‘I was asked if I would wear Nicole Kidman’s breasts’

18 February 2009

Geraldine James, recently notorious as the breast-feeding mother in Little Britain, talks to Tim Walker about her role in Howard Barker’s Victory

Her husband, the theatre director and drama teacher Jo Blatchley, has clearly tired of hearing about those early days. Miss James says he groaned when Libby Purves dredged it all up for the umpteenth time when she appeared on her Radio 4 programme. How has Jo has managed to put up with her for more than 30 years? ‘The poor thing. He is incredibly long-suffering, but it helps that he is very busy with his own projects and that we share a sense of humour.’

After she finishes at the Arcola in April, she has no other work planned. ‘It’s fine to be an older man in my business, but not an older woman. I think of the Lord of the Rings films, which had four or five leading men who were over 60 and the oldest woman was Cate Blanchett. High Definition has made it even tougher on us women, particularly those of us in this country who tend not to have work done, whereas of course in America it is done routinely.’ For all that, she hopes she has a few surprises left in her. ‘Although I wonder sometimes what there is left for me to do now,’ she says, somewhat unconvincingly.