Robert Lindsay Interview: His Early Memories Of Theatre In Nottingham
Title
Robert Lindsay Interview: His Early Memories Of Theatre In Nottingham
Date
24 October 2019
Description
Oral history interview with Robert Lindsay, an award- winning local actor and performer who has appeared on stage, TV and Broadway
What's the story?
Robert Lindsay was born in 1949 in Ilkeston and attended the local Gladstone Boys school and Clarendon College, Nottingham, before attending RADA.
He has performed in the West End, on Broadway and with the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as on TV and film; amongst his awards are 2 Olivier Awards, a Tony and a BAFTA.
In this interview Robert recalls the Nottingham theatre scene in his youth and the influence of visiting the theatre to see Peter Schaffer's play 'The Royal Hunt of The Sun'
The nice thing is, I’ve always felt Derby and Nottingham were my two homes. Nottingham is my spiritual home, really. My cultural home because when I was at Clarendon College, which is now called New College, which is where they have the Goose Fair, I was here between ’66 and ’68. And I was also working at that the Nottingham Playhouse. And I always thought when I was at Clarendon that Nottingham was the centre of the world culturally. And then the big occasion was seeing the National Theatre’s production of The Royal Hunt of the Sun, Peter Shaffer’s play which I saw here.
I’d seen many, many productions when I was a kid at Gladstone Boys’, where I was educated in Ilkeston, and we used to come on school trips to the Theatre Royal to see The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore, which really wasn’t my cup of tea at all, I was never a Gilbert and Sullivan fan, but my art master, John Lally, was. He was a huge supporter of this theatre and the theatre in general and he loved D’Oyly Carte and in fact all the school plays we ever did had D’Oyly Carte music in it. But the first time I came here would have been a panto when I was up in the Gods and I’d probably be about 8 or 9, so that would have been 1958/59. And that had a huge impact on my life as well.
He has performed in the West End, on Broadway and with the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as on TV and film; amongst his awards are 2 Olivier Awards, a Tony and a BAFTA.
In this interview Robert recalls the Nottingham theatre scene in his youth and the influence of visiting the theatre to see Peter Schaffer's play 'The Royal Hunt of The Sun'
The nice thing is, I’ve always felt Derby and Nottingham were my two homes. Nottingham is my spiritual home, really. My cultural home because when I was at Clarendon College, which is now called New College, which is where they have the Goose Fair, I was here between ’66 and ’68. And I was also working at that the Nottingham Playhouse. And I always thought when I was at Clarendon that Nottingham was the centre of the world culturally. And then the big occasion was seeing the National Theatre’s production of The Royal Hunt of the Sun, Peter Shaffer’s play which I saw here.
I’d seen many, many productions when I was a kid at Gladstone Boys’, where I was educated in Ilkeston, and we used to come on school trips to the Theatre Royal to see The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore, which really wasn’t my cup of tea at all, I was never a Gilbert and Sullivan fan, but my art master, John Lally, was. He was a huge supporter of this theatre and the theatre in general and he loved D’Oyly Carte and in fact all the school plays we ever did had D’Oyly Carte music in it. But the first time I came here would have been a panto when I was up in the Gods and I’d probably be about 8 or 9, so that would have been 1958/59. And that had a huge impact on my life as well.
Type
Oral interview
Location of item
Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Rights
Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Contributor
Interviewers: Diane Jones and Jennifer Sherwood
Transcriber: David Chilton
Transcriber: David Chilton