Section:GDN 12 PaGe:5 Edition Date:190807 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 6/8/2019 18:22 cYanmaGentaYellowblac
The Guardian
Wednesday 7 August 2019 5
women. It began with her mother’s
friend, Joan, and her godmother,
Nellie, who helped to raise her, and
who were fi xtures in her childhood.
“I suppose the only downside
of being looked after by these
women was them making me go to
mass,” she laughs. She had a social
worker when she was younger,
who introduced her to Pat, a young
woman who was writing a thesis on
motherless girls. “She was fantastic,”
she says. “She took me to places
like art galleries and the theatre,
which weren’t things we ever did
as kids. The only bad bit was being
able to ride in black taxis because
it’s the only way I’ve wanted to
travel since.”
Later, she would meet Anna
Scher, a “big inspiration” to Burke,
whose renowned community
theatre school has turned out many
EastEnders actors and stars such as
Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya. For her
debut fi lm role, in the 1982 prison
drama Scrubbers, she worked with
the Swedish actor and director Mai
Zetterling, who was “like a horse
whisperer with me, really ... she was
constantly telling me: ‘You need
to write, you need to direct, you
need to create your own work.’ She
wouldn’t stand for any crap, even
in the 80s, when the industry was
totally run by men.” Not long after,
Burke began to collaborate with
Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders,
going on to appear as the straight-
talking editor Magda alongside
Saunders on Absolutely Fabulous.
“They were like my big sisters of
comedy,” she says. “They were just
brilliant and so encouraging. I was
doing theatre at that point, and
very much into it, but there was no
money in it. I’d get a call now and
again from them, saying: ‘We’re
going to put you in a sketch if you’re
free.’ And I’d be, like: ‘Yep, yep,
I’m there!’”
It is the “generosity of spirit,
understanding, all the nice, positive
things” that she experienced from
the many female role models in
her life that Burke says is the key to
All Woman. She wanted to create
a series of fi lms celebrating rather
than denigrating women – even if
Burke doesn’t always agree with
the choices the subjects make. Take
Laura, a young woman who, in the
fi rst episode, we see contemplating
breast enlargement. “I have always
believed that women should be
allowed to do what they want to do,”
she says. “But I do think people are
making a hell of a lot of money out of
other people’s insecurities.”
Celebrating women doesn’t
have to mean “bashing men”,
either, Burke says, expressing her
happiness that “men are [now]
allowed to have feelings”. However,
while there is mention of same-sex
relationships, as some viewers may
note, the documentary does avoid
one contentious gender-related
issue: the rights or lack thereof
of transgender women. Was this
a conscious decision? “We talked
about maybe talking to trans women
in this, but it’s such a huge subject
that I, personally, didn’t want it to be
just a passing moment,” says Burke.
“I think that needs to be a whole
separate programme.” She pauses.“With trans people, I just think you
can’t help the way you are born,
though. You know, it’s DNA, it’s
genetics. I’m just glad people can do
things about their own happiness.
I think this thought process that
they’re trying to wipe out women
is a bit ridiculous – it’s a minority
of people.”Her eyes dart
up to the headlines on the TV agai n.
There’s no Johnson, but instead
news about the economy. “The
whole thing is a terrible mess,” she
says. “I really feel for young people,
I don’t know what they’re going to
do. Especially living in London .”
If she were voting tomorrow, who
would she back? “I’d probably go
Green because I am really worried
about climate change and the
planet. I’ve been a Labour voter all
my life ...” her voice trails off. “But
I don’t know how I feel about things
at the moment, quite honestly.”
I wonder if, in light of her making
a documentary series about women,
she ever had any respect for Theresa
May as a woman holding the
country’s highest offi ce? “I think
that’s crap,” Burke says quickly. “If
we want equality, we shouldn’t then
expect to be praised just because
we’re doing a certain job. That’s not
equality. Equality is acknowledging
that she did a shit job.”
Burke’s next directorial project is
a “ukulele comedy”, Honest Amy –
which is at the Edinburgh fringe
this month. It is a one-woman show
starring Amy Booth-Steel, who also
wrote it, and one of the main reasons
Burke was keen to direct it was
its crossover with the All Woman
documentary. “She talks a lot about
the same things, like body image,”
she explains. “It’s a story about
dealing with PTSD and depression
after having cancer. I know where
this young lady is coming from
because after I got sick, the toughest
thing to deal with was what it did to
my mental health.”
Her main takeaway from both
experiences, she says, is that women
need to stop criticising one another.
“I’m not here to tell people what
they should and shouldn’t be doing,”
she says. “I’m no Ann Widdecombe.
One of the main themes about the
documentary is, ‘Let’s just stop
having a go at each other. Let’s stop
judging each other all the time.’”
An hour later, with the sun still
blazing, our interview is over. Burke
swills her last dribble of tea, accosts
the waitress so she can tell her “it’s
a good cuppa here”, and goes in
search of her publicist – and maybe
another cheeky smoke. (“I think it’s
time for a fag, babe,” she says.) But,
before she goes, she wants to be fully
clear about her intentions. “I really
love women,” she says, with a smile.
“And I do think things are getting
better, I think we’re getting there.”
Kathy Burke’s All Woman starts on
Tuesday 13 August on Channel 4.РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS