Interview: Sarah Woodward Talks QUIZ at Noël Coward Theatre

Award-winning actress Sarah Woodward is about to follow the cast of James Graham's Quiz as they move into the Noël Coward Theatre from Chichester.

Did you go to the theatre a lot as a child?

Yes, a lot. My parents used to take me to the theatre very often. I've seen loads of shows, some of which I remember, most of which I don't. I loved it from a very early age.

What was one of your favourites?

I think probably my favourite was The Tempest with John Gielgud playing Prospero, at the Haymarket Theatre. I remember going backstage afterwards and meeting him - the whole meeting was incredible.

You come from a family of actors - did you feel pressured to get into acting?

I didn't really. When I was younger I didn't want anything to do with it. I liked the theatre but I didn't want to be an actress, I found the whole thing a bit boring. My whole family were doing it, my brothers wanted to be actors, were actors, are actors now, so there was nothing else that was talked about. Dinner parties at home were always with actors.

So it wasn't something that I wanted to do, and I thought I should rebel and do something else. But to be honest even at an early age I didn't know quite well what I liked doing. By the time I was 17 I thought, no, I want to do it actually. Then I was swayed - not by my parents at all, they would have encouraged me to do anything but, probably.

You trained at RADA - did you like your time there?

I loved RADA. I didn't go to university, at that point I wanted to go straight to drama school. I got into RADA and then I had the most fun. It was incredible - I'd spent my whole youth in girls' schools and girls' boarding schools. Then suddenly I was there with boys and girls, in London, doing what I loved doing! They were the most incredible two and a half years.

Was there something you wish you'd known before you started acting professionally?

I wish I'd known to prepare for auditions better, I think. We weren't taught good audition techniques, which I believe everybody does now and rightly so. Back then RADA was all about after you'd got the job rather than trying to get a job. I wish I'd been better at auditioning in my youth - that would have been a good lesson to learn.

What was your first professional job?

I went to the Royal Shakespeare Company and I played various maids, boys, tarts, I was carrying spears and nothing else. I was in Stratford-upon-Avon for a year and then in London for a year. By the time I was doing my second year there I was doing some parts, which was great.

Doing that was a bit of a dream job - and we're talking about the early 1980s, it was a great time to be there. Antony Sher was playing Richard III and Branagh was doing Henry V, it was a great time.

What is Quiz about?

It's the basic story about Charles and Diana Ingram, the couple who immeasurably defrauded the show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?. It's about how they cheated their way to a million pounds but it's also about the distortion of the media and how we believe what we're told, basically. It's all about fake news, I guess, truths and lies of the media.

And how the cold case of the Ingrams was manipulative and there was no real evidence to convict them, but they were. Within that, I play quite a few characters, but my main is QC Woodley, the defence lawyer for the Ingrams. We don't use the real transcripts - lots of it is factual, but we go off slightly different tangents.

We give the audience the chance to vote too, whether they think they're guilty or not guilty. They get two chances to do so: one in the first half, when you have the case for the prosecution, and then again at the end of the second half, when they've heard what we believe is the truth.

What often happened when we've done the show before is that the voting changes, and the majority of guilty and not guilty are very different in the first half than in the second half.

Intertwined in all that is the story of gameshows and competitions and how addicted we are - especially us British, we like our competitions. It's fast-paced show, lots of different characters, and the audience gets to participate as well. It's got a bit of everything.

Do you think there's a difference in playing a character who's based on a real person from playing someone entirely fictional?

There's always much more pressure to play a real person. But I wouldn't say that I'm necessarily judging or basing my character on the real QC, because none of the things I say are things that she said.

So I'm not trying to be autobiographical or true to that woman. The only thing that's the same is her name, it's not about those people apart form the Ingrams, obviously, and Chris Tarrant. The prosecution and defence lawyers are very different.

How would you describe your character?

She's incredibly smart and strong. Strong-willed, she stands up for what's real, the proper truth. She's determined to get her clients off the charges. She believes in the truth and tells the truth every time, which is very rare in the world of the play.

Do you think it's going to be different to perform the show for a West End audience coming from Chichester?

I don't think it'll be that different, no. The voting may be slightly more liberal, but it will be fascinating to see the reception. London might get a few more tourists who might be confused, but I doubt it will be majorly different. If you're coming to see the show you already have an inkling about what it's about for sure.

What can the audience expect from Quiz?

A fast-paced show that they won't stop talking about for days, possibly weeks after they've seen it. It's a fascinating piece, and they'll be arguing about whether they're guilty or not guilty for a long time.

Quiz runs at Noël Coward Theatre from 31 March.