I contacted the press person for the company in order to set up an interview with Robertson. When he called back, he said that Toby had suggested that we see their current show, HAMLET, and then meet afterwards for the interview. He said that way we would have a point of reference to what the company was about. Despite the fact that we didn't really want to see yet another production of HAMLET, we reluctantly agreed.
On the appointed evening, at the intermission, the press person sought us out to inform us that Toby had been called out of town at the last minute. He said that the actor playing Hamlet, who was also a founding member of the Prospect, would meet with us instead. Although we were impressed with his psychological approach to the role of Hamlet, his name really didn't connect with us. With little choice, if we wanted to find out first hand about the company, we genially said that would be fine.
At the end of the show, we were taken to a pub around the corner from the theatre, to wait for the actor to get out of his costume and make-up. When he arrived, introductions were made, and I placed my tape recorder on the table while we talked. The waitresses kept coming around and fussing over our star, making sure his drinks were replenished, and it was apparent that he was a special VIP, and a regular here after the show each night. We talked about the Prospect Theatre, its actors, history, mission, and plans for the future. It was a very relaxed atmosphere as we discussed all these things --- as though we were all old friends just talking about theatre, our favorite subject.
Then we talked about him, and his plans for upcoming projects. He told us he was coming to New York in two months for a press conference arranged by WNET for the Shakespeare series, which he was part of. He expressed a feeling of anxiety and nervousness about the press event, and said he didn't know anyone in New York. As new 'old friends', we said we would come to the press conference to give him moral support. He seemed obviously pleased by this, especially after we told him that Debbi worked at WNET, and that we were friends of Lynn Redgrave, who was also part of the Shakespeare series, and would presumably be at the conference also. We all parted satisfied with our encounter.
Whenever we were in London, we used a friend's office as our base of operations. The day after our interview, we told our friend how disappointed we were that we weren't able to talk to Toby Robertson, but that we met this very affable and unassuming member of the company. We told her that we had actually made plans to see him in New York in two months. When we said, "His name is Derek Jacobi", she literally jumped to her feet with excitement. She couldn't understand why we weren't excited about meeting him, and couldn't believe how laid-back we were about it all.
She asked if he had told us about his television series. We said he had talked about the Shakespeare series, and that he was also in I CLAUDIUS, which was currently being shown in New York. She wanted to hear our tape, and it was only then that we discovered that he hadn't said he was "in" I CLAUDIUS, but that he was Claudius in I CLAUDIUS!
We then had a good laugh at ourselves --- we had obviously come across to Derek and the press person as the most blase and 'cool' people in the theatre world, because we were hesitant to talk to Derek Jacobi, who at that time was the hottest British actor around! We foolishly didn't associate him with his Claudius character, a stuttering old man, as opposed to the handsome actor we had spent so much time with. We hadn't done our homework in preparation for the interview, but the result was still a resounding success.
Both Debbi and I went on to do other interviews with Derek in the future, including an extensive one Debbi wrote for the American Way Magazine, aptly entitled "I, DEREK".
But for now, here is my piece which appeared in the April, 1978 issue of New York THEATRE Review.
