Leila Farzad: ‘Into the Woods is a Sondheim feast’

Leila Farzad was born in London and studied modern languages at Oxford before training to be an actor at Guildhall. On screen, she starred opposite Billie Piper in I Hate Suzie, earning a Bafta nomination, and played Ariadne in TV comedy Kaos and Nicolette in the latest Bridget Jones movie. Her theatrical CV includes roles in Julius Caesar at the Bridge and Richard II at the Globe. Farzad plays Hannah Jarvis in a new production of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, which runs at the Old Vic from 24 January to 21 March. In June and July, she’ll play the lead in Under the Shadow at the Almeida. 

The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025, dir. James Griffiths)

I turned this on one dismal Tuesday evening and found myself utterly immersed in this beautiful, melancholic, funny tale. It’s about a lottery winner, played by Tim Key, who pays for a folk duo – Carey Mulligan and Tom Basden – to reunite to play a concert on his tiny island. They get there and it slowly dawns on them that they’re just playing for this one dude. I fell in love with all of them, and I came away from it feeling enriched. And I loved the way it was shot. It’s a great British film.

Into the Woods at Bridge theatre, London SE1

I saw this a few weeks ago and, oh my gosh, I have not felt like that in a musical for as long as I can remember – since I was a child, probably. It’s Stephen Sondheim cherry-picking characters from fairytales and giving them all an incentive to go and finish some business that’s been started in the woods. I genuinely didn’t want it to finish. I’ve seen some poor renditions of Sondheim, and that’s criminal because you go away thinking you don’t like Sondheim. But this production is a feast.

Chef Javad, London W8

Persian food is having a bit of a moment, which is great, and hats off to those very cool Persian restaurants opening around London, but this is the real thing – I haven’t tasted anything so delicious in a very long time. Try the ghormeh sabzi, a green stew with kidney beans served with buttery saffron rice. Or fesenjon made with walnuts, pomegranate and chicken. It’s not a visual feast, but every mouthful is delicious. You have the whole of the west London Iranian community going there for Sunday lunch.

The News Agents

I find the news increasingly panicky and overwhelming, so I find it really helpful, when I have my bath, to have Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall break it down to what they think it actually means and where it might lead. They use their combined expertise and their humane interpretations of the world to help me understand quite frightening headlines. I like the repartee between the three of them, and I like the way they can reframe and help my quite simplistic political brain understand what’s going on in the world.

Judy’s Vintage Fair

This vintage fair pops up a few times a month around London, with stalls selling furniture, clothes and homeware, and it’s the most delightful experience. I have an 11-year-old who’s obsessed with the analogue age – she has a typewriter and insisted we get a rotary phone – so these markets are a godsend. I am a bit of a magpie. I can’t stop buying weird, eclectic stuff, but it brings me joy and I think vintage fairs feed your soul. You potter around and waste a few hours instead of being productive, and I like that.

A Poem for Every Night of the Year, edited by Allie Esiri

I love poetry and got into the habit of reading this book of poems with my daughter. There’s something very grounding about reading someone else’s words and thoughts on a subject, talking about them, and then going to sleep. I think everyone should read a bit of poetry before they go to bed, rather than go online. Also, it’s hard sometimes to talk to an 11-year-old about those big feelings that are rumbling in their bodies; sometimes it’s nice to outsource it to an expert with words.

Photographs by Kate Green/Getty Images, Johan Persson, BBC