Juliet Stevenson: I need to speak about Gaza, otherwise I'd go mad

Times

7 hours ago

In my last year at school I bought David Bowie's Hunky Dory and Imagine by John Lennon. I was getting very politicised around the age of 16, and I was interested in music that was about the world, not just love songs. I've always sought to make work that speaks to the world we're living in now and I never thought those musical influences were part of that, but now I see they must have been.
Seeing Richard II at the Royal Shakespeare Company when I was 16 changed my life. I saw it six times that year. I'd hitch up to Stratford-upon-Avon from Surrey, get a 50p ticket at the box office and stand. Teach Shakespeare in school, but for heaven's sake get those kids to say it out loud and feel the energy of the words.
I grew up on military bases abroad because my father was an army officer, so reading was a big part of our entertainment. I adored The Famous Five, not least because I ardently identified with George. She's probably still one of my greatest role models. I was not a little girl who wanted to wear dresses and play with dolls, I was headstrong and outdoorsy.
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Women in Love. I was about 15 and at boarding school in England. We all put lipstick on and snuck out and stood on our tiptoes at the box office to look older. It was life-changing — so sexy and hot and mad.
I liked Glenda Jackson because she wasn't overly glamorous like other movie stars when I was growing up. She had this incredibly striking intellect. I've always been looking to get out of the traditional boxes that women in our industry are placed in. I didn't act because I saw glamorous women on TV, I acted because I wanted to communicate human experience. When I joined Rada I was 18 — I didn't wear make-up and had my hair all over my face. They'd say: 'Juliet, you've got to cut your hair, put make-up on.' I'd go: 'What's that got to do with anything?'
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I was undergoing a medical procedure that, let's just say, was of a very private nature. Partway through, the doctor said to me: 'By the way, my wife so enjoyed your Hedda Gabler.' Anonymity had never seemed sweeter. While I don't really get overwhelmed by fame, I do feel an obligation to use my platform to speak about Gaza. The narrative has been so outrageously distorted, and when I read reports about what's happening, I don't know what to do with myself. Activism is my way of processing that, otherwise I'd go mad.
I was hanging on to the end of flower power in the late Seventies so I'd wear hot-pant dungarees that were very short shorts with a bib that I'd stitched flowers on to. One of my greatest joys now is swapping clothes with my daughter.
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When I was 18 I volunteered in a home for disabled people in Hackney. One of the young women, Kim, was only 15 and she was crazy about Donny Osmond, so I took her to his concert at Earls Court. It was quite intimidating walking into that huge auditorium packed with screaming girls, especially with a teenage girl in a wheelchair also screaming.
I have no idea when or how I saw it, but I just remember weeping and weeping at Whistle Down the Wind. It's an exquisite black-and-white film about the loss of innocence. I'd probably still cry if I watched the whole thing now.
I still pinch myself. I never even thought I'd get into Rada. I was so odd. I'm frightened every time I perform, but I think when you lose fear, you probably get quite boring.
The Land of the Living is at the National Theatre, London, Sep 9-Nov 1. King & Conqueror starts on BBC1 tonight at 9.10pm
What are some of your formative cultural experiences? Let us know in the comments below