UK tour at Cast at the end of the month. I’ll be the jabbering wreck at the back, too scared to leave my seat at the interval. Surprisingly, the one thing that Hill says she will not do is “to have anything ‘hands-on’ to do with any adaptations of my books. My job is simply to write the book, then let the adaptors, like Ian Kershaw [who has adapted The Mist in the Mirror for the stage], take that material and run with it, to recreate it in another form. I think that writers who want to have control of everything in a medium which isn’t theirs are quite wrong. Your only prerogative really is to say, ‘No, I don’t want it done’.
“However, I’m very pleased they have chosen this particular book. It was a joy
to write because I used so many of my favourite settings, including Edwardian London, the river Thames, the old docks, an English country house and the North Yorkshire moors. It also has some of my favourite eccentric characters.” She’s in her seventies now but shows no signs of slowing down. Her enthusiasm, creativity and passion for what she does are inspirational. “I go on writing and reading. The one feeds the other every day”. But she confesses to having no writing routine at all. “I just can’t understand this notion some writers talk about of sitting down at nine o’clock and not getting back up until five even if there’s only two words on the sheet. Why sit down in front of a blank sheet of paper until you get something? That’s not fun or exciting.
“Usually ideas just pop into my head and I don’t even write them down, although I always make sure I’ve got a pen and notebook nearby just as I’m dropping off to sleep. I’m a very instinctive writer and, mostly, get it right about which ideas will run. Then I start working and I’ll just carry on until there’s a natural break”. The Mist in the Mirror is a co-production between Oldham Coliseum Theatre and Imitating The Dog, whose brilliant filmic visuals add real atmosphere to the piece. It’s scaring audiences at Cast from Tuesday 24th to Saturday 28th March. Tickets are available on 01302 303 959 or at castindoncaster.com. End
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