When Mr Hargreaves asked his class at school in Bury what job they each wanted when they left school, Caroline Clegg had a plan.
She and a friend were dreaming beyond the mundane aspirations of many of their classmates but didn’t dare stand up alone to say what career they really wanted to pursue.
‘We hatched a plan that she would say “Model” and I would say “Musical comedy actress”,’ she says. ‘We were the last two in the class and everyone else had said hairdresser, secretary, engineer. It came to my friend’s turn and she said “secretary” and sat down quickly, without looking at me.
‘I hadn’t thought of anything else so I said “Musical comedy actress” and the teacher told me to go and stand outside until I’d thought of something sensible. I stayed outside.’
It’s a good job she did. Over the last 40 years, Caroline has forged a remarkably successful career on stage and screen.
After leaving Bury Church School, she joined the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts and from there went on to sing, dance and act in theatre shows across the country.
‘I knew from an early age I wanted to be an actor in musical theatre,’ she says. ‘I went to dance classes from about four or five years old and would go to festivals, competitions and shows. When the teacher said that it just made me more determined.’
She has worked with the English and Welsh National Operas and with Opera North and this summer she directed Cincinnati Opera’s world stage premiere of Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio.
‘It was written for the 150th anniversary of Liverpool Philharmonic and had never before been performed as a full opera drama. Paul McCartney couldn’t make it to see it but he did send a video message for the premiere.
‘It was nice to have that opportunity to create characters. It went down very well and it’ll be staged in Seattle next summer. I would like it to be in Liverpool at some point but we need to find a suitable venue.’
Back in 1994, to fill a gap between acting roles, she launched her own theatre company intending to put on just one show. Thirty years later, Feelgood Theatre has won a host of awards and is still going strong – their latest production opens at The Lowry in Salford this month.
‘I started my own theatre company because I didn’t like to wait for work; Caroline adds. ‘I started the company to do one show: Our Girls, a site specific piece set in World War Two which we staged in an aircraft hangar in Barton.’
After that, they staged shows for audiences in theatres around the country – and in Europe and Africa – alongside promenade performances in Heaton Park. In 2010 they premiered Slave, A Question of Freedom, the powerful story of Mende Nazer, a Sudanese woman trafficked to the UK as a slave.
‘We have updated the play for the new run and it’s a call to action – we can all do something about enslavement. There are more enslaved people around the world now than there were at the height of the Atlantic slave trade, so this story remains relevant. Storytelling can be very powerful and it’s a way I can make a difference – I'm not a medical doctor and I can’t heal people but I can hopefully make a difference.’
* Slave, A Question of Freedom is at The Lowry in Salford from October 10-12 (thelowry.com) and at the Shakespeare Playhouse North in Prescot from October 22-24 (shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk).
