Cultural Life: Sophie Thompson, actress

(Rex)

Books: I must confess that I'm not a great reader. At the moment I'm reading my son's Stig of the Dump by Clive King and I've got a plant catalogue on the go. I have an allotment and I dream about plants. Whenever I go to my gran's house in Scotland I dip into the Kenneth Williams diaries.

Film: I took my children to see Son of Rambow, about two boys who make a home movie with a video camera. When you have children, culturally you become involved in their life. We went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I think Harrison Ford is top banana. The skull was a bit dodgy; I felt it should have been a bit more crystal-like because of the title of the film.

Music: My husband and kids introduced me to Clayhill and Ben & Jason. I'd just put Van Morrison on and be happy. I like to sing along to Annie Lennox and pretend to be as sassy as her. I'm a Radio 4 addict, and I love listening to people chatting.

Theatre/opera: I am an opera virgin; I'd far prefer to see a musical such as Guys and Dolls. I love the theatre, though. I love the curtain opening when the pretend world is revealed. God of Carnage is a brilliant, funny play by Yasmina Reza. I saw Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea with Greta Scacchi at the Vaudeville Theatre; very sad and touching. I wanted to visit the Vaudeville because it's where I'm performing in The Female of the Species. I want to see Harper Regan at the National, The Good Soul of Szechuan at the Young Vic and Pygmalion at the Old Vic.

Visual arts: I love paintings, but as I ran past the Royal Academy the other day, I felt so frustrated I didn't have time to stop. I live in north London, and there's an English eccentric who paints discarded chewing gum on the pavement. I did go to a lovely exhibition of life-size bronze sculptures by Christopher Marvell; if I were horribly wealthy, I'd buy a few.

'The Female of the Species' opens at the Vaudeville Theatre, London WC2 (0844 412 4663) on 16 July