Priyanga Burford will next be seen in Mike Bartlett’s Press opposite Ben Chaplin and Charlotte Riley for BBC One. Priyanga is an actress and writer, who has appeared in a number of British films and television series.
You’re currently appearing in The Winter’s Tale at The Globe, what are you enjoying most about the production?
The company of actors in this production are a real delight. They are warm, kind, talented and so committed. The Globe is a uniquely demanding space to play. The theatre has a personality all its own and I really like it.
You’ve completed filming for Mike Bartlett’s Press, what can you tell us about it?
It’s a drama series for BBC 1 which tells the story of two newspapers, the journalists who work there, the editors who oversee things, and the trials of news gathering in an age where news media had never been so fraught.
Tell us about your character?
I play Amina Chaudury who is the editor of a broadsheet: The Herald
What do you like most about Mike Bartlett’s writing?
It deals with internal conflict beautifully and dramatically. There aren’t ‘good’ people and ‘bad’. There are people trying to negotiate the world they’re in using lots of different means- being the walking bags of contradictions that most of us are.
There are clashes of values, trying to realise a common vision with a group of strong minded people who might all see the way to get there differently. Most working people will understand and recognise this.
Do you think the way audiences react to it will be affected by the recent reports on ‘Fake News’?
Possibly. We’re all questioning what we’re being told and whether it’s reliable.
You’re also a writer, do you prefer writing or performing?
I’m a very new writer so I have loads to learn!! I feel more confident as an actor right now because I’ve been doing it for 20 years. I’ve only dipped my toe into the professional writing world, but I do love it.
Where can theatre audiences see you on stage next?
I’m in Eyam at The Globe next. It’s a new play by Matt Hartley. It’s the true story of the villagers of Eyam- a very ordinary bunch of working people in Derbyshire doing an extraordinary thing in 1665 when the Plague arrived in their community.
