Born in Coventry, Alice Lowe studied classics at Cambridge, where she became involved in theatre and comedy. She starred in the Perrier award-winning Garth Marenghi’s Netherhead at the 2001 Edinburgh fringe, thereafter appearing in its 2004 Channel 4 incarnation, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. She has also starred in Black Books, The Mighty Boosh, The IT Crowd and CBBC’s Horrible Histories. Her big-screen credits include Hot Fuzz, Locke and Ben Wheatley’s 2012 film Sightseers, which she also co-wrote. She is currently working on her directorial debut feature, Prevenge, about a pregnant woman who goes on a killing spree, and stars in comedy Black Mountain Poets, which is released this week.
1 | Music
Grimes is on tour at the moment and I think she’s brilliant. I got into her a couple of years ago when I was writing a film, and I find her music quite atmospheric – I’d love to collaborate with her on a film soundtrack. I really admire someone who generates a kind of creative world: she does her own album artwork, directs her own videos, makes all her own music electronically. I find her creatively really inspiring, the fact that she’s really young and has the courage to seize what she wants and take control of it. I like that she draws on lots of different influences: she reminds me a bit of Björk, but she’s also influenced by pop, there’s no snobbery.
2 | Film
This is coming out in April and I’m really excited about it. I love Kate Dickie, she’s one of those mesmerising people. People are saying this film is sort of an instant classic – I think it’s going to be very stripped down, just a couple in a hole. I love those films where it’s just a very intense story with maybe just two actors. Paul Higgins is a great actor as well. So I’m looking forward to that, if I can actually get out to the cinema to see it. A lot of this is stuff I’d like to see if I didn’t have a two-month-old baby, so it’s a bit of a wishlist that may never be fulfilled.
3 | Book
They All Love Jack: Busting the Ripper, by Bruce Robinson
I’m reading this book about Jack the Ripper at the moment. Normally I’d think, these were genuine murders, it doesn’t seem like entertainment to me, but I’d be interested in anything Bruce Robinson wrote about. It’s written from a very personal perspective; it’s almost like you’re sitting in a pub with him. It encompasses lots of different things: London history, political context. His approach is to strip away all the mythology of Jack the Ripper, putting him in a modern perspective. He’s sort of saying that the Victorian era was really ruthless, so it’s not surprising there would be someone like him. A symptom of the age rather than one deviant, crazy person. It’s just a theory but really fascinating I think.
4 | Theatre
This is an organisation in north London that runs workshops, getting disadvantaged children in the local area to write plays that are then put on and produced by adults. They’re short playlets, about 10 minutes long. They’re often surrealist and absurd and very funny, but also profound and beautiful. In one there was a traffic light that was in love with a pram or something, and it was really tragic because it was saying, I’m red at the moment so I can’t do anything, I can’t go. It felt quite existentialist. It’s an astonishing thing for these kids, who might not think they’re particularly academic, to see their work come to life.
5 | Exhibition
V&A: You Say You Want a Revolution?
I’m really excited about this exhibition, which is going to be about counter-culture in the late 60s. I love the V&A anyway because it’s an extraordinary place: I always think they have the best exhibitions. I could just spend every day there. But I particularly love 60s and 70s music and psychedelia, so it sounds right up my street, basically. They’ve given a few hints of what will be on show. I think it’s artwork by musicians and artists, a few pictures of the Rolling Stones, that kind of thing. They’re keeping it close to their chest, but I’m sure it’s going to be hugely popular.
6 | TV
Neil Gaiman’s Likely Stories (Sky Arts)
I love Neil Gaiman. I read loads of his stuff, and there’s lots of exciting people collaborating on these. I think it’s four parts, all based on Neil Gaiman stories. They’re directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, who did the Nick Cave documentary 20,000 Days on Earth, and Jarvis Cocker is doing the music. As soon as you get Neil Gaiman attached to something there’s a load of really interesting people who want to work with him, so you get this brilliant melting pot of collaborators.
7 | Talk
Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies
This is a degree-level series of lectures and talks about horror. It’s at the Horse Hospital in central London, which is this strange, very atmospheric building. They do a variety of different talks: they’re about to do one about electronic music expressing evil in film, whether it’s an evil robot or Satan. They do screenings as well, and discussions, intellectualising horror, which is really interesting if you’re a massive horror nerd. I love all that kind of stuff.
