Saskia Reeves |
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Saskia Reeves has worked extensively for film and television. Her many film credits include Butterfly Kiss, Close My Eyes and December Bride. Television roles include In My Defence and A Christmas Carol. She is also well known for her theatre performances in Much Ado About Nothing for Cheek by Jowl, and Separation at Hampstead Theatre, which later transferred to the West End.
Used to playing strong women, such as Natalie in Close My Eyes, Saskia Reeves couldn’t wait to chill the listener with her reading of Nicci French’s Land of the Living.
You recently recorded the new Nicci French thriller, Land of the Living, for Penguin Audiobooks. Nicci's books are incredibly scary - how did you cope emotionally?
I read the book to myself before the recording and I found it very disturbing. It was terrifying and upsetting - Nicci French knows how to tell a horrifying thriller. But when I actually came to record the book, I found it really entertaining to frighten the listener with the story, to find different ways to thrill them with it. There's a big difference between experiencing the book as the audience and then as the storyteller.
Many of your roles have been women with some kind of jagged dysfunctional edge to their characters (e.g. Natalie in Close My Eyes, Miriam in Butterfly Kiss and Maria in Heart). What attracts you to a role?
If the part is as far away from the real me as possible! I like to pretend to be someone I'm not in real life; I like to disguise myself in different ways and especially if I get to work with talented and stimulating people. It's the collaboration that can really get me excited. (Not to mention the money!)
What are you reading at the moment?
I've started Northern Lights by Philip Pullman - it was given to me as a Christmas present and I haven't a clue what it's about yet. I'm also reading The Contented Little Baby Book by Gina Ford because my baby boy is still not sleeping very well. I've avoided this book up until now, and am reading it reluctantly!
Desert Island Discs time: of all the roles you've ever played, which are your three favourite and why?
One favourite would be the monologue for television, In My Defence - the character, Phillipa Monaghan, is a real person. I felt I'd done the best I could, I loved working with David Jones (the director), and I got a lot of other work from this job. Another favourite would be Melanie Jane Beetles in Smelling a Rat at the Hampstead Theatre, because she was lovably bonkers and I got to work with Mike Leigh. The third would be Miriam in Butterfly Kiss because I got to work with Michael Winterbottom (the director) and alongside Amanda Plummer (Saskia's co-star), and had the chance to really invent that character ... and I didn't have to wear any make-up.
If not acting, what would be your dream job?
There are many dream jobs I can think of, but one would be a DJ - like Lisa Loud or Princess Julia.
Digging around on the internet, I've discovered you began your acting career doing puppet shows. Is that right? And if so, do you still do them?
I began my acting career with the Covent Garden Theatre Company, who would sometimes use puppets - but not the glove version, the more theatrical kind and much, much larger! My Dad built me a puppet theatre when I was a child, but aside from the puppets I entertain my son with, no I don't do puppet shows any more.
