Tag Archives: Sara Topham

Coral FM, Off The Air

Actor Sara Topham on Coral FM speaks about playing Ruth in Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit


Sara Topham as Ruth in Blithe Spirit

“(Compared to Juliet in Romeo and Juliet) playing Ruth in Blithe Spirit is like driving a tiny tiny sports car on a highway cut into the side of an incredibly high mountain with a sheer drop to certain death on the rocky rapids beneath on your outside side. It’s a completely different experience.” Sara Topham

Pictured above – Sara Topham as Ruth in Blithe Spirit.
Photo credit David Hou courtesy of The Stratford Festival.

Blithe Spirit is directed by Brian Bedford, (an expert on all things Noel Coward to my mind!)
The cast also includes Ben Carlson as Charles, Michelle Giroux as Elvira, and Seana McKenna, as Madame Arcati.

In Part 2 of this interview, Sara speaks about playing the role of Ruth in Blithe Spirit from mastering Coward’s lovely complex text to working on a crazy special effects set (like another character itself!) in this terribly savvy and simply finely comedy. We also talk about one of her all time favorite movie roles. And …. I have put together a special music mix
just for Sara from Sergei Prokofiev to the prose of Alfred Lord Tennyson! – Coral FM.

 

Coral FM, Off The Air

Actor Sara Topham on Coral FM speaks about playing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at The Stratford Festival

Sara Topham as Juliet and Daniel Briere as Romeo in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Juliet’s like closing your eyes and falling backwards off a huge cliff into a big rolling ocean where you know, as long as you surrender, you will perhaps end up at the bottom of the ocean but the waves will bring you up again. You feel like the ocean is okay. It’s a safe place.” – Sara Topham

“Romeo and Juliet is a blessedly traditional Elizabethan vision thanks to sublime director Tim Carroll. 

Sara Topham’s Juliet is reminiscent of Olivia Hussey’s impassioned performance in the Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film classic.” –  Coral FM

Directed by Tim Carroll, (Peter Pan for Stratford Festival) Romeo and Juliet cast also includes Daniel Briere as Romeo, Tom McCamus as The Friar, Jonathan Goad as Mercutio, Kate Hennig as The Nurse, and Scott Wentworth as Lord Capulet. 

In Part 1 of this interview Sara chats about the thrill and challenge of playing Juliet, and playing this role with the Festival house lights up! This beloved Shakespearean character was Sara’s very first speaking role in a play at high school … so she has been “living with Juliet for a long time.”