10 Questions: An Interview with Chloe Faine
Today we interview the actress, Chloe Fain who plays the passionate Princess Eboli, the Lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth de Valois (who becomes Queen of Spain). This is a one of the more meaty roles in Schiller’s intriguing romantic tragedy set in 16th Century Spain.
It is said that Don Carlos is one of those memorable plays one should see in one’s lifetime, so nows your chance! It is on at C Cubed from Sunday 17th August to Saturday 23rd August at 5.55pm in the early evening. So let’s chat with Chloe Faine and learn lots more….
1. What inspired you to become an actress?
I avoided becoming an actor for years and years – it was a bit like being in the closet. Inappropriate bits of dramatic behaviour would pop out when I wasn’t concentrating on pretending to be normal. I got to my late twenties and thought ‘Oh Feck it – I’ll have a go and if I don’t like it I can always stop.” I liked it.
2. What is your show about and what should the public expect from your show?
Don Carlos is a weird play – it’s an exploration of a fictional ’situation’ between King Phillip of Spain and his son, Carlos and Carlos’ friend Rodrigo who is fighting to free Flanders from the carnage of the Inquisition. I think ultimately it’s a polemic on freedom of speech dressed up as a thriller and a love story by turns to keep it accessible to Schiller’s audiences. The constraints of working in the festival have meant that a lot of the polemic is omitted leaving you with the thriller and a lot of snogging. Nick, who plays Rodrigo, has to get across a lot of politics in a few relatively short scenes but I think we manage to stay true to Schiller’s original intentions.
3. What is your favourite festival or fringe?
To date it’s always been Edinburgh – my first job when I left college (except from one I got sacked from for refusing to pole-dance in the interval) was in a play up here.
4. What’s your best advice for aspiring performers on the festival circuit?
Muck about with the audience – they’re really close to you and probably on your side so take advantage of that and see what works and what doesn’t.
5. What is your funniest experience and also your worst experience performing or attending a festival?
Funniest was this play I was in where there was an announcement that the world was ending. We’d spend 45 odd minutes building to this huge emotional climax, then there was a radio announcement and then a long silence as we all took it in – it was meant to be very poignant, thought provoking etc. Unfortunately, one actor who was on all fours when the announcement came, got about 20 seconds into the silence before letting rip with the loudest fart I have ever heard. The four cast members spent the rest of the play with tears rolling down our faces, completely incapable of getting another line out for laughing.
6. As you travel performing, where is your favourite place to vacation/chill out and why?
I can chill out just about anywhere – benefit of spending a year travelling Ireland in a transit van.
7. Who is the person you most admire and why?
I admire anyone ugly who makes it as an actor. The uglier the better – we need to see people from all the spectrum but if you’re a bit wonky looking it can be very hard to get going…
8. What is the best tip you have ever been given?
Never ever work with a director you don’t like. I haven’t always abided by that as a rule and I’ve always, always wished I had.
9. What is the best book you have read and why do you like it?
Lords of Misrule by Charlie Fisher – it’s this mental caper involving humans and deities. I want to play one of the leads when they make it into a film.
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
I would have people recognise just how amazingly lucky we all are.
