Chatting With Catherine Tyldesley – Blanche in Bonnie & Clyde
P Hayward – 8th March 2024
The musical Bonnie & Clyde is setting out on its first-ever tour of the UK following successful runs on Broadway and in the West End. On 2nd April it arrives at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre and ahead of its opening I got the chance to chat with one of its stars, Catherine Tyldesley.
Catherine, we all know you from the incredible work you have done on television in the past and now we are going to see you on the stage and in a musical. What has prompted this divergence from the familiar to what might seem like uncharted territory?
Well Pat, I guess to some extent it is uncharted, but it’s what I trained for – my whole course at theatre school was preparing me for musical theatre, but when I graduated at 22 getting work was the priority and so small parts on all sorts of television came my way and slowly the parts got bigger and appearances in one episode became parts in popular series, dramas and comedies. Then in 2011 I got the part of Eva Price in Coronation Street who I played until 2018. It was during this period that my partner (now Husband), Tom Pitfield and I had our little boy, Alfie, and the work schedule of television meant that the work/home balance could be more readily managed than it could with a life in the theatre.
However, I have had the occasional foray into the theatre appearing at Salford in Jim Cartwright’s Is There Anybody There and having written and starred in The Ceremony along with Sue Johnston, Paula Lane, Samantha Giles, Stephen Rahman-Hughes and Jodie Prenger. Then Tom and I had our little girl, Iris Ella, which added another dimension to our work/home life. However, last year my agent called and said that there might be an opportunity to appear in a tour of a Broadway musical would I be interested? Obviously the answer was yes, but there were huge questions over the practicalities of touring and raising a family. Tom said that I should consider it and when we knew and understood the character of the role I might be asked to play and the music, in particular the song ‘That’s What You Call A Dream’, he just said yes, you have to do it.
What was it, in particular that attracted you to the role of Blanche in Bonnie & Clyde?
Well the musical, unlike the Warren Beatty film, follows the real story of The Barrow Gang and depicts Blanche as the slim, bravely devoted wife of Clyde’s elder brother, Buck. Ivan Menchell who wrote the book on which the musical is based, arranged for me to read the actual diaries of Blanche and so I got a real insight into the true nature of the character, her beliefs and humour.
I learnt that Blanche tried to get Clyde to see the light. But there’s a turning point where she realises that he is past all help. In her diaries she wrote ‘I tried to help Clyde, I tried to help Bonnie’ but they were just unreachable.” She’s a powerhouse and she wears the trousers in the relationship between herself and Buck. They are deeply in love and she would do anything for him, but she’s very devout in her faith and she wants him to be on the right path in life. Buck is like ‘I can’t argue with this woman, she is the boss, so I’ve got to do what she says’.
The music by Frank Wildhorn and the lyrics by Don Black reflect the true nature of Blanche and allow me to develop and add my own touches to the role. I try to bring some humorous touches to the piece, maybe like a Texan Hyacinth Bucket. Nick Winston, the director, is a dream to work with as he allows the actors to develop their characters in ways that bring them to life. It’s an exciting retelling of the story of outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, who became folk heroes during the Great Depression. Blanche, coerced by her husband, reluctantly became part of the bank-robbing Barrow Gang and was the only member of the core group to survive, later serving a prison sentence for assault with intent to kill. I get to play out every emotion, a very unusual experience for an actor in the space of two hours.
For many people Catherine, it might come as a surprise that you are a very accomplished singer, something that I became aware of when you released your 2016 album ‘Rise’. How important is this part of your life?
I can’t tell you how important it is to me. I’ve always loved singing but although I haven’t done a professional musical before Bonnie & Clyde, at college I appeared in The Sound of Music, Grease and Oliver! And I’ve always been singing between acting roles, sometimes five or six nights a week, doing a lot of musical theatre numbers because that was my passion, along with jazz and swing.
Courtesy of Brood magazine
You are a few weeks into the tour now, how are you managing the itinerant lifestyle, I would imagine your husband’s magazine ‘Brood’ plays an important part?
I can’t tell you it’s easy, because it’s not. However, with such a supportive family man husband as mine and our close knit family we have a new type of normal. The magazine was an initiative of Tom’s along with two of his business associates, aimed at professional couples where both have careers and a family to manage. It’s where people share their experiences with the aim to help others lead a successful and balanced lifestyle. So I guess you could say it’s time to practice what we preach and it shouldn’t be a surprise, but it’s working. Although, for me not seeing the children every day is a big miss, however I get to spend time with them at home or if they visit me at least one day a week. Our parents also play a big role in ensuring calm and continuity.
In a few weeks you will be visiting Southampton and the Mayflower Theatre with Bonnie & Clyde, have you been here before?
Over the past couple of years I have been in and out of Southampton many times, although I haven’t been to the Mayflower Theatre or many other places in the City. I was fortunate in getting a leading role alongside an old stalwart of mine, Shane Ward from Coronation Street, in what would become one of the biggest ever successes on Channel 5, The Good Ship Murder. The cruise ship was based from Southampton and so we would board and disembark in the City, often having just a couple of hours to do some shopping in the centre, before preparing to sail again. So, I guess like many holiday makers a visit to Southampton is no more than a fleeting glance. So it will be a treat to have time to explore the city at a leisurely pace.
Catherine thank you for your time and I wish you every success with Bonnie & Clyde and I look forward to seeing you in Southampton.
