FIRST IMPRESSIONS: CATHY TYSON
What are you working on at the moment?
Radiance: The Passion Of Marie Curie at the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick. I feel ecstatic.
When are you at your happiest?
I love to work well and I also love going to the sea; I love exercising and nature. So there are different things: nature, walking, work and dancing.
What is your greatest fear?
I don’t want to say that because I don’t want to pre-empt anything. I do have one but I haven’t thought about it for a long time. I’m human and as long as I’m human I will have fears. I suppose one of my greatest fears is probably dangerous dogs.
What is you earliest memory?
I lost a doll when I was younger and we went through the park to look for it. My mum was really great about making me feel okay about losing it.
What do you most dislike about yourself?
I’m having such a great time in my life at the moment, therefore disliking myself doesn’t really come into it. I’m probably in one of the happiest places in my life. Life begins at 40 – I always say I’m in the prime of my life.
Who has been your greatest influence?
My mother and father.
What is your most treasured possession?
My bicycle. And my home.
What trait do you most deplore in others?
Spitting and nose-picking.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My nails. I never pay any attention to them and I need to.
What is your favourite book?
Jane Eyre.
What is your favourite film?
Anything by director Ingmar Bergman but I don’t have one favourite film in particular.
Your favourite piece of music?
I just couldn’t say because my taste in music is so eclectic.
What is your favourite meal?
Jerk chicken with rice and peas.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Some of the Labour pioneers, such as Nye Bevan; some of the people from the suffragette era; Mary Wollstonecraft, advocate of women’s rights. But I would probably find them a little too intelligent for me – not to demote my own intelligence. But I don’t know if I could handle some of the concepts they thought about. Also Martin Luther King, Che Guevara, Michelle and Barack Obama, Liv Ullmann, Damian Lewis and Claire Danes.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
I’ve not had a lot of nasty stuff said to me, thankfully.
Do you believe in aliens?
I don’t actively think about them every day. I don’t actively believe or disbelieve.
What is your secret vice?
It’s too secret to reveal. It’s too private.
Do you write thank-you notes?
I do.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘Do you know what I mean?’
What would most improve the quality of your life?
To earn my living constantly by being creative. That’s what I’m working towards. And more sleep.
Tell us one thing people might not know about you.
I like maps. I love looking at them. I haven’t started collecting yet.
What would you like your epitaph to read?
‘Change is possible’.
Cathy Tyson is in Radiance: The Passion Of Marie Curie from 4 to 28 February at the Tabard Theatre, London W4: 020-8995 6035, www.tabardtheatre.co.uk
Radiance: The Passion Of Marie Curie at the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick. I feel ecstatic.
When are you at your happiest?
I love to work well and I also love going to the sea; I love exercising and nature. So there are different things: nature, walking, work and dancing.
What is your greatest fear?
I don’t want to say that because I don’t want to pre-empt anything. I do have one but I haven’t thought about it for a long time. I’m human and as long as I’m human I will have fears. I suppose one of my greatest fears is probably dangerous dogs.
What is you earliest memory?
I lost a doll when I was younger and we went through the park to look for it. My mum was really great about making me feel okay about losing it.
What do you most dislike about yourself?
I’m having such a great time in my life at the moment, therefore disliking myself doesn’t really come into it. I’m probably in one of the happiest places in my life. Life begins at 40 – I always say I’m in the prime of my life.
Who has been your greatest influence?
My mother and father.
What is your most treasured possession?
My bicycle. And my home.
What trait do you most deplore in others?
Spitting and nose-picking.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My nails. I never pay any attention to them and I need to.
What is your favourite book?
Jane Eyre.
What is your favourite film?
Anything by director Ingmar Bergman but I don’t have one favourite film in particular.
Your favourite piece of music?
I just couldn’t say because my taste in music is so eclectic.
What is your favourite meal?
Jerk chicken with rice and peas.
Who would you most like to come to dinner?
Some of the Labour pioneers, such as Nye Bevan; some of the people from the suffragette era; Mary Wollstonecraft, advocate of women’s rights. But I would probably find them a little too intelligent for me – not to demote my own intelligence. But I don’t know if I could handle some of the concepts they thought about. Also Martin Luther King, Che Guevara, Michelle and Barack Obama, Liv Ullmann, Damian Lewis and Claire Danes.
What is the nastiest thing anyone has ever said to you?
I’ve not had a lot of nasty stuff said to me, thankfully.
Do you believe in aliens?
I don’t actively think about them every day. I don’t actively believe or disbelieve.
What is your secret vice?
It’s too secret to reveal. It’s too private.
Do you write thank-you notes?
I do.
Which phrase do you most overuse?
‘Do you know what I mean?’
What would most improve the quality of your life?
To earn my living constantly by being creative. That’s what I’m working towards. And more sleep.
Tell us one thing people might not know about you.
I like maps. I love looking at them. I haven’t started collecting yet.
What would you like your epitaph to read?
‘Change is possible’.
Cathy Tyson is in Radiance: The Passion Of Marie Curie from 4 to 28 February at the Tabard Theatre, London W4: 020-8995 6035, www.tabardtheatre.co.uk