|
Interview Copyright/Media Notice
If you would like permission to reproduce extracts from any of these interviews please click
here
for conditions:
|
Interviews
|
|
 |
Ashley Jensen - Actor
Award winning actress well known for her role in the BBC comedy Extras. She was brought up in Annan, Dumfrieshire and was a Brownie and a Guide."As long as you have worked your hardest and done everything within your capabilities, that's all you can do…"
In 1995 I was in a play called The Big Picnic, it was written and directed by Bill
Bryden and was performed at the Harland and Wolff ship-building shed in Govan in Glasgow. Not
obviously a conventional theatre space! It was a play with live music about the First World
War. This play was particularly memorable for many reasons.
Firstly it proved that theatre can happen anywhere - it doesn't need to be on a stage. It was
semi promenade which meant that this huge space was designed to let the audience walk with the
actors, and even participate in a dance at the wedding of the two young lovers at the opening.
The rest of the audience sat on a huge seating bank that moved as the actors moved to another
area of the space.
It was about the First World War as I said, and because of that we were lucky enough to meet
some veterans who came and saw the show, which I will never forget. The play really showed the
huge atrocities and futility of the war.
It had an amazing musical scene written by John Tams
and a live band as well as an aerial artist (trapeze, stunt performer) who played the Angel
of Mons suspended from the roof! One show fell on Remembrance Sunday and on that night we had
a pipe band and thousands of poppies falling from the ceiling.
I did a play at the Royal Court Theatre in London called Attempts on Her Life subtitled by 17
scenarios for the theatre by Martin Crimp. It was at the same time, totally exciting and completely
incomprehensible, which was exactly the response of the audience… they loved it or they
hated it! I won't even attempt to give you the summary of it, but I hasten to add that by the
time we performed it at least we knew what we were doing!
There were no allotted parts and no
characters in the conventional sense and in one scene the director even said (when we first
approached it) - just speak when you feel like speaking. The final scene involved the audience
watching the actors eating food and drinking wine, which was supplied by the Ivy Restaurant
which was across the road from the theatre.
Each night we would look forward to what we were
going to get to eat and hope that it wasn't rocket or watercress because that was really difficult
to eat!
It would be quite amazing to play a female-version of Indiana Jones! I'm not a daredevil in real life so it would be fun to play one. You also get to film in incredibly exotic places!
When I left drama school after three years, I decided I ought to have a back up plan just in
case. So I applied for teacher training school to become a drama teacher. I applied and was
accepted the same time that I got my first acting job at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow. I
thought that I could do my teacher training during the day and perform at night! Not a bad idea
some might say, it would certainly give me something to "fall back on".
On the Friday before I was to start the course, I called to say that I would not be attending.
I had been thinking long and hard and realised that if I could easily fall back on teaching
when I was not acting it may make me less determined to actually get an acting job.
I wanted
to devote all my energy to my chosen career and go for it 100%. So I suppose I have chosen to
follow my dream as they say! And I have been very fortunate not to have had to take any other
jobs, as I have supported myself purely through my acting work.
It did make me realise what I wanted to do was purely up to me and I think I was quite pro-active, especially at the beginning of my career - writing letters and making phone calls - a bit scary! But it let people know who I was and what I was doing.
Definitely being part of a team and working together alongside other people, and not being afraid to try new challenging things that you may not have thought about yourself.
I was brought up in Annan in Dumfriesshire which is a pretty big farming area, and although I was not brought up on a farm I gained my Milkmaid Badge which I was exceptionally proud of.
I am a huge admirer of Dame Judy Dench as she has had a wonderful career. She has done everything from Shakespeare to sitcom and film. She has a real twinkle and looks like she has a good dense of humour. Her performances are always very truthful and look effortless.
My Gran Sadie gave me some sound advice, which has certainly stood me in good stead as an adult and as an actress - "what's for you, won't go by you".
As long as you have worked your hardest and done everything within your capabilities, that's all you can do - sometimes things are out with your control, whether it be getting a job, house, or going back to a shop to see if those shoes you wanted are still there in the sale. I still remind myself of that advice today and can get a wee bit of comfort from it.
When I was young, my favourite programme was Some Mothers do 'Ave 'Em with Michael Crawford
playing Frank Spencer. It was about a young couple, newly wed in the 1970's.
Frank was a buffoon!
It is not highbrow on any stretch of the imagination but I loved and I still love today (in
fact I own the box set of every episode!), his ridiculous character and the way in terms of
comedy it incorporates this new (at the time remember this was 1970) sitcom format with the
slapstick of earlier stuff like Laurel and Hardy.
I would want to read the mind of my dog Barney and I would want to know everything that goes on in his head!
To find out more about Extras on the BBC please see www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/extras
Go to main inspirational women page