Legendary South African born, UK-based actress Janet Suzman (Nicholas and
Alexandra) was in Cape Town recently to star in the new local film, Felix!
What do you say to someone who garnered Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA
nominations for her first ever film role; who has played all the great classical roles in
English theatre to great acclaim; and who last year was awarded the honour of Dame
Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her contribution to drama?
When I called Dame Janet Suzman in early October I was so overawed that I blurted
out the words “amazingly illustrious career,’ to which she just laughed.
“My career is “illustriously’ enhanced by playing this role in Felix!’ she quipped in her
booming, stage-perfect voice. “Felix! isn’t my first South African movie. A long time
ago I made a Nadine Gordimer movie, as well as an insane TV series with Pieter Dirk-
Uys called Going Down Gorgeous. Now I’m thrilled to be back in South Africa to do
this enchanting new film,’ said Suzman.
Directed by Roberta Durrant of Penguin Films, Felix! is described as “Billy Elliot with
Cape jazz’. It centres on a township teenager who wins a music scholarship to an
elite school.
Suzman plays Mrs Cartwright, the English teacher. She continued: “The best stories
are about people who the audience has to love and who are faced with incredible
hurdles and who overcome them. Felix! has the classic fairy tale structure.
“When my agent sent me the script I found myself turning the pages with eagerness.
Mrs Cartwright is a bit like she sounds – the sort of twinkly English teacher that we
all wish we’d had at school.’
The home country
Born in 1939 in Johannesburg, Suzman grew up in a leftist family, in the midst of
apartheid.
“I left South Africa in the early 1960s, not to become an actress but because it was
so bloody awful living here. My whole generation at Wits University got the hell out of
the country. Life was unbearable in those days. If I’d stayed I would have got into
trouble as I’ve always been a lefty. My darling mother encouraged me to leave South
Africa,’ explained Suzman.
When she arrived in England Suzman didn’t have an actual career plan. She’d dabbled
a bit in acting during her English studies at Wits but had never had the burning desire
to be an actress.
“I fell into acting, largely because I’d become infatuated with English literature while
at Kingsmead School (in Johannesburg). In England something inside me urged me to
find out more about the art of acting. I auditioned for three drama schools and got
accepted into all three.’
Suzman chose the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art for her studies. In 1963
she was invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).
“Shakespeare is the springboard for everything else in drama and once you enter into
his world, it’s so strange, so fierce and so weird,’ she commented.
Hollywood not calling
Playing her first ever film role back in 1971, as the ill-fated Empress Alexandra of
Russia in Nicholas and Alexandra, Suzman scored Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA
nominations and seemed set for a glittering career in Hollywood.
“At the time it did seem that the amazing panorama of Hollywood would open up for
me. But it didn’t happen. Hollywood has limited vision, the last thing they see you in
is the only thing they want to see you in and there weren’t many “empress roles’
around at the time. I did wonder about what it might be like to be a Hollywood star
but it wasn’t a deep desire,’ she said.
The lack of Hollywood roles certainly didn’t hold Suzman back. She went on to a
stellar career in theatre, starring in lead roles in the plays of Chekhov, Ibsen, Marlow,
Shaw and Shakespeare, among others. She has also appeared in many television
productions and films such as Nuns on the Run, A Dry White Season, The
Draughtsman’s Contract and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg.
When I asked Suzman which medium she prefers – theatre, film or TV – she reminded
me about another important dramatic medium – radio.
“I don’t have a preference as radio, TV, theatre and film are all part of the same art.
If an actor doesn’t move between them then they’re not really an actor.
Someone once said to me that radio is the best movie in the world. Radio drama is a
very English thing although we used to do it in the old days at the South African
Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Now there seems to be only talk radio on the SABC
and no drama which is a shame.’
On the subject of radio I couldn’t help commenting on Suzman’s magnificent voice.
She responded: “If you have a flexible, huge voice it’s a big plus in acting, especially
for theatre. I don’t think people use their voices much anymore because they don’t
use language. They mutter.
“The voice is an actor’s instrument and it’s an expressive instrument. It’s unnecessary
for film and TV but essential for radio and theatre.’
Running out of roles
Suzman admitted that she no longer gets offered as many roles as she used to,
because of her age.
“In fact, I’ve just written a book on the subject – it’s called Not Hamlet: Meditations
on the Frail Position of Women in Drama. In it I ponder on the fact that there are few
great parts for women and even less for women of my vintage. Actresses of a certain
age just run out of parts, apart from “jokey’ roles like Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey
or Judi Dench in the James Bond franchise.
“Men, on the other hand, can go on and on, playing villains, cowboys and heroes.
Acting is a very crippled profession and it doesn’t truly reflect half the world’s
population.’
Suzman gleefully told me that the book has been very well received with lots of
positive reviews.
Michael Boyd, artistic director of the RSC, describes her book as: “A thoughtful and
considered kick up the arse to conspiracy theorists and to patriarchy.’
By Joanna Sterkowicz
Screen Africa magazine – November / December 2012
