Claire’s view on classics and the Curious Incident

“Theatre is just a big love in my life. I feel heartbroken about how Covid-19 has battered the arts (and my fellow artists) so I will not dwell on it. I do feel positive that my colleagues and I will thrive on the other side and this experience will inform many a beautiful script or project that will come off the back of this unique period in time.

“I have to say I do feel very grateful that my life’s path took me into life coaching a couple of years ago so I have another way to serve, earn and focus my energies right now. That said, I will always take acting jobs that feel right for me and plan to direct more work after getting a huge amount of fulfilment of being on the ‘other side’ in December when I directed my first project for charity.”

Q. What is your favourite album/song?

A. This is the hardest question for me because I love all genres (apart from Country). If I had a gun put to my head I would have to answer Prince and the Revolution’s ‘Purple Rain’ and the song would be ‘Let’s Go Crazy’. I think it will be the first song I play when they announce the end of quarantine.

Q. What is your favourite film?

A. Most actors are real film buffs and I’m not really. The cheesy most watched (like 50 times) would be ‘Dirty Dancing’. I lived for this movie as a teen/twenty something. I’m a sucker for British movies and Mike Leigh’s “Secrets and Lies” is a real cracker. The performances - wow! My favourite romance is an obscure one called “Frankie and Johnny” with Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. I want to direct the stage play some day and my favourite American blockbuster is “The Usual Suspects”.

Q. Who is your favourite artist?

A. Our very own Terry Bradley. ‘Hope, Faith, Love’ is just beautiful.

Q. What is your favourite play?

A. With a budget, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime” by the National Theatre. I went twice, even paid to stand at the back of the stalls to see it in the Grand Opera House when it came on tour here. It really was outstanding, I have not enough adjectives to praise it, suffice to say the cast and creative team created an experience for those who saw it that will never be forgotten. A theatrical moment that made you glad to be alive!

I also have to mention Corcadorca’s ‘Disco Pigs’ a two-hander with Cillian Murphy I saw when I was training in Dublin. It was years before he was famous and it literally grabbed me by the guts and made me see the beauty in humanity and alerted me to the absolute magic that can be created by a great director and just actors in a space (without all the bells and whistles).

Q. What is your favourite piece of classical music?

A. Adagio for Strings, but I have to be honest, my favourite version is the ‘danced-up’ version the Ulster Orchestra did for Lush Classical.

Q. What is your favourite musical?

A. Les Miserables and Wicked - don’t make me chose one! I have to say I haven’t seen a lot of the more contemporary ones although I’m delighted to be going to ‘Waitress’ in Dublin and have promised to take the kids to see ‘Matilda’ when we can go to London again.

Q. What is your most special moment in the arts?

A. My special moment in the arts was the very first time I opened on the main stage in the Grand Opera House, firstly because that in itself is a beautiful thing (that stage is just one big hug for an actor), but also it was in “Dancing Shoes” the musical about George Best’s life. To stand and sing a rousing closing number to full houses of people who were on their feet with the tears tripping down their faces celebrating our local hero every night was a privilege and a joy that I will never forget.

Q. What classic doesn’t do it for you?

A. I did love the classics, especially Shakespeare, when we studied them but I clearly rememeber not being too fussed on the history plays, Henry IV Part One especially. As for Webster, no interest.

Q. What do you plan to read/watch/listen to/revisit during the Coronavirus period?

A. During this time I’m listening to a load of podcasts and TedTalks. I’m seeing it as a time, not just to home school my two wonderful daughters, but as time for adult school for me too. A few years ago, when I did my life coaching course, I suddenly realised I had almost stopped learning and was therefore blocking myself from being the best possible version of myself. So I’m embracing education like never before and it is incredibly liberating.

I’m reading fiction for fun and I’m reading plays including ‘Stones in his Pockets’ by Marie Jones which I’m going to be directing in September and also researching scripts for my next project for my own company CCB Collaborations which is so exciting.