Katherine Parkinson & Giles Terera Talk About Theatre And Creativity

Katherine Parkinson & Gile Terra Talk About Theatre And Creativity

Celebrating BBC Lights Up, a major festival of UK theatre adapted for TV and radio at a time when theatres throughout the UK are closed, two of the stars of the season – Katherine Parkinson and Giles Terera – jumped on a Zoom call to chat about their advice for first-time writers, or anyone wanting to do something creative. 

Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd, Home, I’m Darling) stars in her own debut play Sitting, available on BBC iPlayer now, about three characters who reveal their personal truths while sitting for a silent painter in a play about love, loss and the importance of human connection. Giles Terera (Hamilton) stars in his own debut play The Meaning Of Zong,  available on BBC Sounds now, about the notorious massacre aboard the slave ship Zong in 1781. 

In response to the question ‘what would you say to someone watching this who wants to write a play or do anything creative’? Katherine said: “I would say don’t judge yourself and stop yourself from doing something. I think I spent far too long thinking that to try and tell a story would be to have tickets on myself. There are loads of stories you can tell… it doesn’t have to be your own story, it’s a story that you’ve heard that you’ve taken on the responsibility to tell.”

Giles, in response, referred to the smash hit musical Hamilton, for which he won an Oliver Award in 2018 for his portrayal of Aaron Burr, saying: “You have to get to a point where you say actually, if it’s something you believe in and something that you really want to tell, you have to find that and then just stick to it, and know that you’ve got every right to tell that story. Hamilton is a great example of someone who said ‘right, this is the story I’m going to tell, and I’m going to tell it. And it’s weird. Founding Fathers, hip-hop… but actually, stick to that, just do it, tell your story and then you can’t really go wrong.”

BBC Lights Up continues next week on BBC Four with the World Premiere of the Royal Shakespeare company’s new production of The Winter’s Tale directed by Erica Whyman, on Sunday 25 April at 7pm. This will be the first time a Royal Shakespeare company has had its world premiere on television, and with no plans for a live staging, the filmed adaptation is the only opportunity for audiences around the UK to view it. And on Monday 26 April at 10pm, Yasmin Joseph’s debut play, a new production of J’Ouvert, closes the season on BBC television.

Still to come on BBC Radio 3, the world premiere of Welcome To Iran written by Theatre Royal Stratford East Artistic Director Nadia Fall, which weaves an imagined narrative together with real-life stories to construct a tender and witty snapshot of culture and life in modern Iran. And Simon Russell Beale stars as musician and famous collector of English folk songs Cecil Sharp in Folk, originally commissioned by Hampstead Theatre.

All Lights Up plays that have already broadcast are available to watch on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds now.

Watch the Zoom chat between Katherine Parkinson and Giles Terera here.

Pictured: Mary in Sitting, played by Katherine Parkinson. Credit: BBC Avalon/David Monteith

 

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