On Wednesday June 18th, Sandhurst Library played host to an audience of over 50 people who had come to listen to writer and actress Barbara Ewing. Barbara’s warmth and humour captivated her audience as she spoke of her homesickness for New Zealand when she first arrived here to study at RADA, but at £1 a minute for a phone call home her letter-writing skills were put to good use. She had kept a diary religiously from age 11 to 17, and this she felt was good practice for her second career as an author as she tried to write every day.
Winning the gold medal at RADA, she was soon inundated with offers, working alongside such notaries as Paul Scofield, Glenda Jackson and Judi Dench in the theatre besides appearing on television in such series as “Brass” with Timothy West, “The Bill” and “Casualty”. Films included working with Christopher Lee.
Barbara’s books are well researched and packed with themes and issues so it was not surprising that her talk was too. She covered her view of England as a New Zealander, her career as an actress, and the need for a second career for actresses past the first flower of youth, when she decided to write about middle-aged actresses as she felt she was now one. Her publisher needed some persuading, but “The Actresses” was a hit with the public. Her second book, “The Dangerous Vine” about race relations in New Zealand was long listed for the Orange Prize in 2000. Other books include “The Trespass” about how New Zealand was first colonised, not by criminals but by people fleeing the 1840’s cholera epidemic.
She confessed she often enjoyed researching so much she didn’t want to start writing. Each book takes between 2 and 3 years to produce as she still likes to work as an actress and spend long periods in New Zealand.
It was a pleasure to hear her read so eloquently from two of her books – “Rosetta”, about how the Rosetta stone was taken by the British from the French in Egypt as a spoil of war, and her latest, “The Mesmerist”, set in Victorian London and centring on two fading actresses and their need to find employment as mesmerists. This proved a great encouragement to buy signed copies.
The audience were enthralled by Barbara and many said what a truly entertaining evening they’d enjoyed and how determined they were to read more of her work.
As one listener put it, “Author talks at Sandhurst Library are becoming very popular so it is wise to arrive early if you don’t want to sit in the front row; to bring your wallet as they make wanting to purchase at least one book a near certainty; and to make sure you will have time at the end for the generous refreshments and good company.”
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