From Rachel Stirling.com

"Dyke Drama"

Source: Jana Czyzselska, Diva
Date: October 1st 2002

We've been waiting years for the television production of Sarah Waters' novel Tipping the Velvet, and now it's here. But does it live up to our expectations? Absolutely, says Jane Czyzselska.

Rachael
Stirling and Keeley Hawes are bowled over. In fact, the young stars -
heterosexual and bisexual respectively - of the television adaptation
of Sarah Waters' epic lesbian love story Tipping the Velvet,
appear to be more excited than kids at Christmas about their
participation in the soon-to-be-screened trilogy. Indeed, any questions
about taking on the richly Sapphic storyline are met with fervent
protestations: "It's the part of a lifetime for any young actress,"
explains Rachael, who plays Nan, the oyster girl from Whitstable who
falls for touring male impersonator Kitty. "You have to understand, you
just don't fucking get parts like that. Ever."

Were we in the
Groucho, pie-eyed and emotional, one might put Rachael's endearing
enthusiasm down to drink. In fact, we're taking early-morning coffee at
the drinking club's nemesis, The Hempel hotel. Almost Zen in its
ambience - the reception area is seamless floor-to-ceiling white marble
- our meeting place provides a fitting contrast to Rachael's fiery
energy.

"I always think people assume you have a vast library of
scripts to choose from," Rachael explains, "but it's so rare to find a
believable part for a woman and also one that mirrors everyone's
journey of personal discovery." Vibrant and gamine,
twenty-five-year-old Rachael has the makings of a modern lesbian
pin-up. Dressed in an ultra-fashionable black poncho and denim jeans,
her messy ear-length hair bestows a studied boyish air. Later she will
tell me that she prefers to walk the streets with head down and hands
stuffed in pockets, like a boy, so as to avoid unwanted attention from
leery men.

Keeley, 26, blonde, clear-skinned and more boyish
still, arrives late thanks to an unfortunate car-clamping incident, but
is quick to echo her co-star's opinion of Waters' acclaimed novel:
"It's extraordinary, isn't it?" Fresh from her leading role in Spooks - the recent BBC series about life in the MI5 - she says that Tipping...
couldn't be more different: "I love costume drama, but this didn't feel
like one. It feels really modern because of the way it's been filmed.
Costume dramas can feel quite staid but this doesn't have to stick any
sense of decorum because it's not based in a posh country house. You
know, it's rough round the edges."

The gritty world of
19th-century music hall provides the backdrop for Nan Astley's
(Rachael's) first love affair with Kitty Butler (Keeley), a popular
cross-dressing music hall star. They become a double act, both on and
off stage, but their manager Walter (John Bowe) wins Kitty's hand as
she ultimately chooses the safety of a traditional life rather than
risking public disapproval of her true feelings for Nan.

Dubbed
a lesbian Moll Flanders, Andrew Davies' production slips effortlessly
from page to screen, sticking closely to the original storyline. Widely
considered a master of TV adaptations - think Pride and Prejudice, House of Cards, Middlemarch
- Davies is known for his racy touch. In fact, his somewhat fragrant
stage directions reduce the two actresses to a giggly shadow of their
former poise when they recall his reference to, ahem, "cunty fingers"
in a recent production of Othello. "Some of his stage directions are
unspeakable," says Rachael, who played alongside Keeley in the theatre
[sic] production.

Davies triumphs yet again with his adaptation of Tipping the Velvet
and, with the help of colleagues such as camerawoman Cinders Forshaw,
evocatively depicts the story exactly as one would imagine. Beautiful,
almost dreamlike images of the Whitstable seafront public house in
which Rachael learnt to shuck oysters like a pro are cut with endless
blustery, pale blue romantic seascapes. "I got scars all over my hand
learning how to shuck oysters," Rachael reveals, miming the action with
sound effects as she tells the story. "I got through an ice bucket the
size of a small car full of oysters, going ptchung, ptchung. I wasn't
very good at first, but I did get better eventually."

While
filming in Whitstable, the local newspaper rather sensationally
announced the racier moments of the story to a somewhat hostile
response. "They didn't like us that much," Rachael explains. "I heard
of people who had gone to one of the pubs near where we were filming
and said, 'What the fuck are they filming lesbians on the beach for?
Whitstable's going to become the new Brighton.' But I heard that it
already is," Rachael enthuses. "I heard that there are really comfy
beach huts and a rife lesbian community. What fun!"

This seems
as good a time as any to ask about the sex scenes. How did the two
girls feel about recreating the lead characters' tender passion on
screen together? "Just wait till you see us, because it's really
beautiful, it's one of the sexiest love scenes I've ever seen," Rachael
says, beaming. "Sex is a funny old thing because you've just got to get
on with it. I think her being a girl (and knowing Keeley, too) did make
it easier. Neither of us found it difficult."

Keeley: "The love
scene was absolutely fine. I mean, you're in fits of giggles with boys,
and with girls it's no different, except there's a lot more to play
with, with another woman."
Cue fits of giggles. Keeley to Rachael: "We were all right, weren't we?"
Rachael: "Mmm."
Keeley: "We had good snogs."
Rachael: "Good snogs and lots of licking. My boyfriend was watching it
the other day, and said, 'You didn't tell me there were tongues'!"
Keeley: "Everyone was asking me about the love scenes, but they were so
far from my mind because I was much more worried about the singing and
dancing and whether my voice would be up to par."

"Actually,"
Rachael adds, laughing, "the most challenging thing for me was being
painted gold while wearing a dildo." She is of course referring to a
scene later in the story, when, devastated and heartbroken post-Kitty,
Nan takes to the streets as a rent boy. Spotted by wealthy widow Diana
Lethaby (Anna Chancellor), a woman in her thirties who lives by her own
rules, Nan is introduced into a world of luxury and debauchery and
virtually becomes her sex slave. "There was a moment when I was
standing behind a curtain, just before Diana reveals me as
Hermaphrodite, with five make-up ladies. One on each arm, legs, bosoms
and one going, 'bend over, are you embarrassed?' as she painted my
crack."

Tipping the Velvet makes for compulsive comedic
viewing, but Keeley and Rachael are keen to stress the importance of
the story, both for themselves and for lesbian fans of the book. "I
hope it's not a let-down. I hope it's not," Keeley says and stops for a
moment, staring ahead, her forehead furrowed. "Do you know what I
mean?" Another pause. "I'm going to say something very stupid." Rachael
comes to her aid: "You mean you hope it doesn't let down all the people
who are anticipating it, right?" Keeley nods. Has she felt this way
before about a role she's played? "No. It's particularly this. I don't
want to patronise people." She means lesbians, but her hesitation
suggests a depth of feeling for the significance of the story that is
beyond her own direct experience. "It's true to the book. Except for a
slight change at the end. And I completely related to Kitty. Well not
completely, because I'm not a lesbian. I'm bi."

Rachael appears
in virtually every scene in the trilogy - her first bash at playing a
lead role - and spent a gruelling nine-and-a-half weeks filming. As a
showcase for the burgeoning talents of both actresses, it could hardly
perform better and in the final analysis it packs a punch that will
delight fans of the book. "I'm fucking proud of it," Rachael says with
conviction. "God, I hope for Sarah (Waters) and everyone that they like
it too. It's just really good telly. Which makes paying for your TV
licence a little less agonising!"