
France after the disaster of the
British Expeditionary Force in
1940. He was suffering from
severe shell shock. We know
now what that means and I sat
down with an expert on PTSD
who said my father was an
absolutely classic case. Back
then he would’ve been told,
“Pull yourself together and act
like a man.”
My mother and I never knew
that he was suffering. I thought
I’d gotten my father absolutely
in place in my mind, but how
wrong I was.
MATCH is out now available on AMAZON