Cultural Life: Ben Whishaw, Actor
Friday, 4 July 2008
BBC
Ben Whishaw: "At the moment I'm not managing to read much more than Dostoyevsky's The Idiot because I'm working on a multimedia adaptation of it on stage at the National Theatre"
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Books
At the moment I'm not managing to read much more than Dostoyevsky's The
Idiot because I'm working on a multimedia adaptation of it on stage at
the National Theatre. I first read it when I was 18 or 19. I couldn't have
understood much of it but it stirred my imagination. I find I understand it
more on a deeper level now. My other man of the moment is the 12th-century
Persian mystic and whirling dervish and poet Rumi. I read his poems every
day. They are teaching me how to live.
Film
I'm watching a lot of Andrei Tarkovsky films – partly because our director
Katie Mitchell is crazy about him and he's an important reference in our
work, and partly just because they're so beautiful. My favourite is Stalker.
There's a scene where a little girl moves a glass across a table without
touching it which I'm especially fond of.
Music
I'm enjoying this Estonian composer, Veljo Tormis. It's strange choral music
based on Baltic folk melodies. It's very intense, pure and hypnotic. And I'm
still listening to PJ Harvey's White Chalk almost every day. Her
music is like a friend to me.
Theatre
The last play I saw was Piranha Heights by Philip Ridley at the Soho
Theatre. It was extraordinary and very moving. It put me in a kind of
trance. I love the way he writes about fantasy, truth, honesty and lies with
such courage, passion, humour and poetry. I think he's a true original.
Art
I just visited Dungeness and saw Derek Jarman's amazing garden. Out of this
quite blank and bleak terrain sprouts this wonderful beauty. I don't
understand how the plants and flowers manage to live on the shingle and
pebbles, but they do. There are weird plants that look like you'd find them
at the bottom of the ocean. And odd sculptures built from junk the sea's
washed up. It feels magical.
Ben Whishaw is appearing in 'Some Trace of Her', directed by Katie Mitchell and inspired by Dostoyevsky's 'The Idiot', opening in the Cottesloe Theatre on 30 July, previews from 23 July. (020-7452 3000)
