My Theatre: Hayley Carmichael

Feature in Issue 12-1 | Spring 2000

What did you see the first time you went to the theatre?

Cinderella at Fairfield Halls, Croydon with Peter Noone.

What recent performance has particularly inspired you?

Most recently, John Hurt in Krapp's Last Tape.

Which performer, alive or dead, makes you laugh the most?

Eric Morecambe, The Right Size (both of them!) and Toby Sedgwick.

When was the last time you cried during a performance?

I've just been to the pictures, so all I can think of is The End of the Affair, but I blubbed at Shockheaded Peter.

What productions will you never forget?

Tilda Swinton in Man to Man; The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat (Peter Brook); Shockheaded Peter (Improbable Theatre); More Bigger Snacks Now (Theatre de Complicite); Stop Calling Me Vernon (The Right Size); Vision of Love Revealed in Sleep (Gloria); and Cyrano de Bergerac (Communicado).

If you could meet any theatre practitioner, alive or dead, who would it be?

Max Wall, Ralph Richardson, loads of people...

What does the term 'physical theatre' mean to you?

Just another name for theatre: at its best, all theatre is physical.

If you could pass on one message to Chris Smith, what would it be?

What can I say? More money – because we're worth it!

Hayley Carmichael is currently performing alongside Kathryn Hunter, Marcello Magni and Clive Mendus in Lee Hall's translation of Mother Courage & Her Children for Shared Experience, in association with the Yvonne Amaud Theatre, Guildford. Hayley, who co-founded Told By An Idiot, won the 1999 TMA Best Actress Award for her performance in Weep At My Piano (Told By An Idiot), The Dispute (Lyric Theatre Hammersmith/RSC) and Mr Puntilla & His Man Matti (The Right Size/Almeida co-production). She also won last year's Time Out Best Actress Award for I Weep At My Piano and The Dispute. Mother Courage & Her Children runs at the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield, April 11-15 and at the New Ambassadors Theatre, London, April 25-May 20.

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