The Interview @ Park Theatre...

Last Thursday afternoon I went to see Jonathan Maitland’s The Interview at the Park Theatre in London's glitzy Finsbury Park.  Thank you, Angus, for the freebie!

 

This is the story of that interview. The interview which told Diana's story. A story that frankly shocked the world. 

 

It was good. And to be fair it is a fairly even-handed piece too.  Maitland had access to material that was either cut from the original interview or was off-camera so there are some great tit-bits too.

 

We get to see the lying and deceit that went on by Bashir to gain the trust of Diana and, perhaps just as importantly, those around her 28 years ago. We hear about Bashir's motivations and the prejudice he received in his career and how important it was as a Pakistani journalist in a predominately white environment to 'get the story'. A story that was going to told anyway. Diana was looking at a number of different hosts to talk to. 

 

But ultimately, and to me most interestingly, it tells how Diana's words were silenced by William who has forbidden the BBC to reshow or licence the recording of the interview ever again. As Diana's ghost says to Bashir, "your lies formed a knife that have cut out my tongue. My words will never be heard again because of your actions. And for that alone, you should never be forgiven."

 

Yolanda Kettle is great as Diana Princess of Wales, Tibu Fortes equally good as Martin Bashir, and Matthew Flynn very funny as Paul Burrell.