When she passed away in 2016, to some fans it was as if a family member had been taken from them.Now an authorized biography examines what lies behind her extraordinary and multifaceted talent
Journalist Jasper Rees first interviewed Wood in 1999 It was the first of several encounters over the next decade
« I was doing an article on the second round of Dinnerladies, which had become a big hit.I went back two years later, but this time the conversation turned to weight issues and a lot on the childhood and his parents
« She said that one day she would write about her early years in show business but not about her childhood: she said she wasn’t ready to open that box of worms just yet. I guess this what she meant was her relationship with her mother Helen «
Rees’ biography of Wood is full of detail and insight Only Wood herself could have said more about how a young introverted theater student worried about her body image at the University of Birmingham is became one of the great talents of British comics
Parallels have been drawn with people as diverse as Joyce Grenfell, Morecambe and Wise and Noel Coward
Yet no one else – woman or man – has had such success across the board as a comedian, actress, screenwriter, singer, songwriter, producer, screenwriter, and playwright Perhaps the only ambition unrealized when she died of cancer at the age of 62 was to write a great movie
« Victoria was a great collector, as her mother had been We are talking about a lot of boxes of scripts and notes, photo albums, albums, cassettes, school notebooks – everything she wrote
« But I can honestly say that at no point did I feel like the estate was looking over my shoulder Lucy Ansbro, its literary executor, read what I had written but she didn’t ‘requested no significant changes I wrote the book I wanted to write «
« The first interview I did was with her older sister Rosalind and during that conversation she asked me if I wanted the letters? They were in a Jiffy bag and were mostly from when Victoria was studying in Birmingham from 1971
« Eventually – I guess when people came to trust me – about 25 people shared correspondence with me spanning his entire adult life
« Some of them were very intimate There are emails to friends from when her marriage to Geoffrey Durham broke down and the last few months she knew she had cancer »
Rees’ introduction to the book is titled « Victoria Woods » – a misspelling of her last name she met before she rose to fame
« What I am indicating is that there were two Victorias – the public figure who was a creation and then the private person
« But my hope with the book is that citing her own correspondence, as well as the views of people who knew her, means that the reader comes closer to her
« But there is a difference between the two Victorias One is so warm and so adorable and his fans have always seen as so nice Then there is the Victoria who was quite domineering in the studio and with colleagues «
The new bio makes it clear that Wood was sure how her work should be presented With a few exceptions, she had little respect for senior BBC officials
Rees spoke to contemporaries about her time as a drama student and the difficult early years trying to establish herself as a performer « She was socially awkward and lacked in self-confidence – as she has it. recognized later
« When you are on stage, you are in control. Even with 5,000 people at Albert Hall, that was what she loved. She wanted to be in charge of the transaction between herself and the other people in the room
« It is significant that she always hated parties, even though she was the one organizing them. She didn’t want to be with a lot of people where she wasn’t in control »
Rees says if he could ask Wood now about one aspect of his life, it would be his relationship with his mother Helen (Nellie) Wood
« I think the relationship with her mother is key to understanding her life and what she did with it From the moment Victoria at 35 gave birth to her daughter Grace, she was incredibly diligent in the role Elle became the mother she never had
« Victoria was kind of abandoned during her teenage years Probably her most personal television writing which reflects this is the television drama Pat and Margaret (1994) »
The story centers on two sisters, played by Wood and Julie Walters, who meet the mother they haven’t seen in years
« Her former husband Geoffrey told me the script reflected the unavailability of Victoria’s own mother, which had always been an unspoken fact in the family, » Rees says
« And if you watch Petula Gordeno in Dinnerladies [another Walters performance] she’s grotesquely comical, but again she’s a neglectful mother It’s a constant rhythm in Victoria’s work »
Rees investigates the sometimes painful origins of Wood’s humor but says no one can ignore the quality of his creativity
« If she had been just a sketch writer or if she had only invented songs like The Ballad Of Barry And Freda, we would always celebrate her But she was the best at so many things »
« She had an ear for speech and rhyme But beyond that there was always an ear for truth She wrote about what it’s like to be an ordinary person watching ordinary TV – and she made it into an inimitable comedy
« It’s hard to remember that there really were no female comics before her – comedy was almost all male
« Even a talent like Joyce Grenfell was making a character comedy as Victoria appeared as herself Or a version of herself »
Rees says above all that the BBC series Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV (1985 -1987) and Dinnerladies (1998-2000) had the rare warmth that audiences wanted to reflect in their own personality
« But you have to remember that she wrote every word which is not what happens in other comedy shows So she was firmly protective of her own creations
« The pressure she put on herself to get it right was extreme and she didn’t really trust anyone to do it. She could be demanding of brilliant performers such as Julie Walters and Celia Imrie and Duncan Preston and Susie Blake – but she always asked for a lot, a lot more of herself All these people still have immense affection for her And immense gratitude «
css-po6dm6-ItalicText {font-style: italic;} Let’s do it: Authorized biography of Victoria Wood by Jasper Rees is now available
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Victoria Wood
News from around the world – UK – Victoria Wood’s biography explores her “painful” childhood
