Ex-Coronation Street star Naomi Radcliffe talks about Fireflies at The Lowry

Oct 15 2009 Chester Chronicle

Naomi Radcliffe faces a gruelling time on stage in Fireflies at The Lowry, Salford Quays, but she isn’t fazed.

For this is the actress who spent three years in ITV’s Coronation Street during which time she lost a baby, stole a baby and finally committed suicide by jumping in front of a lorry.

“After that you can face anything,” she said.

Oldham-born Radcliffe is justifiably proud of her stint on Corrie, playing Kevin Webster’s lover Alison Wakefield, especially that dramatic departure which was watched by 17 million viewers and won her the British Soap Award for Best Exit.

Fireflies offers a different but equally demanding challenge. This is called ‘a love story waiting to happen’ and it’s an intense drama woven around two lonely hearts coming face to face with the reality of their lives.

So this is a two-hander, tough work then for Radcliffe and fellow Lancastrian Paul Simpson, who has had the added pressure of taking over the role at a late stage from Brian Mcardle.

She plays Leigh, a woman at crisis point in her life, and Simpson, also ex-Coronation Street, is Nelson, a man under intense personal pressure. Their stories emerge in a script that is fierce, frank and darkly comic.

It’s also visually exciting storytelling, for it combines text with film and computer graphics, to create a unique theatrical experience.

Said Radcliffe: “It’s an extraordinary piece. We each play several characters that we have created ourselves and we are interacting with the screens. We are not just creating moments on stage but also connections, what’s right, what’s meant to be.

“Leigh has had enough of her life, of her ex-husband, of the estate where she lives. She talks directly to the audience, and her story emerges in flashbacks. Nelson does the same. So there they are on stage together talking about their lives, but they don’t actually meet until the end.

“There is a narrative, and it’s about relationships, loss, the stresses of life, the baggage everyone brings with them. It’s complex, but then it’s about real life.”

Radcliffe warns that it’s an urban piece: “The language is explicit, the way real people talk.”

She enjoyed the mixed media challenge: “A new experience for me. You have to keep a clear head, get your timing exact.”

As well as Corrie, Radcliffe will be familiar to audiences as Jean Bradshaw in the BBC drama Born and Bred, and as Bev in the BBC Three sitcom The Visit. Most recently she has worked in radio – and been a mum to two sons, aged three and five.

Simpson was born in Oswaldthistle where he was ‘discovered’, aged 14, to play the lead role in a 1990s film. He played Nick Clayton in Corrie, and has also been in Cold Feet, Wire in the Blood, The Royal and Casualty. Stage credits include Spring and Port Wine at Bolton Octagon which gained him a Best Actor Award.

A groundbreaking production by The Lowry, Fireflies is a new play by leading North West playwright Kevin Fegan and the director is Noreen Kersha, who has won acclaim for her work on stage and television.

The play can be seen at The Lowry from October 16 to -31. Ring the box office on 0870 787 5788 or visit the website www.thelowry.com.