I'm a guest there and so I never try and impose I've never personally surfed, and this might sound odd to you, but I've sat for hours and watched this love affair between the surfer and she who is the ocean. In Cornwall, everybody seems to know everybody else, and has done for a long time. I'm a guest there, and so I never try and impose.Have you ever thought about surfing since being there?You see farmers' daughters walking alongside surfers, which is a cute look I like that look. When I lived in London, I loved the different types of people and the different cultures, and sometimes I miss that, but they come down and visit me - and I think they like it. The renovation will divide the house into two flats, each with four rooms and a bathroom, which should help to boost the future rental income."The £10,000 is a fair chunk but not a life-altering loss if things don't work out," says Mr Lester. "We were all receiving low returns on our money from UK banks."The average house price in France has risen by 6 per cent a year for the past three years, according to figures from Abbey National France's mortgage service. Although this compares unfavourably to the UK - where annual house price inflation is at 12 per cent - some parts of France popular with British second-home buyers have seen a much greater increase.Andrew Barnes is director of The French Property Company, which operates in Pyr?es-Orientales, the coastal region in the south-east of the country. Here, he says, property prices have surged by 20 per cent a year since 1998 - though not to the sort of level that has priced Spain out of the market for British buyers.In general, adds Mr Barnes, "France has lots of areas people can focus on. Controversial stuff!You featured in the 1998 Tim Roth vehicle The Legend of 1900.
Was that a good experience and would you like to do more film work?Fabulous experience. I am currently involved in an Aids storyline where my character Edward, a Nigerian businessman, is on the brink of marrying a British doctor of Nigerian parentage infected with the HIV virus. The only thing lagging behind, it seems, is the training and empowerment of more black and Asian theatre directors, administrators and senior managers leading our theatres. I am confident however that this is being addressed as we speak.What's it like working on Westway, the World Service's favourite soap?Fantastic! The soap is the toast of the BBC and is reaching more listening audiences worldwide. It is a relief, however, to witness in recent times British theatre fast becoming an exemplary yardstick for the world in its approach to embracing writers of colour, imaginative casting and consistent, culturally diverse initiatives. Is this a typical example of attitudes in the theatre?The unfortunate incident occurred three years ago and though the theatre in question claimed at the time that they were acting honourably under very extreme circumstances, I would love to think that the Macpherson report has changed the way in which managers of our theatres now approach sensitive challenges of this sort. I would also love to think that the incident was a one-off, and not a polarised example of how theatres across the spectrum behave. The name simply translates as "theatre of the emancipated".At a conference on institutional racism last year, you described an incident in which actors from your company were accused of stealing. Anyway, it was my first acting stint ever and my mates wouldn't stop talking about my booming roar for weeks, and the rest is history.Why did you decide to found your theatre company Tiata Fahodzi and what's the significance of the name?Tiata Fahodzi was founded in 1998 with the sole aim to maintain a qualitative place for culturally diverse work within the present theatrical landscape through the constant exploration of the richness and heritage of African theatre traditions. I remember it being Jack and the Beanstalk, and as I was the only black kid in the school, I think my teacher thought it imaginative for me to play the Ogre, or maybe it was because I had a big mouth and I could scream the loudest, I'm still trying to work it out 30 years on. A near impossible task.At what point in your life did you decide to go into acting? I was 10 years old when I was picked for the end of year school play. Has it been a big challenge for the actors?The process for this particular production has been the most challenging in my entire career as it has involved attempting to transpose to a huge rehearsal room in west Yorkshire, the legacies and idiosyncrasies peculiar to one of the most powerful and influential tribes in Africa. |
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