Monday, November 10, 2014

Sarah Waters: ‘As I get older I think less nimbly and feel more keenly’

Bestselling novelist Sarah Waters talks about why she has turned her attention to the stage for her next project

The Observer,


sarah waters
Sarah Waters photographed at the London Library, St James’s Square, London, by Richard Saker for the Observer.
Sarah Waters and I meet at what must surely be the best private members’ club in Britain, at least so far as bibliophiles are concerned: the London Library, in whose elegant rooms she likes to read, if not to write (she works on her books at home in south London). As a result, we begin our conversation in half-whispers, which seems rather appropriate in the circumstances. So, too, does her question to a member of the library’s staff about the lift (she wants to know if it is true, as he has heard, that it is haunted). The acclaimed author of six bestselling novels (most recently, The Paying Guests), she has now co-written a play, The Frozen Scream, with Christopher Green, an award-winning writer and performer. Based on a “lost” 1928 murder-mystery novel that came to be thought cursed following a series of unexplained deaths, it tells the story of a group stranded in an abandoned lodge in the depths of winter. To pass the time, they tell the tale of Jack Frost, the most terrifying of the frost giants…

So, you’ve written a play…
Yes. But it’s difficult to talk about. We don’t want people to know too much. The audience will be told to wear warm clothing and sensible footwear, and to expect the unexpected, but after that… We mustn’t give anything away.
More

No comments: