Tracie, for those older Coronation Street fans who'll remember, played Sharon Gaskell on Corrie. Sharon was a fragile soul, engaged to be married to a bloke called Ian who had an affair with Natalie Horrocks and one of the most mesmerising scenes on Corrie was Sharon in her wedding dress bawling her eyes out on the cobbles after she ran out of her winter wedding, snow falling around her. Tracie seemed to take that vulnerability and fragility of Sharon a little and you could see glimpses of it last night in the way she portrayed Judy Garland too. There was also a lot of Elsie Tanner-like feistiness and physical resemblance in the way she played Judy Garland and we wondered why Tracie hadn't been considered (or maybe she had?) for the role of Elsie in The Road to Coronation Street.
Anyway, in the interval, Sunny Jim and I discussed how, very often, we only ever appreciate how good an actor actually is when we see them away from our favourite soap. For instance, I never knew what a comedy talent Bev Callard was until I saw her in Two Pints of Lager and realised there was a lot more to her acting talents than being Liz McDonald. Until TV actors are there, on stage, live and up close and personal, you never really get that feeling of how good they actually are, what they're capable of. When we watch Corrie actors on Coronation Street five times a week, we become too comfortable with their characters, I think, and often fail to see the person behind the character, knowing that they're capable of acting their Corrie socks off if only the writers and powers that be would let them.
Anyway, I haven't enjoyed a theatre show like this in a very, very long time.
Check out the website here as the show's on UK tour.
5 comments:
I had heard it was very good. I agree, i think we underestimate most of the actors' abilities because we're so used to seeing them as one character. Some of them,... you really can admire h ow good they are. Graeme Hawley is one of them (we've just seen John Stape have a breakdown in Canada) for example.
I still feel a bit mesmerised by her performance.
After she was sick over the back of the sofa I kept urging the other actors on stage to keep away in case they stood in it. It was that convincing!
I missed Tracie Bennet on her first round on Corrie, so I always knew her as the woman from Joking Apart - Steven Moffat's brilliant sitcom.
I've been really impressed by Suranne Jones in a few of the non-Corrie TV shows I've seen her in.. she's capable of a lot of subtlety,which she rarely had the need to do as Karen!
Rebecca in TO
Small world, Nora! I was there at the Theatre Royal last night too. I see a LOT of theatre and I rate Tracie's performance as the stand out theatre performance of my year. She was nothing short of sensational; vocally, comedically and physically (that energy! Love to know what her dietry regimen is to keep her energy levels up and yet stop her wasting away to a wraith!) I've seen her in other shows, like She Loves Me and La Cage aux Folles, but this one took her onto a whole new level. As you say, one of those performances that will stay with you for years to come. I'd urge anyone who gets the chance to see it.
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