Joseph Millson has been a familiar face on stage and screen for over three decades from Casino Royale to The Last Kingdom, from the Royal Shakespeare Company to The Phantom of the Opera’s 40th anniversary cast, which he joined this very week. But his latest role is one he’s never played before: novelist. His debut novella, Miller Rose Roberts, is a coming-of-age odyssey about memory, identity, and the sliding-door moments that shape our lives. We caught up with Joseph to talk tinnitus, seven-year cycles, and why strangers reading his fiction is considerably more terrifying than walking onto a West End stage.
Miller walks away from her life every seven years on the sound of a mysterious high note. Where did that idea come from, and have you ever experienced your own “high note” moment where you knew you had to leave?
Well, I suffer from intermittent tinnitus, which must have been part of the ingredients. I’ve just been fascinated for a long time by people who consistently “walk away” from responsibilities or stress, and also by those “sliding door” moments in life.
I’ve not really experienced anything like it myself. Miller feels she has no choice but to follow the mysterious instruction — the note — and she walks away. So often we can all say of big moments in life that we had no choice. But did we? Do we?
The novella explores sliding-door moments, the what-ifs that haunt us. As a dad, husband, and an actor who’s had a three-decade career, do you find yourself more or less drawn to those questions as you get older?
Yes, certainly these questions are more and more in the air. The what-ifs. But they are tempered personally by an ever-increasing sense of gratitude. Having said that, like most people, I’m a walking contradiction. Ha! I believe in fate, but I also believe in carving our own fates and forging ahead even when it may seem risky.
You’ve said that strangers reading your fiction is more terrifying than walking onto a West End stage. Why? Is it the vulnerability, or the loss of the “live” feedback an audience gives you?
Ooh, you’re good. Yes, I think that’s it. You can’t hear a smile. But also, I have been acting for a long, long time, but I’ve been a book lover even longer. This is huge!
Miller’s story is told in seven-year fragments. Why seven? Is there something about that number that felt right for her journey, or did it arrive organically?
The seven-year cycle thing has fascinated me for a long time. I’d often heard the nearly-true urban myth that it takes seven years for every cell in a human body to have changed, so we are literally a different person every seven years. But so many cultures, religions, astrologists, teachers and philosophers talk about these cycles, important milestones in all lives.
As regards the high note Miller hears, I suffer from intermittent tinnitus myself. Mine does not come with an instruction to walk, but these things joined together in my imagination.
The book is about memory, identity, and survival. As a parent, do those themes feel different now than they did before you had children?
I’m not sure I thought a lot about such things before I was a parent. I’ve been a devoted father for twenty-four years now. Everything is brighter and also scarier. Life is more vivid. But those themes — memory, identity, and survival — are sewn into my life with my son and daughter.
You’ve been a familiar face on stage and screen for decades. What was the biggest surprise about writing fiction after years of inhabiting other people’s scripts?
I can safely say it’s way more fun than acting. Something to do with finally being the organ grinder and not just the dancing monkey, perhaps.
Russell T Davies and Irvine Welsh have both praised your writing. That’s quite a double act. Which piece of feedback from them meant the most, and why?
They are both angels, naughty angels walking the earth. Both incredibly busy, but both generous with their support and time. I don’t know how they do it.
Quick Fire Round
Write on deadline or write when the muse strikes?
Deadline. Self-imposed will do.
West End stage or film set?
Film set.
A quiet evening with a novella or a loud night in a pub?
Quiet evening with a novella, 100%.
Best piece of advice you’d give to a fledgling writer who’s also a parent?
Set the alarm an hour earlier. I know, I know — but you’ll survive. And the sense of worth that writing from your heart gives is priceless. It will make you a happier human, and therefore a better parent.
Miller Rose Roberts by Joseph Millson is available now in paperback and eBook.
Monica Costa founded London Mums in September 2006 after her son Diego’s birth together with a group of mothers who felt the need of meeting up regularly to share the challenges and joys of motherhood in metropolitan and multicultural London. London Mums is the FREE and independent peer support group for mums and mumpreneurs based in London https://www.londonmumsmagazine.com and you can connect on Twitter @londonmums
