Observations

[mtvessel]

Jan 2018
That's Another Story - Julie Walters – Phoenix, 2009
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As anyone who has seen an episode of the Graham Norton chat show will know, actors are, in general, a rather vacuous lot. Obviously, to some extent this is because the celebrity interviewee is just another role that they play, but it is also, I think, because at its heart, acting is about observing people without judgement or opinion, a habit that must become ingrained with practice. Which is great for developing memorable characters on stage and screen, but tends to make for rather dull autobiographies which all too often devolve into a collection of the honed anecdotes about other actors and life on set or stage that the chat show circuit demands.

Now I would be lying if I said that I don't enjoy gossip and tittle-tattle about famous people, but in general I consider my precious reading time to be better spent on other things. So it is to the credit of this book that the name-dropping and stories of the acting life that are the hallmark of celebrity autobiographies don’t begin until halfway through. The early part of the book is about Walters' lower middle-class upbringing in 1950s Birmingham, and is full of powerful sensory observations that show why she is one of the best actors of her generation. The stories of finding her Christmas presents in the mahogany wardrobe in her parents' room (and a used condom under their bed), or suddenly being able to swim in the municipal pool after a dream that she could do it, or trips to Blackpool with a car-sick brother, are powerfully evocative of the period. As are her stories of being a nurse (a career imposed on her by her mother), particularly the gruesomely hilarious tale of Mrs Kent and the green pea soup.

Eventually, of course, acting comes calling, and the book becomes more of a conventional actor's memoir, complete with tales of dodgy digs, local theatre and namechecks of other actors, including Jonathan Pryce, Pete Postlethwaite and Victoria Wood. She talks about her iconic roles - Mrs Overall in Wood's spoof of cheap soap operas, Acorn Antiques, and the titular character in Willy Russell's Educating Rita - but to be honest, they are basically chat show anecdotes, entertaining but hardly surprising. Still, the early part of this autobiography amply demonstrates Walters' keen eye for telling detail and this comes out in her acting. A luvvie she may be, but vacuous she is not.