美国国家公共电台 NPR Glenda Jackson Stands Tall, On And Off Stage

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

A generation after it won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, Edward Albee's "Three Tall Women" makes its Broadway debut¹. Three women of different generations - one in her 90s, one in her 50s, one in her 20s - are brought together around a death bed where they bark, joke, bicker² and compare their different vintages in life. A small but all-star cast gives vivacity³ to Albee's surgically⁴ sharp words - Alison Pill, Laurie Metcalf and, as the commanding dowager of the trio, Glenda Jackson, the Academy Award-winning actress, former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Commander of the British Empire and for 23 years, a member of Parliament. This is her first return to Broadway in 30 years. Glenda Jackson's in our studios. Thanks so much for being with us.

GLENDA JACKSON: It's entirely⁵ a pleasure. You shock me. Really, is it 30 years since I was last here? Goodness me.

SIMON: Well, we did the math, yeah.

JACKSON: Well, you've got good mathematicians⁶.

SIMON: Look, I know politicians are on stage, too, in their own way, but how does it feel to be back before the footlights?

JACKSON: One of the most surprising things - this is not my first return to the stage. It's my first return to Broadway.

SIMON: Yeah, in Britain.

JACKSON: Yes, I did "King Lear" at The Old Vic. And it's a theater I know because I worked there before, but what really amazed me was how - somebody said to me, oh, don't worry. It's like riding a bike. You'll never forget. And I thought, it's rather more complicated than riding a bike...

SIMON: (Laughter).

JACKSON: ...But in a strange way because actors have such a sense of communal⁷ need. You know, people - we all just worked together as though we'd been working together for years. It was amazing.

SIMON: What drew you to this role in "Three Tall Women?"

JACKSON: Oh, it's a marvelous, marvelous play, and it is such a treat to work with other actresses because it shocks me still that contemporary dramatists don't find women interesting. Usually, if there is a woman's part in the piece, there's only one, and so you've got no other actresses to work with. With this, there are just the three of us. And that is really thrilling to have that.

SIMON: In the second act, there - in "Three Tall Women," there's a flip⁸. The characters we think of as being separate become your character at different stages of her life. Did you and Laurie Metcalf and Alison Pill find yourselves trying to coordinate⁹ certain business to embody¹⁰ the same character?

JACKSON: Not that I think because he has written I think very accurately¹¹, Albee, and with great depth and perception our attitudes at different stages of our life. I'm talking about us as human beings, not exclusively women here. And so what is really interesting is how there are similarities, but they both diminish and increase over time. And that is something that you discover through doing the play. I mean, we're still discovering things that - I suddenly thought at one point in the evening when she's talking to her younger self, the criticism that she's making, my character, is criticism of herself. And that is something she realizes at that instant. And obviously, that reflects, then, in how you say the line.

SIMON: Yeah. Your character spends a lot of time explaining her life, her decisions, to her younger selves. And I wonder if doing this play occasionally prompts you to look into your own rich life.

JACKSON: No, not really because one of the guiding rules, for me anyway, of acting¹² is you have to see the world through the eyes of the character you're playing - good, bad, indifferent. That's your modus operandi. So reflecting on oneself, there are things within the play where obviously there are direct relation to my life's experiences, but then they're direct relation to everybody's experience, for example, who've lost their parents or things of that nature.

SIMON: I don't want to give away the ending, but these words are very well known - (reading) that's the happiest moment, when it's all done, when we stop, when we can stop.

How do you feel about that?

JACKSON: It varies, I mean, because, you know, every performance is different in that sense. Some nights, I'm quite teary; other nights, I'm not. It's quite interesting.

SIMON: Well, how do you feel about that in life?

JACKSON: Well, I've always said the first duty of life is to live it, and I do believe that. And we delude¹³ ourselves if we think it's not going to end. How we individually meet that, I think, is entirely individual. Obviously, I have met it when those I've loved have died. And that - what I found surprising about that was that, for example, I still think, oh, I must get my mother one of those or the time the grief stays with you. But whether - how you as the individual meet that moment, well, it is - it's the last great adventure, isn't it?

SIMON: You were in Parliament for 23 years. Did you enjoy it?

JACKSON: I enjoyed the constituency responsibilities. I was extremely fortunate. I represented a very, very interesting constituency. It contained - essentially¹⁴ every single aspect of a demographic breakdown¹⁵ is living in that part of London. And it was a marvelous constituency to represent, but I must be honest, I don't miss Parliament itself. I mean, I saw egos¹⁶ going up and down those corridors that would not be tolerated for 30 seconds in a professional theater.

SIMON: (Laughter).

JACKSON: And you think, what are they doing, you know.

SIMON: Glenda Jackson stars in Edward Albee's "Three Tall Women" on Broadway, along with Laurie Metcalf and Alison Pill. Thanks so much for being with us.

JACKSON: Well, thank you so much.

1 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

2 bicker   

vi.(为小事)吵嘴，争吵

参考例句：

• The two children used to bicker about who should do the washing-up.这两个小孩子过去常为该由谁洗餐具一事而争吵。
• They always bicker when they meet at school.在学校见面时他们总是争吵。

3 vivacity   

n.快活，活泼，精神充沛

参考例句：

• Her charm resides in her vivacity.她的魅力存在于她的活泼。
• He was charmed by her vivacity and high spirits.她的活泼与兴高采烈的情绪把他迷住了。

4 surgically   

adv. 外科手术上, 外科手术一般地

参考例句：

• Unsightly moles can be removed surgically. 不雅观的痣可以手术去除。
• To bypass this impediment an almost mature egg cell is removed surgically. 为了克服这一障碍，通过手术，取出一个差不多成熟的卵细胞。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 mathematicians   

数学家( mathematician的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? 你以为我们的数学家做不到这一点吗？ 来自英汉文学
• Mathematicians can solve problems with two variables. 数学家们可以用两个变数来解决问题。 来自哲学部分

7 communal   

adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的

参考例句：

• There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.在楼梯平台上有一处公共卫生间供4套公寓使用。
• The toilets and other communal facilities were in a shocking state.厕所及其他公共设施的状况极其糟糕。

8 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

9 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

10 embody   

vt.具体表达，使具体化；包含，收录

参考例句：

• The latest locomotives embody many new features. 这些最新的机车具有许多新的特色。
• Hemingway's characters plainly embody his own values and view of life.海明威笔下的角色明确反映出他自己的价值观与人生观。

11 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

12 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

13 delude   

vt.欺骗；哄骗

参考例句：

• You won't delude him into believing it.你不能诱使他相信此事。
• Don't delude yourself into believing that she will marry you.不要自欺，别以为她会嫁给你。

14 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

15 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

16 egos   

自我，自尊，自负( ego的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their egos are so easily bruised. 他们的自尊心很容易受到伤害。
• The belief in it issues from the puerile egos of inferior men. 这种信仰是下等人幼稚的自私意识中产生的。