Just as it is for the two other members of the cast, The Caretaker is Jack Riddiford’s first Harold Pinter.
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00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now, I really
00:07can't wait for The Caretaker in the Minerva, Harold Pinter, revived in the Minerva, directed
00:13by Justin Oviere, the theatre's artistic director, just the three actors in it, one of whom is
00:19Jack Riddiford, you are playing Mig. Now, this is your first Pinter, and really interestingly,
00:25you said, when we were speaking just now, that you kind of avoided Pinter for a while
00:30out of fear. What was that fear? And is that fear evaporating now?
00:37I did, yeah, I did. Like I said earlier, it was kind of a similar fear when I first got
00:46into acting that I had towards Shakespeare, where I knew I liked it, but there was this
00:55fear of rules, or people's opinions, or ways that these characters should be done, and
01:02these characters have such weight. Like I eventually found with Shakespeare, is that
01:10you just have to find your own love for it. And now I am discovering that with Pinter.
01:18I always loved watching Pinter. It was like I felt like I didn't have the key to get in.
01:27You're gaining that key now, are you?
01:30I think so, yeah, because you find your own love for it. Pinter is just realism. Pinter
01:40is, again, like I said earlier, Pinter isn't a style, Pinter is just realism. These pauses
01:56in these things, they are active, they have intentions behind them.
02:01And you're saying one of the rewards for doing this is that it is so challenging, isn't it?
02:06One of the toughest scripts to learn you've ever had.
02:10Yeah, it's relentless. It's absolutely relentless. And you have to be active with it, otherwise
02:15it swallows you up. You can't leave any room for sitting back and observing. I feel, in my
02:29personal opinion, to serve this text, and to serve this play, you have to be active, front-footed.
02:36Even within the pauses, even in silence, even in the stillness, they're not just...
02:46It's not just a pause or a silence for the sake of a silence. Those things need to be full.
02:54Fantastic. Well, it's a lovely prospect to see this in the Minerva before too long.
02:59Really lovely to speak to you, Jack. Thank you ever so much for your time.
03:05Thank you.