Miriam Margolyes Acts Up at Oxford Playhouse in Dickens' Women

Miriam Margolyes has always been larger than life, and interviewing her is a bit like being run over by a bus. But then that’s the attraction. You never know what she’s going to say, and she remains as unpredictable, passionate, controversial and forthright as always, which is no doubt why she’s still in such demand aged 71.

“I think my best attribute is my talent not my confidence,” she replies, taking me out with the first punch. “My talent is my best weapon and my confidence is an effervescent thing. Because I may appear that way but I’m often ridden with self doubt.”

Not that you’d know it, either on screen or off, although the ex-Oxford High School actress does keep jumping into hot water, as anyone who saw her on The Graham Norton Show will testify. A misunderstanding with the US rapper will.i.am spurned racist accusations which she brushed off immediately.

“You cannot take that seriously. It’s absolute b*****ks, and tiffle. We got on very well and he liked me. It must have been a slow news day. But I’m not worried about it. Not in the least.

“Because I do talk shows to sell things, in this case my Dickens’ Women show, to people who might not know about him, and people like Graham Norton are providing a service, which is why I enjoy his show.

“And why am I talking to you?” she asks raising one of her infamous eyebrows? “Because my job is to tell people about Dickens, that’s my mission, to get people reading him again. I’m interested in excellence and he’s the best there is.” So her one-woman show is going well then? “Triumphant, of course,” she replies.

Triumphant is also a good way to describe her career. With parts in Harry Potter, Romeo and Juliet, Blackadder, Wicked and Babe, Miriam is still in huge demand. “Well, you take what you can get when you’re an actress,” she says modestly, “but I’ve been lucky to have been in so many things that were popular. I have had a lovely career but my favourites? Dickens’ Women, the film Sunshine with Ralph Fiennes and End Game in the West End.”

Which sums it up really because Miriam is prolific on stage, screen and TV. “I’m lucky now that I’ve got more work than ever before and that I’m offered work all the time, but that was not always the case, there were months without work, full of angst,” she remembers.

Neither is her age hindering her. “The only way my age shows is in my knees, probably because they have had to carry an overweight body for so many years,” she chuckles. “But my energy levels are the same and I haven’t lost my marbles,” she adds unnecessarily.

“So, politically I am still very active and I make no apology for that. Human beings should care how the world is shaped around them and I’m Jewish and very proud of that, although I’m no longer a believer as it happens.

“But I voice my disgust at the government of Israel, which has created strong controversy, and I do a lot for charity, mainly illnesses, as my mother was a stroke victim. I make time for it because if you feel strongly about something you should get involved and if you are a minor celebrity you can use your name to raise money which is great. So when I was a student I was always marching against things like capital punishment,” she remembers.

Her upbringing also has a large part to play in Miriam’s make-up. Arriving during the Blitz, Miriam says the Margolyes family were made to feel most unwelcome when they first came to Oxford: “When we first arrived during the war as evacuees, our home having been blitzed in London, the Oxford people were very greedy and charged refugees £2.10 a night. I was in my mother’s tummy but there has always been that air of greed and superiority in Oxford – it’s the intellectual snobbery connected with the university,” she supposes.

And then she launches into an unprovoked rant against a property developer who bought her mother’s house in the city and turned it into flats. “They wouldn't let me back in to see it before it was pulled down, so you can write about that,” she says. “My mother’s stained glass window, which she designed was up on the stairs, and presumably they’d sold it or smashed it – disgusting! Greedy! I’d like that to be put in the paper. You can put that I’m ‘incandescent with rage and think it’s morally despicable’,” she adds dramatically.

But mention Oxford High School and the rage melts away: “Oh, Oxford High is the best school in the world,” she cries, “and I love it still. It had amazing teachers, and still has, and that to me is what Oxford is, and my memories with Oxford are all connected with my family and my school.

”So although my mother is the person who formed me, my school taught me about art and literature. Even at school I had a natural rebellious streak and I think that rebelliousness has stuck with me.”

Not that she stayed in North Oxford, eschewing Oxford for Cambridge University. “I’m glad I went to Cambridge because it’s the sensible thing to get away from home to help you grow up, but I knew I wanted to be an actress because I did a lot of plays and public speaking at school. I was just a general show off I suppose – the form wag,” she laughs.

Unsurprisingly, Miriam made an immediate impression there on stage. So presumably she read English? “ Well I began reading Anglo-Saxon but when I got there I realised no one spoke it, so I moved to English and they introduced me to Dickens. Before then I’d just read it for fun.

“And as it’s the 200-year anniversary of his birth, now was the time to do my one-man show,” she says leading us back to Dickens’ Women.

How much longer we’ll be able to enjoy Miriam though remains to be seen. Her partner is Australian and Miriam has houses here and Down Under: “I do love Australia and have applied for citizenship there so I can come and go and vote there which is important. But I would not sever my ties with England. And when I come to Oxford I am coming home.”

• Miriam Margolyes brings her show Dickens’ Women to Oxford Playhouse on Tuesday and Wednesday. Call the box office on 01865 305305 or see oxfordplayhouse.com