SHARON D. CLARKE.
The actor on why London-born LGBTQ female stories need to come to the stage... and fast!
The Doctor Who actor on making history and being back in the West End with her latest play Caroline, or Change.
When it comes to a safe pair of hands, they don’t come any better than Sharon D. Clarke. The Olivier Award-winning actor has been in some of the biest and boldest pieces of theatre that have ever been seen on British shores – and so often she’s led those companies, too. However, Sharon’s latest project finds her at the helm of a moving and thrilling piece of work that examines one woman’s strules with the world and people around her. Arriving into the West End, Tony Kushner’s Caroline, or Change is a remarkable piece of work that explores racism and prejudice in the USA.
“When we opened the show in Chichester initially, it was the week of the Charlottesville riots so it couldn’t be more relevant,” Sharon explains of the musical before referencing the political and cultural impact she hopes it’s having on audiences.
“I’m very, very proud of the piece and I’m especially proud to not only be doing this fantastic production but, in the present climate and the way the world is, it’s a great piece for people to be seeing – especially young people.”
An openly gay woman, Sharon is desperately in search of roles that represent the great beauty of the city she lives, and a big part of that is the LGBTQ community, and in particularly gay women.
“I get fed up of seeing lesbian stories on telly knowing some angst is going to happen,” she starts. “Somebody is going to die, they’re going to break up, and that they can’t be happy. I get fed up of that! Gay men fare better on television than women do.”
Adding: “For representation, no, I still think we’ve got a long way to go!” Here, Sharon talks Carole, the Doctor, and the change she hopes is coming.
Congratulations on the huge success of Caroline, or Change!
I’m very, very proud of the piece and I’m especially proud to not only be doing this fantastic production but, in the present climate and the way the world is, it’s a great piece for people to be seeing – especially young people. Some older people, Americans, are saying that they lived through that time, but for young people who have seen a black President and not really knowing what it’s taken to get there. When we opened the show in Chichester initially, it was the week of the Charlottesville riots so it couldn’t be
more relevant.
From an audience perspective, it was those it attracts in regards to age, ethnicity, background. It seemed like an audience that we want to see in our theatres. Why do you think that is happening with this show?
All I can be is happy that when I look out, I see a diverse audience in the West End. I don’t often see that in the West End. I do see it, but not often. For a show like Caroline which if you’re a real musical theatre aficionado, you know this show, but it’s not one that’s widely known to the public. People are coming in going, ‘I’m not quite sure what this is about’ and so, in that way, it’s bringing it lots of different people. We’re also working in conjunction with the Black Theatre Project who have given us 500 free tickets that we and then get young black children into the theatre who couldn’t afford to go or have the means or knowledge. We can see that is working and shows that if you’re willing to put a bit of time in and do initiatives, you can bring a London audience into the theatre and not look out to just see that it seems elitist. It can be theatre that is accessible across the board.
The last time we spoke was before the Jodie Whittaker era. There’s been this change with her appointment in the show. That must be something you’re particularly proud of?
To be part of history? That’s history! Whatever happens, I was there in the 13th incarnation when a female doctor appeared on our screens and I was there by her side for a while. I’m very, very proud of that. I love what Jodie is doing with the show, I love what the team is doing with the show. I love the way the story is going. The whole Rosa Parks story just, for me, that’s wonderful. That’s absolutely wonderful. I love it, I absolutely love it! I think it’s great.
And you did make us all ugly cry in that first episode...
I love that Grace made such an impact and is still talked about. That makes me very proud and was accepted. Would I have loved to have been on the Tardis on that journey? Three different generations of diverse women? Yeah! I understand why that was done and how that then glues them together. Having died, I have been back twice but that is the land of Doctor Who.
In terms of representation for gay women on stage, how do you think we’re doing?
Are we talking about gay characters or gay actors?
Let’s talk characters and seeing stories that are similar to yours and mine?
Not good at all. Not good at all. I can’t think of... what have I seen? I get fed up of seeing lesbian stories on telly knowing some angst is going to happen. Somebody is going to die, they’re going to break up, and that they can’t be happy. I get fed up of that! Gay men fare better on television than women do. I think we’re more likely to see gay men on television than gay women. Someone told me, and I haven’t seen it myself, she’d seen a comment when it came out that I’d done an interview and spoken about my wife and somebody commented that ‘If I was a lesbian, I shouldn’t be doing straight roles’. Okay... that’s fine because, at the end of the day, the roles for big, black lesbians are rife and will keep me in work until the end of my days so that’s not something that I should worry about. Come on. I’m an actor. By that stance then, I shouldn’t play a camel or a harp or a river. That kind of thing. For representation, no, I still think we’ve got a long way to go!
Do you think the same applies to seeing LGBTQ stories full stop on stage. It does, perhaps, if I may, feel like that’s changing. We’ve taken another step forward.
Yes. I’m not saying there’s no change happening. The speed at which that change happens is so slow, so incredibly slow. The last lesbian couple that I watched was in Fun Home. When was that written? As brilliant as that is as well, it’s not a British story either. I’d like to see more British stories. A lot of my work is American and, God bless it I can’t knock it, but as a Londoner, I’d love to be telling London stories, British stories as well. No, the work is by no means finished. Yes, we have The Inheritance on stage, another American piece, but God bless that it’s there, but it’s not enough. It’s not enough to be able to call out one or two shows.