Jane McGowan meets Doc Martin star Caroline Catz as she prepares to get in touch with the darker side of life
Caroline Catz is probably best known as Louisa Gleeson, the sunny sometime-other-half of Martin Clunes curmudgeonly GP in ITV1 smash-hit series Doc Martin. But for the next few weeks, the 48-year-old actress is putting all thoughts of the Cornish idyll behind her to take on two very challenging roles that share one very serious theme… death.
Caroline, who has most recently been heard playing Allyson the wife of actor Chris Larner whose autobiographical account of his wife’s assisted suicide – An Instinct for Kindness – has been dramatised on Radio 4, is now preparing to star in the Rose Theatre’s production of Curtains, which again deals with end-of-life care and the attempt to secure a dignified passing.
“Both works are about giving a loved one the death they deserve,” she says. “And they have both helped me understand a bit more about how difficult it must be to watch a loved one suffer.”
Curtains is an award-winning play by Stephen Bill that deals with the themes of age, family and loss. The action takes place during Ida’s 86th birthday party and while her assembled children force themselves to be jolly, Ida, racked with pain and terrified by the onset of dementia, has other ideas as to how the party will end.
“It’s a brilliant play and although it may not sound like it, it is very funny,” Caroline laughs. “It’s a about a typical family and the situation they suddenly find themselves in. Believe me there is a lot of humour, although a lot of that humour is very dark,” she admits.
Caroline, who stars alongside a distinguished cast that includes Saskia Reeves, Jonathon Coy and Sandra Voe, plays Susan, the prodigal daughter cast out at 17 for falling pregnant, who following a dream that something is amiss at her former home, returns after 25 years. What ensues is a lot of soul searching, accusations and recriminations until Ida exercises her matriarchal authority one last time to devastating effect.
“Despite the subject matter, it has been such great fun to work on and the whole cast is fabulous. Death is the one thing we are all going to have to face and this play gives you a lot to think about and a lot to smile about.”
And something that will bring a smile to fans of Caroline’s more comedic work, will be pleased to know that Doc Martin will return in 2019 for another series.
“Yes, I am so pleased to be doing it again,” she enthuses. “I love working with Martin and the team and Cornwall is just, well, the whole thing is an absolute joy.”
- Curtains is at The Rose Theatre, Kingston until Mar 17. For tickets, visit: rosetheatrekingston.org
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