Nadia Parkes makes a professional stage debut in The House Party by Laura Lomas in Chichester’s Minerva Theatre.
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00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Groups Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now, lovely
00:06to speak to Nadia Parks, who is coming to Chichester Festival Theatre for the opening
00:11play in the Minerva season, which is The House Party, a modern adaptation of Strindberg's
00:15Miss Julie. But the really exciting thing, Nadia, is this is your professional stage
00:20debut and there's a remarkable story behind that. In so far as you've come full circle
00:26to be here. Tell me what happened. So when I auditioned for Lambda, gosh, how many years
00:35ago now? Probably seven. Yeah, no, no more than that. Nine, nine years ago, I think.
00:43I auditioned to get into Lambda with a monologue from Patrick Marber's version of Miss Julie.
00:51I used a Julie monologue and I got into Lambda, three years, and now the first play that I'm
00:58ever doing and taking to stage with is the exact same character that got me into drama
01:04school in the first place. Extraordinary. Is that a chance? Did you seek this out or
01:08did it just come your way? I mean, it just, it literally just came my way. And I do know
01:13for a fact that when I first ever looked at the email, I got goosebumps all the way through
01:18my body. And I had a moment of a slight knowing that this was going to come my way. I don't
01:25always get that on jobs, but I looked at the email, I looked at the character and I was
01:30just filled with this kind of rush. Oh, I was going to say that's incredibly spooky,
01:35isn't it? Does it make you feel like there's some sort of hand of fate steering you? What
01:41is it? How do you process when something like that happens? I think, do you know what it
01:46makes me feel? It just makes me feel so looked after. And so like, I'm in the exact right
01:52place at the right time. And that there was actually, there's a plan in play for my, that's
01:57what it makes me feel. It makes me feel like there's a plan in play for my life. And the
02:01way back then, that plan was in action. And I just didn't know it yet. And it kind of
02:07makes me look back on the really nervous, like auditionee who had no idea that I would
02:16actually get to do what I love for a living ever. And it makes me look back and just want
02:21to give that young girl who was practising her Julie monologue in the mirror before going
02:28down to London to do the big audition. And it just makes me want to give her a hug and
02:32say like, you're fine. You're going to, you actually are going to do this role as your
02:37first ever stage debut. Isn't that extraordinary? And it's the most massive indication, isn't
02:43it, of your journey so far. And the lovely thing is that Julie in this piece is a character
02:48you love. Not that you have to love your character, but you are her great defender, aren't you?
02:53She does make bad decisions, but your job is to understand why, isn't it?
02:58Yeah, totally. I have so much empathy and so much heart and love for Julie, especially
03:06in Laura's adaptation. She's just written her so beautifully and so complex. And, you know,
03:14on paper, she might come across kind of awful at times, bitchy, vulgar, all of these things.
03:24But I think when you really unpack it and get to the bottom of it, it's just a girl who's
03:29so lost and needs love and is so lonely and hurt. And that's really my job. Like you said,
03:37it's my job to protect her and look after her and not judge her and do her justice.
03:44Well, it sounds really lovely and intriguing and exciting start to the Minerva season.
03:49Congratulations on the stage debut. How wonderful that's in this and really lovely to speak to you.
03:55Thank you so much for your time.
03:57So great to talk to you. Thank you so much, Phil.
03:59All right.