Everyone thinks of the roaring twenties and associates it with decadence and flappers, female sexual liberation, the freedom of women to express themselves, the beginning of feminism. But it was also a time of huge, huge change.

I feel like I'm a professional storyteller, really. A lot of people say 'a truth teller,' and, if the writing supports it, that's what your aim is: to try and present people with a series of truths, and then they can make up their mind about those and whether they have any real credence or weight.


My mum is a theatrical person. I saw a tape of a theatre project she did when I was a kid. I was really affected by the idea that my mum could turn herself into someone else for the purpose of telling a story.

That is what Christmas should be about, I think - togetherness and playfulness. It's like a game.

I tried to go to college in the U.K. a couple of times, but at that point, I think I was a little disillusioned with education. It wasn't giving me what I wanted it to. I needed freedom to create and do the things that I wanted to explore, and it wasn't really doing that: it was still very prescriptive.

The true art is being able to take whatever the writer's done, and if it is a bit flimsy or it is a bit rushed or is just box-ticking writing, then the true artist would be able to make that come off the page and sing for an audience or a viewer. I'm still learning how to do that properly.

I had that extroverted energy, and I always involved myself in quite adult conversations. My mum never hid us from that. There was never a kids' table; we were never treated as kids, per se, because I don't think she believes in that.


I don't aspire to be a sex icon, I don't know why anyone would. It's an uncomfortable position to put yourself in... it's something that we all haven't really made our minds up about, and that's why we find it all so interesting.

Depression is something I've lived with since I was a teenager.

One of my favourite games as a child was to dress up and improvise. Acting seemed obvious.