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Hi guys!
Just read this poem in my datebook and loved it. Thought you guys would enjoy it too...Love, M
OLD WOMAN SPEAKS by Tami Kent, 1999
Tell me what do you know
of the depths of your sea
have you swam shore to shore
and returned breathless to the sand
have you climbed mountains
made music, created fire
have you done something dangerous
from which you might not return
have you stood naked in front of a mirror and said, "Hmmm, I do look good." and then danced around to get a better look
have you pressed your lips against those of another and lost track of where you ended and they began
have you loved known loss, let go, held on surrendered to something
have you been scared
lost, confused, truly sad
have you felt joy at your very core
and laughed like a crazy woman
have you told stories
heard stories, made stories, shared stories
have you come face to face with a wild thing and listened deeply to what the earth has to say
have you walked in the path of another
or slept under an open sky
do you know what I am saying
have you lived tell me.
Liv Ullman
Hello Kim
I was doing a search for articles on Fania Fenelon and found your website. I was absolutely riveted by your portrayal of her. This particular story has haunted me for many years, and I realize that part of the reason for this was my recollections of Vanesa Redgrave's devastating performance in the TV movie. I'm happy to tell you that your interpretation of the role (from the snippets I could catch on the website) is equally powerful. Not being an actor, I often wonder how one can get into that 'place' in order to pull off such a role. I only wish I had the opportunity to catch your remarkable performance. If given the chance, would you ever reprise your role as Ms. Fenelon?
Best regards, and bravo!
Peter
Dear Peter,
Thank you so much for your gracious email re: Playing for Time. To play Fania was a privilege, it was an honor, and yes, anytime, anywhere I would be honored to go there again. Like my most recent role, Vivian Bearing, there are so many blessings - both these women have truly stayed and enriched my life. I have gotten to speak for the dead.
Yes, it's scary 'going to that place'. It's a schizophrenic world of shards. It demands everything and that's what an actor lives for -- certain treasured stories at the right place and the right time that you're lucky enough to tell.
I wanted to play Fania always on the verge, in a maze as it were, searching through for some semblance of humanity ... only to hit the wall of madness and have a piece of her fall off. People are always wanting life from her and the pieces just fall off again and again. And the words of Arthur Miller-- you can imagine how an actor yearns for years for words like his : "Oh, the human race!" "We still weren't sure what was happening. Of course, none of us had ever been inside a boxcar. Like cattle." "After everything you've seen and been through, how can you worry about a thing like that? Better you should feel anything. It's a blessing."
Again, thank you for letting me know that the Theatre can still change lives and that an actress can still touch hearts. It's people like you that make all of my efforts worthwhile.
Best regards,
Kim
p.s. If you like, I do have a tape of our production. Would you like me to run a dub for you? Kindly send me your address and I'll be happy to. Also, may I post your email on my website, protecting your privacy of course. I really like showing the baby actors coming up how wonderful this profession of ours is. And your letter will give them hope.
'When trouble turns in our direction, May you throw a banana peel in its path;
When you see the other gods Measuring the days of our lives, May it please you to fudge the numbers in our favor.
When you hear them plotting to squash us all, May you tell them bad jokes Until they die laughing And leave us alone."
"The hallmark of the good director is his ability to challenge the actor to connect to the material in a subtle and soulful way, to engage the actor so that he wants to get at the larger truth. The problem with many directors," Pullman continues, "is that they have a failure of nerve. They believe the most obvious themes in the play are the most important. They go for the lowest common denominator. We need to see more risk on stage
Maggie Smith - backstage 3/8/02
On 'seeing her acting as effortless.' "If it's anything I've achieved, I'm very glad, because that's what you want to achieve--to make it look easy, as if you're at ease onstage. But I don't know if it's as simple as that. I think it's quite frightening to be onstage. Certainly at the beginning of the run you're very, very nervous. It's terrifying. You don't know what can happen. When you start off in the theatre you think that's all there is to it -- you just learn your lines and go on and it will all be simple. But it's not at all like that, and the more you go on, the more complicated it becomes." A bit of those complications stems from having a reputation to uphold, she admitted. "But basically it's a question of, Are you going to remember the lines and are you not going to fall over."
She has heard how serious auditions are in the States and is cautious about offering advice. "To start off with, any audition I went to I always failed. Thank God that's not happening anymore, because I don't think I would get parts if I had to audition." Now roles come to her, but, she said, she need not make many decisions because not that many are offered. "The roles that come to me, I do, on the whole," she admitted.
In imagining the life of young American actors, Smith said, "What is truly difficult is that there isn't this chance to try, to learn, to experiment. When I started there were lots of repertory companies -- not that I got into them. Nevertheless there were these opportunities--you had to learn all these parts and get on with them. That doesn't happen anywhere now."
As for her own craft, she would like to be compared to the legendary British actor Paul Scofield (A Man for All Seasons, Quiz Show), "who has a huge ease onstage," she noted. "When he appears onstage you think, This is terrific; I don't have to worry about him; he's going to be perfectly all right. It's a wonderfully relaxing thing. It's almost a magical piece of equipment that he possesses."