Réflexions sur le Théâtre

"This dates from my childhood. I went to the French Lycée in London, and used to go on French exchanges. My hero in Britain was of course Laurence Olivier, and I quickly discovered that in France, the great actor was Jean-Louis Barrault; he was France’s Olivier. When I was a teenager, I got a summer holiday job in Switzerland. I stayed with a family, speaking English to their children, and learning French from them. The mother of the household had been an actress, Gabrielle de Tourbillon. As I left, she gave me a present, and it was this book: Réflexions sur le Théâtre. What is amazing is that he, Jean-Louis Barrault, had given it to her. There’s a charming message inside, to Mme Tourbillon, then one from her handing the book on to me. It’s a fascinating book. Basically it’s his autobiography, but also it gives you a very different approach to theatre. It introduced me to the serious intent of French theatre . There’s a different style of acting in France, or there used to be. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . Just as I’d been a sort of groupie to Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh and Joan Plowright, I became a groupie to Jean-Louis Barrault and his wife Madeleine Renaud. I would go to the theatre in Paris when they were performing. I learned something very interesting from Jean-Louis Barrault: during the 1960s, when there were riots, he put on a play in a boxing ring. It was amazing. He made the point that theatre is not about the building – it’s about what’s happening on the stage. So I choose this one because it introduces us to a different kind of world. The French, they have Racine. This extraordinary poetry. It works quite differently to the way Shakespeare works. The comedy of Molière works differently to our … no, actually, Moliere is more like our comedy, but Corneille, Racine, are totally different, and this book introduced me to them. I still go to the theatre in Paris whenever I can."