Clara Harte: Timoleague actress makes an impression in coming-of-age film
Clara Harte stars in Who We Love. Picture: Yellow Belly
Meet the rising West Cork star who plays the lead role in a powerful new drama about sexuality and inclusion.
Timoleague actress Clara Harte plays Lily in Who We Love, the story of one girl’s dramatic experiences of coming of age and coming out.
She and her closest friend Simon are two young gay teenagers navigating school life. Lily is not yet out among her peers - but when a misunderstanding with the beautiful and popular Violet leads to a vicious attack, Lily is faced with some great and daunting challenges.
For Harte, it felt like an important and timely role to take on. “We haven't seen a queer story in schools lately, and I think the more we see of that the better and the more conversation around it, the better.
“It’s just keeping the conversation alive and keeping it moving forward in a positive direction. And even to young people that might see this film, it's a mindfulness for what someone is going through. Even since we made this film, I think the conversation has morphed and gotten bigger around gender - that’s happening more.”
The project is one Harte has been closely involved with for a number of years. Who We Love, directed by Graham Cantwell, who co-wrote the screenplay with Katie McNeice, was adapted from a short film.
The short, titled Lily, won several awards and she also starred in the lead role. It meant she had a shorthand with the character when it came to making her first major feature.
“I've always seen Lily as extremely strong, but not knowing it. Through the story, she's able to reveal how resilient and strong she is. A lot of the film is about the emotional scars we incur in our lives. It's a powerful message to young people."
While the film is told with an earnestness and focus on the subject matter, it’s also filled with warmth and humour as Lily and her best friend take advice from a twentysomething gay woman who remembers her own school life.
“I think like the light and shade of life is in the film,” agrees Harte. “It couldn't pack such a punch, I think, if it didn't have that lighter side. The film is quite funny in a lot of places - it captures a lot of youthful joy as well as the darker elements.”
Growing up in Timoleague, Harte always enjoyed performing and singing. But she never thought to consider it as a career until she began attending weekly drama classes in Cork city.
“I was in transition year when I started acting. In Cork, the Gaiety (School of Acting) were doing acting classes and on Friday nights I'd get the bus up from school. I did that up until Leaving Cert and then auditioned for drama school in the Gaiety and I was there for two years.
“Even as a kid I didn't really do acting that much. I'd be in school plays and I'd always sing at Mass. Performing was there alright, and I loved any chance that I got, but it didn't really strike me as a possibility until I started to go into that acting class."
Harte slowly came around to the idea of doing auditions. Early shows included a role in an adaptation of the hit musical Spring Awakening in The Everyman, while she honed her craft doing short films with students in UCC.
“There was one called Twinkle Toes, which was a horror and my first ever short - that was pretty fun.”
Currently based in London, Harte recently returned home to star in another high-profile project. She stars opposite screen legend Jane Seymour in the series Harry Wilde, and was greatly impressed by the actress.
“She's an amazing woman. She was producing something else and doing interviews as well as shooting every day. I saw how kind she was to everyone - she just included everyone from the minute you arrived on set, was interested and wanted you to do your best work. It was a really big learning experience for me.”
In an industry that is busier than ever, and with many emerging Irish actors breaking through in national and international productions, it must be a very exciting time to be developing an acting career.
“You're so enlivened by even just the recognition in the last few months, the Oscars and the amazing films that came out last year,” she says. “You do notice a shift towards an attention to Irish films and Irish actors. There's such a wealth of talent and writers, and directors and stories, that has a ripple effect. And I've even noticed so many more things coming to shoot in Ireland and wanting to collaborate with Irish cast and crew.”
- Who We Love is in cinemas from April 28
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