Full circle for Nadia Parkes as she makes professional stage debut in Chichester

Nadia Parkes makes a professional stage debut in The House Party by Laura Lomas in Chichester’s Minerva Theatre.

Transcript

00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Groups Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now, lovely

00:06to speak to Nadia Parks, who is coming to Chichester Festival Theatre for the opening

00:11play in the Minerva season, which is The House Party, a modern adaptation of Strindberg's

00:15Miss Julie. But the really exciting thing, Nadia, is this is your professional stage

00:20debut and there's a remarkable story behind that. In so far as you've come full circle

00:26to be here. Tell me what happened. So when I auditioned for Lambda, gosh, how many years

00:35ago now? Probably seven. Yeah, no, no more than that. Nine, nine years ago, I think.

00:43I auditioned to get into Lambda with a monologue from Patrick Marber's version of Miss Julie.

00:51I used a Julie monologue and I got into Lambda, three years, and now the first play that I'm

00:58ever doing and taking to stage with is the exact same character that got me into drama

01:04school in the first place. Extraordinary. Is that a chance? Did you seek this out or

01:08did it just come your way? I mean, it just, it literally just came my way. And I do know

01:13for a fact that when I first ever looked at the email, I got goosebumps all the way through

01:18my body. And I had a moment of a slight knowing that this was going to come my way. I don't

01:25always get that on jobs, but I looked at the email, I looked at the character and I was

01:30just filled with this kind of rush. Oh, I was going to say that's incredibly spooky,

01:35isn't it? Does it make you feel like there's some sort of hand of fate steering you? What

01:41is it? How do you process when something like that happens? I think, do you know what it

01:46makes me feel? It just makes me feel so looked after. And so like, I'm in the exact right

01:52place at the right time. And that there was actually, there's a plan in play for my, that's

01:57what it makes me feel. It makes me feel like there's a plan in play for my life. And the

02:01way back then, that plan was in action. And I just didn't know it yet. And it kind of

02:07makes me look back on the really nervous, like auditionee who had no idea that I would

02:16actually get to do what I love for a living ever. And it makes me look back and just want

02:21to give that young girl who was practising her Julie monologue in the mirror before going

02:28down to London to do the big audition. And it just makes me want to give her a hug and

02:32say like, you're fine. You're going to, you actually are going to do this role as your

02:37first ever stage debut. Isn't that extraordinary? And it's the most massive indication, isn't

02:43it, of your journey so far. And the lovely thing is that Julie in this piece is a character

02:48you love. Not that you have to love your character, but you are her great defender, aren't you?

02:53She does make bad decisions, but your job is to understand why, isn't it?

02:58Yeah, totally. I have so much empathy and so much heart and love for Julie, especially

03:06in Laura's adaptation. She's just written her so beautifully and so complex. And, you know,

03:14on paper, she might come across kind of awful at times, bitchy, vulgar, all of these things.

03:24But I think when you really unpack it and get to the bottom of it, it's just a girl who's

03:29so lost and needs love and is so lonely and hurt. And that's really my job. Like you said,

03:37it's my job to protect her and look after her and not judge her and do her justice.

03:44Well, it sounds really lovely and intriguing and exciting start to the Minerva season.

03:49Congratulations on the stage debut. How wonderful that's in this and really lovely to speak to you.

03:55Thank you so much for your time.

03:57So great to talk to you. Thank you so much, Phil.

03:59All right.