Viv Harkdick talks to Oscar-winning writer Ronald Harwood about his play Taking Sides, which is also released as a movie this month, and the queue of work awaiting the pen of the respected screenplay creator.

HAVING just celebrated his 69th birthday, Ronald Harwood is a writer in demand after picking up this year's Oscar for best adapted screenplay with the Roman Polanski-directed The Pianist. So many projects are heading his way that he admits he hasn't had time to view a new stage version of his drama Taking Sides, which is staged at Darlington's Civic Theatre next week.

In fact, so much work is pursuing his pen that he teases: "Can you tell me what I'm doing, because I've forgotten?"

The list this year is two more wartime dramas - a film version of Taking Sides starring Harvey Keitel and The Statement starring Michael Caine - due for release this month. Being Julia with Annette Bening is ready for release next year and a Polanski-directed version of Oliver Twist for 2005.

"I think its going to be 2004 for that now, but don't depress me with my workload any more because I'm having a very good time," he jokes.

Harwood is clearly enjoying his screenplay writing fame, but would it have made any difference to his career if he'd won the Oscar for best screenplay when he was nominated for The Dresser 20 years ago?

"My God, nobody's asked me that before and I've not thought about it. It would have changed my life then, I think, but I'm better at what I do now. I've learnt an awful lot now and, I don't want to be too cocky about this, but it's been lovely to win it at my time of life.

"It's totally transformed my screenwriting life and much of my other life too. People do seem to be impressed and I was always impressed when other people won, so now I want others to be impressed now that I've won."

Taking Sides, The Pianist and The Statement completes a trilogy of wartime projects which reminds Harwood of the difficult journey he's had as a Jewish-South African.

He explains: "It happened by accident. I wrote Taking Sides and we had a long hard struggle getting the finance for a film. Then I read The Statement and tried to get the film rights, but they were already gone. Then a lovely young British producer called Mark Milln came to me with Being Julia. Taking Sides, the play, was on in Paris and Polanski saw that and offered me The Pianist and that was how it came about. As a result of this I sent Being Julia to the guy who had the rights for The Statement and he loved it and said 'you can do the two'." All the films were actually in the can pre-Oscar, but it's taken the Polanski-Harwood victory to ensure all four films were released.

"Everything happens at once and sometimes you have barren periods, but I can't say it's barren at the moment."

As a well-respected author and playwright, Harwood confesses he's not a big fan of the film-makers' art.

"I don't like watching filming, it's very boring because all you do is sit about. The only person who knows what's going on is the director and maybe the lighting cameraman, everybody else is in the dark. So I just go once. I went to see Polanski shoot for a couple of days and Norman Jewison, who directed The Statement, and Istvan Szabo on Taking Sides because I like to see how a director works."

He brought Taking Sides to the stage in 1995, based on the real life collaboration investigation of leading German conductor Willhelm Furtwangler (played by Julian Glover in the touring version) by a US military war crimes officer (Neil Pearson). Harwood's intention was always to test the audience with the "what would I have done" questions surrounding a man enjoying the patronage of being the favourite conductor of the head of state "who just happened to be Adolf Hitler".

Harwood says: "I'm going to see the play this week in Richmond and I've only seen a run through so far which, I have to tell you, is quite wonderful. I think the play needs all the help it can get because we don't go to the theatre enough to watch serious plays any more. We like comedies and musicals but drama is hard to sell unless it has Madonna in it."

But hasn't the time come when we stop digging into the guilt of what happened during World War Two.

"I've never taken that view, being Jewish of course it's understandable that I wouldn't. I can't see why time has anything to do with it. They weren't merciful to the elderly in their domain, so I don't see any reason for it.

"I've never said in any interview which side I'm on. I hate propaganda plays and being told what to think. So, I think audiences are very, very intelligent and they can make up their own minds. I know I've caused terrible rows between husband and wife, but that's what I think the theatre does best."

On the big question of how he might have behaved in similar circumstances, Harwood responds:

"It's terribly easy to be moral from a great distance. I should know I was born in South Africa. I came to Britain when I was 17. I was a strong and violent opponent of apartheid at a distance of 6,000 miles. My family weren't threatened, I didn't face imprisonment, but my cousin, who was the Bishop of Port Elizabeth, went through hell.

"What Taking Sides taught me was not to be certain about these things. But I hope I would have behaved well, but I don't know, I've never been tested."

* Taking Sides runs at Darlington Civic Theatre from Tuesday until Saturday

Published: 13/11/2003