She’s a princess – but absolutely not your typical princess. After all, there is a lot of farting in the show – something Joanne Clifton is absolutely loving.
The show is Shrek The Musical at Eastbourne’s Congress Theatre from Monday to Saturday, November 13-18. Box office 01323 412000 or book online at eastbournetheatres.co.uk.
The show is Shrek The Musical at Eastbourne’s Congress Theatre from Monday to Saturday, November 13-18. Box office 01323 412000 or book online at eastbournetheatres.co.uk.
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FunTranscript
00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Fantastic
00:06 pleasure this afternoon to speak to Joanne Clifton no less, who is touring, touring as
00:11 a beautiful princess who is under a curse. Now, after charming millions in Straitley,
00:17 you are in Shrek, heading to Eastbourne very soon. What a wonderful role. Princess Fiona,
00:24 what do you make of her?
00:25 You know what, it's actually my, it's a dream role of mine. I actually pestered my agents
00:30 and the producers and the directors so much, I was like, you need to see me, let me audition,
00:34 please get me in the room, I need to because I am Princess Fiona.
00:38 In what way? Come on, in what way are you Princess Fiona?
00:42 Because I am a world champion ballroom dancer and when people imagine what that might be,
00:47 they imagine Ginger Rogers or something like that in long, flowy dresses with feathers
00:52 and softly spoken and elegant. And I'm a world champion in it, but I'm not elegant and I'm
00:57 not graceful. So if ever there was a princess that I can relate to, it's Princess Fiona.
01:03 She's got spirit, hasn't she? She really has.
01:05 Oh, she's great. She's feisty, she knows, she knows what she, well, she thinks she knows
01:10 what she wants. And when she disagrees with someone, she's not afraid to say it, you know,
01:17 she's just air guitaring around the stage, she's brilliant.
01:20 I just noticed you're wearing the top as well. Good.
01:23 Yes, I am. Strict musical, Princess Fiona.
01:27 With the emphasis on the princess. And you've had a fantastic career and through such different
01:33 things and all that success on Strictly, winning, etc, etc, world champion. Now you've carved
01:39 out this fantastic career to musical theatre. And it's interesting, you were saying that
01:43 that was always the intention that you wanted to do that.
01:46 I loved it as a kid. I had singing lessons, acting lessons. I did exams in the singing
01:52 and acting. I was in the local operatic society as a kid. And it's just been a dream of mine.
01:57 I think myself and my brother were also brought up on that as well as dancing, because when
02:01 we would travel to London or travel anywhere to do competitions or to have lessons, my
02:07 dad would have the cassette tapes. Yes, that's how old I am. The cassette tapes of like musicals.
02:13 So I remember distinctly that a lot of the time we had Joseph and the Technical Dreamcoat
02:18 and Cats. And we would listen to those two tapes over and over and over. And then we
02:22 had people like Marty Webb and Michael Ball and Michael Crawford, tapes of just musical
02:26 songs. And really what my dad was teaching us was how they tell us that we can't see
02:31 them, but through their voice, they're making us feel emotions and feel like there is a
02:35 story there. And his lesson was that we should be able to do that through movement. We can't
02:41 speak, but in dancing, we have to move people to feel emotions just by through movements.
02:47 And all that has led you to a musical which is full of farting and burping. And you were
02:53 horribly pleased about that, worryingly pleased about that.
02:56 I love it. It's my favourite bit of the show. Everybody loves it, from kids to adults. Like,
03:01 let's just be honest, farts are funny. We all do it. And it's funny.
03:06 They don't feature in many musicals, do they?
03:09 No. And that's the thing. And sometimes I actually get applauded. I'll do a fart and
03:15 get applauded for it. And so I milk it. I take a bow. When the applause starts, I just
03:20 I take a bow.
03:21 You do not extend that to real life, do you?
03:24 No.
03:25 No, we mentioned, Strictly, you mentioned Fantastic Career in Musical Theatre, but you
03:30 have a third career as a wonderful Lego builder. Show us what you're working on.
03:36 Well, this is what I'm doing at the moment. This is the Hogwarts Castle and Grounds. Obviously,
03:43 I'm only halfway through. I haven't done that bit yet.
03:46 How long has that taken you so far? That is fantastic.
03:49 Isn't it fun? This is the biggest one I've done. I just finished the Hocus Pocus set.
03:54 I'm actually in this thing called Brick Borrow. This I didn't get from Brick Borrow. I got
03:58 for my birthday, my 40th, which was last week. But the Hocus Pocus set I got from Brick Borrow,
04:04 which is like basically you get it, do a subscription, you buy it, you get it, you crumble it up and
04:08 you send it back, get another one, which is great. I'm absolutely obsessed by it.
04:12 And is that a kit or are you making that up?
04:17 No, that's a kit. We've got instruction, instruction book. There's 2000 pieces on this one.
04:23 2000?
04:24 2600 or something. But I've also got for my birthday, the Colosseum that's in Rome, and
04:30 that's 9000 pieces. So I'll be starting that after.
04:33 And can you explain why you love doing it? What is it?
04:37 Well, actually, my, it's, so before Lego, I did jigsaw puzzling. Excuse me, I did do,
04:45 I still do jigsaw puzzling. And I actually entered the British Championship in it and
04:50 I came fifth. And yeah, so I'm an avid jigsaw puzzler. And it kind of, I always have been,
04:56 I've done it since a kid with my grandma. But also, I always have one on the go in the
05:01 theatre. And it's also kind of like I focus my mind between scenes, I do it between scenes
05:06 or, or before I go on, so that I'm not thinking about the show. And I just completely distract
05:11 myself and focus my brain somewhere else. It's almost like calming for me. But I made
05:17 the jigsaw puzzling into something competitive, whereas I wanted to find a hobby that I do
05:22 that's not competitive. And that is my Lego, I just can't play with it.
05:26 I understand jigsawing, but Lego, I've always wondered, you know, you make the model, but
05:31 then what do you do with it? You can't unmake it, can you?
05:35 Well, that's the thing.
05:36 You can take it apart and do it again?
05:37 Well, the thing is, with this, with the brick borrowed, I'm an ambassador for actually,
05:41 you keep it for however long you want, then you just crumble it up. And I actually find
05:44 that quite satisfying as well. Take it apart, put it in the bag, send it back, get another
05:48 one. Or if you like them, like my boyfriend is a massive Harry Potter fan. So this will
05:53 be going up in our lounge on the table over there.
05:56 Fantastic. It looks superb. Brilliant. Well, so lovely to speak to you. Thank you so much
06:01 for your time.
06:02 Thank you.
06:03 Good luck with the show.
06:04 Good luck with the rest of that. Thank you.
06:06 Thank you so much.
06:07 Bye bye. Happy farting. Bye bye.
06:10 Bye. Always.
06:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]