Claire O’Leary: Music theatre star on the Cork Proms and climbing the ladder in the West End
Claire O'Leary appears in the Epic Icons Of Musical Theatre show at the Proms at Cork Opera House.
For Claire O’Leary who stars in the Cork Proms at the Cork Opera House, there is something approaching a Cork ‘mafia’ in London where the Rathcormac-reared musical drama practitioner lives.
O’Leary, who moved to London to study musical theatre at just fifteen, lives with her close friends, Liadán and Martha Dunlea from Cork.
The Dunlea siblings are back home as they are starring in Making History at the Everyman until April 26. O’Leary’s sister, Sally, a comedy writer, also lives in London.
“There’s a lot of Irish actors over here,” says O’Leary (27) from her home in Hackney.
“We all kind of stick together. London can be a very daunting place. It’s comforting to live with two people who are like sisters to me and are in the same boat as me.”
Moving to London in her teens, O’Leary says she was “fearless” then. Coming back to Cork to work is always sweet. “You appreciate it a lot more when you’re older.”
O’Leary convinced her parents to allow her to apply to Arts Ed in Chiswick. She was lucky to win a scholarship to the drama school.
She took A levels in English literature and drama and theatre studies and graduated with a BA Honours in 2019. It was liberating to just study subjects that interested her as well as training in musical theatre.
“I was terrible at maths at school,” she says of her time at Loreto Convent in Fermoy.
In London, it’s not unusual to audition for shows several times a month in London. “In March, I had about twelve auditions. It varies because the industry is still only picking up after covid. For musical theatre in the West End, there would be a lot of people going for a role. For and I did six or seven rounds of auditions for each show. It’s a lot of work. I’ve done that many auditions for other shows and not got them. You have to pick yourself up again.”
O’Leary was in the ensemble of at the London Palladium last year and got to play Glinda. She got her big break when she was cast in the ensemble in at the Sondheim Theatre a few years ago and played the role of Cosette.
Now in the process of auditioning for various shows, O’Leary says it’s a slow process. “It’s a waiting game. You’re not allowed to say anything about a show for three months.”
Having played the lead in at the Gate in Dublin last year over Christmas, O’Leary says that experience has given her leverage. “It’s a step up to leading roles.”
The actor and singer says her mother, actor and drama teacher Valerie O’Leary, is a big influence. “When I was a child, I begged her to take me to lots of rehearsals at the Cork Opera House for plays she was in. My mother never pushed me into pursuing theatre but I really enjoyed being there and learning from her. My father has a haulage business. They never tried to put me off apart from when I wanted to go to London at fifteen. I’m one of seven. My mother was either doing shows or teaching. She was always kind of juggling. I thought it looked like fun. The message was that if I wanted a career in theatre, I had to work hard. You need to love it if you want to do it.”
One of O’Leary’s stand-out memories of her early days on the stage is playing Annie when she was twelve. “We did it at the Olympia in Dublin and then it came to the Cork Opera House. That was a highlight. I got to miss school. It felt like the biggest deal ever.”
O’Leary shared the stage with her mother in a couple of pantomimes in Cork. “That was fun. We also did And I played Alice in directed by the late Bryan Flynn.”
For years, O’Leary was a member of the Fermoy Musical Society doing a show a year and attending classes with her mother. Valerie O’Leary was a drama teacher with the Montforts under the late Eileen Nolan.
With a boyfriend who is also an actor, there is no escaping all things theatrical. But that doesn’t mean that O’Leary is constantly treading the boards.
“There is a bit of juggling because obviously London is expensive. I do voiceover work. I have taught a little but I don’t have a passion for teaching. I have to be clever. One job can tide me over for a while and I work in a vintage clothes boutique two days a week. My boss there used to be an actor so she understands that if I get a call for an audition, I have to go to it. I probably do two or three shows a year. But I can go months without doing a show.”
O’Leary admits that she and her actor friends sometimes wonder why they put themselves through the ordeal of auditions. “I get very nervous before an audition. But I’m fine once I’m in the room. But even doing the Gala Night at the Cork Opera House recently, just before going on, I’m like ‘why did I choose this?’ It’s nerve wracking. But I think it’s always worth it. I love rehearsals and meeting new people. It balances out the nerves and the ‘what am I doing with my life?’”
- The Cork Proms has three different shows at Cork Opera House April 19-27. See www.corkoperahouse.ie
The Cork Proms opens with a show entitled showcasing the most memorable anthems of musicals. It will also bring to life well-known characters from the stage such as Nancy in Jean Valjean in to Maria in The line-up features Claire O’Leary, Shane O’Riordan, Ben Morris, Juliette Crosbie and Jacinta Whyte. Curated by Trevor Ryan, the concert will be conducted by John O’Brien.
On April 23, will take audiences on a journey of iconic masterpieces from popular culture including the strains of from Rossini’s and Wagner’s It is curated and conducted by Gary Beecher.
On April 26 and 27, there will be “pure pop magic” in Curated by Cork Opera House CEO and artistic director, Eibhlín Gleeson, and musician Jack O’Rourke, this musical journey of pop royalty features performers Gemma Sugrue, Sexy Tadgh and Lucia Evans.
They’ll sing hits from the likes of Queen, Prince, Elton John, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Michael Jackson and George Michael. The performers will be accompanied by the Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra, conducted by Elaine Kelly.
