National Theatre

What was the first book that made an impact when you were a child?

I loved fairy tales and I absolutely loved Hans Christian Anderson and those ‘scare the children' stories. The one that made the biggest impact as a child was Beauty and the Beast because here was a creature that was terrifying to look at and the fact the Belle was taken there by her Dad and left with him was terrifying. I have five sisters and a brother and it made me scared that my father might pick one of us to live with a monster. Its abandonment issues that so struck me. The end of the story's beautiful and because she's such a wonderful person she can make him turn into a prince.

Do you have a favourite book?

I have a couple of favourites. I remember the first time I read a James Baldwin book, the impact it made on me. I then wanted to read everything he'd written. I love a woman called Paule Marshall. I remember reading short stories of hers and she's just a beautiful writer. I think she was born in New York and her parents were from Barbados. My favourite book of hers would have to be Brown Girl, Brownstones. It's set in Brooklyn in the 1950s about a young woman who wants to be a dancer. It's a rites of passage story when racial segregation was rife in America. She had not many choices except be a maid like her mother. That book was very special. I also love the Harry Potter series. What an amazing genius JK Rowling is. I think she appeals to the hero child in us. The last book made me cry so much.

Is there a classic that everyone says you must read, but haven't?

Crime and Punishment. I started it. I read up to page fifty in lots of books. One gets scared of its massiveness, but that is one book I'll read before I die.

Where's your favourite place to read?

In bed at night: to get lost in the book and cleanse my mind. It helps me to get into dreams. I'm reading Barack Obama's Dreams of My Father at the moment. It's awesome. He's a brilliant writer. How blessed we are for the Americans to have elected him. He's something else. He's the way forward. I hope his gold dust sprinkles across the world and inspires people.

What were your first impressions of reading Death and the King's Horseman?

Interestingly I did a radio version of this play about twelve or thirteen years ago and I absolutely loved it. I played one of the market girls. It never got aired because it got wiped accidently in the edit. It was then done again with a new company. I love Greek tragedy and I felt it was ever so Greek and so classic, impressive and the writing so poetic and complicated but yet very simple.

Elesin is the central character. This man is born to die. We are all born to die but he knows exactly when he's going to die: thirty days after the king has died. That's his job, his duty. His whole life is about this day. He starts off as the biggest hero this society has. He is going to lead the king into the afterlife and he manages somehow to mess it up. When push comes to shove he can't do it and that's a tragedy in itself when you think he's been this big, bad, brave warrior.

I'm playing a woman called Jane Pilkings, a colonial wife of the district officer. I really like her. She's misguided, she doesn't understand the culture she's in, but she's willing to learn and wants to learn. It's a beautiful journey. She just starts off laughing at the superstitious police officer because she's dressed in a costume of death which nobody should see or touch unless they're going to be judged. He knows this because its part of his culture. There's this white English woman wearing this costume going "looking at me", giggling and laughing at the fear on the face of this police officer. By the end she's had this massive journey of discovery and she's seen what's happened to these people in this culture. Wole Soyinka's an incredible writer and he's an angry person who writes about the corruption of people in Africa.

You recently appeared in Theodore Ward's 1937 play Big White Fog, the first time the play was performed in this country...

It was a wonderful discovery. Michael Attenborough assembled an amazing company. 26 people took a bow. I'd never heard of Theodore Ward, but discovered he was a contemporary of Langston Hughes, Richard Wright and all these other amazing black writers in America. His observation and the study of the delicate pulling apart of a family is so beautiful and impressive. It was an amazing piece of work and lovely to be a part of. So heartbreaking having a family totally unravel before your eyes; to become dysfunctional from being a totally strong, secure family unit.

Did you get to meet Harold Pinter when you played Ruth in The Homecoming?

We met him at the read through and that was very scary. I'd never done a Pinter before and it's so different from anything else. It's so musical and so precise. There he was sitting in the room and I said "good afternoon sir" and he burst out laughing because he could see the fear on my face. He was charming and lovely and wonderful to have his blessing to play Ruth. He came to the press night and we didn't know if he'd like it. We didn't have many pauses. He was very supportive and he gave the real seal of approval.

Jenny Jules appears in Death and the King's Horseman in the Olivier Theatre, part of the Travelex £10 Tickets season, currently booking until 17 June.

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