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When Irish Country Living calls Claire O’Leary, she is elbow-deep in packing to come home from London to Cork for the summer.
“I moved over when I was 15,” says the West End rising star. “I feel like I’ve never been at home this length of time.”
The reason for her return? Claire will be starring in Summer Revels at Cork Opera House: a revival of the much-loved family show that many theatre-goers will remember from the 1970s and 80s.
While she might have recently finished a run in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Wizard of Oz, it’s clear that this home-grown production holds a special significance for her.
“My mom did every single one of them,” she says. “[The Revels] was a big part of her life growing up, so it does feel very special doing it.”
North Cork to West End
One of seven children raised in Rathcormac, Claire jokes that they were “literally like the von Trapp family” growing up.
Indeed, while her father, Donal, works in haulage, her mother, Valerie, is a professional actress and drama teacher; and clearly a huge influence on Claire’s career path.
“I used to go to a lot of rehearsals with her,” she says. “I always really loved watching her on stage… I was a little bit in awe.”
While Claire originally attended secondary school in Fermoy, at 15, she pleaded with her parents to audition for a school in London that specialised in performing arts.
“I felt very fearless at that age,” she acknowledges. “I had printed off the cheapest Ryanair flight and I came to my mom with a deal: ‘I’ll do this job and this job if I can book the flights and please audition.’”
However, not only did Claire impress in her audition; she was offered a scholarship. Though she admits that it took her a while to get used to independent living. “There was definitely five or six weeks in a row where I was having Coco Pops every day,” she says, laughing at her limited culinary skills at the time.
However, Claire went on to complete her A levels at the school, followed by a BA in musical theatre. She considers herself “very lucky” that the casting directors from Les Misérables held auditions in her college in third year, which meant that mere weeks after graduating in 2019, she found herself on stage at the iconic Sondheim theatre as part of the ensemble cast.
This also involved covering one of the main roles, Cosette, which sometimes meant stepping up at the last minute. Literally.
“There was one incident where the girl playing the role went over on her ankle [mid-show] and they were like, ‘Claire!’” she recalls. “They had me in a different wig, different costume, different make-up in the space of three minutes. It’s incredible.”
More recently, Claire starred in The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium, where she covered the role of Glinda, the good witch. And in a definite “pinch me moment”, she also got to work with none other than Andrew Lloyd Webber. “He was in a lot of the rehearsals,” she says. “He was lovely and very good to all of the team.”
Coming home
However, the opportunity to work professionally at Cork Opera House this summer is one that she does not take for granted. Running from 24 July-11 August, Summer Revels is described as a “show within a show”, combining music and dance with sparkle, song and spectacle.
Claire plays a stage manager who is struggling to keep the show on the road against all the odds; while also belting out a few numbers. She hopes that it will appeal to the Revels’ traditional audience, while also catering for new theatre-goers.
“It feels very tailored to Cork people,” she says, “but it does feel like the spectacle of it will be for the family.”
After Summer Revels, Claire returns to London for further auditions, while also continuing with work such as providing voiceovers for adverts. Dream roles include that of Charity in Sweet Charity: which is also a part that her mother played previously.
She acknowledges that the uncertainty of the industry can be “gruelling”. “When you don’t know what you’re doing next, it can be daunting and scary,” she says. “But you just have to keep up the perseverance of it and the hard work.”
For now, though, she is looking forward to a summer in the countryside. “We really live in the middle of nowhere. Just going for big long walks with my dog, it’s such a re-set, and even if my mom and dad are busy, there’s always an element of TLC at home,” she says.
“I feel like every time I go back to London after being home, I come back rejuvenated.”
Tickets for Summer Revels start at €20. For further details and bookings, visit corkoperahouse.ie
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