Jess Young

So, tell me about the show and about the characters.

Janie Dee

So, two of the characters are the brother and sister. And I’m playing the film-star sister, who turns up with a young boyfriend who’s about 29, 28, probably 25. And she says she’s 41 but she’s actually 50 something. And they go to a fancy dress party and she wants everybody to all be dwarfs [and for her to be Snow White] so that she’s the main thing. Anyway, her boyfriend goes off with everybody else, nobody knows who she is anymore, because they don’t know Walt Disney anymore. And so she’s completely ignored and she turns into an absolute diva. Well, more like a monster. She turns into a monster. And also very different to Snow White. But it has a very comic kind of element.

Jess Young

Absolutely. And I’m going to get the name right, it’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.

Janie Dee

That’s right.

Jess Young

And tell me where it’s playing?

Janie Dee

It’s at the Charing Cross Theatre.

Jess Young

Great. Thank you so much!

Janie Dee

Thank you.

[Applause]

Jess Young

Rankin, we were talking, you spoke a bit about the pandemic. And as people can see, there is a book over here on this wall. And maybe something you don’t see within these pictures is the actual stories and the quotes behind them. So, he interviewed every single person that was shot. Rankin, what was that like for you, being able to see the book and the stories within them?

Rankin

Well, I’ve done a lot of books. So, if anybody knows me, I’m a bit of a book… got a fetish probably, is the description. I’m a bit obsessed with them. So, every book is… it always feels like an achievement. Because you feel like, you know, you’ve got somewhere. For me books are great because they’re obviously, we can all look at stuff on the internet but books are a piece of art in themselves. And they contain your vision and how you saw the project. So, at the exhibit you can come and look at that them and the digital version is never going to be the same. Whereas the book is something… you know, I always like the idea of like 50 years from now, when someone picks it up and looks through the work and sort of connects back to what I was thinking and feeling in that moment, the moment I was shooting. So, it’s kind of to be remembered, in a way. Your life, your passion, your perspective on the world to stay in the world after the film.

Jess Young

Absolutely. And looking at these photos here, is there any kind of ones in particular that kind of stood out to you?

Rankin

I think the Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light. The pictures from that, they were the ones where… As a photographer I look at a lot of art. And I’ve been obsessed by Holbein since the Hilary Mantel… I mean, I’ve always been kind of obsessed with that period. But I became obsessed with Holbein from that series of books. And when I was photographing them, I suddenly had this really weird connection, back 400, 500 years or however long it is. To being Holbein and being in that moment photographing Henry VIII and kind of going, that’s weird, it’s been weird. So, that to me was… and then one once I was photographing them, I pushed it and went okay, “let’s make it feel like a selfie, or let’s have you touching the legs.” Which obviously they would never have done. That kind of breaks the fourth wall. So, that idea really connected with me in a way that I was like, wow this is something, you know. If I could be the Holbein of my generation that would be an amazing thing. Of course, I don’t think I am, I think that I’m saying that don’t write that don’t write that down!

[Laughter]

Jess Young

Brilliant! Thank you so much, thank you Rankin.

Buy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike tickets