Claire Sweeney

Claire Sweeney Daunting? 'At the beginning, yes,' she admits. 'But once you are on stage it goes so quickly. It's over in an hour and a half, played straight through with no interval, and it's a joy to perform although I'm emotionally and vocally shattered at the end.' The 30 year old show deals with the romantic misadventures of an Englishwoman newly arrived in the United States, seeking success, friendship and love. Does Claire now have other musicals in mind after Tell Me On A Sunday? 'D'you know what? I just want to do this one, because it's such a vehicle, such a fantastic adventure from the top end http://www.laspapaslokas.org of your voice to the bottom. This one would take some beating.' Claire is touring the show until mid November and then going straight into rehearsals for pantomime at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking, where she will play the Wicked Queen in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. She is looking forward to not having to be such a very, very good girl and to being close enough to London, where she has lived for the past 10 years, to be able to sleep in her own bed every night after the Tell Me tour. Also coming up is Candy Cabs, a new comedy drama she has made for BBC television. 'We shot it though the summer and it's a great piece about two women who set up an all female taxi company. I play one of the drivers and it's really, really good fun. 'It has wholesale jerseys a wonderful cast including Jo Joyner from EastEnders, Jodie Prenger (winner of TV's I'd Do Anything), Denis Lawson and Carolyn Pickles who's a wonderful actress' (currently appearing in A Month In The Country at Chichester Festival Theatre). Another part of Claire's working life that's close to her heart is entertaining members of all three armed forces. She explains that her brother was http://www.pgmonreale.org in the army and so about seven years ago she became the first British entertainer to go into Afghanistan to provide cheer from home for the troops. Was she aware of being in a potentially dangerous situation? 'Oh God, yes, it was unbelievable, although of course they keep you well away from any obvious threat. 'When we landed there, all the lights on the aeroplane had to be switched off. The whole plane had to be in darkness so that we wouldn't be shot at. 'When I was there I sang from the back of a truck, and helping to raise morale was just a wonderful thing to be involved in. 'I have done quite a bit of it, for the navy and RAF as well as the http://www.janessaassociates.org army, and I'm pleased to be able to play my part. 'I sang on a submarine and then in the desert in Oman before going to Afghanistan. The boys there felt like the forgotten army because the Cheap sports jerseys focus was very much on Iraq at that time.' She has also recorded cheap nfl jersey three songs including We'll Meet Again for a Carl Davis CD, Give Me A Smile, with music from the Second World War, and they performed a programme of wartime classics in her native city this summer. 'The orchestra began to play and I just closed my eyes and enjoyed the opportunity to sing these wonderful songs with such beautiful and emotional lyrics,' she says. 'I've loved the music of that time since I was a kid, and when I worked on the ships we used to do a wartime show.' Claire made her name as Lindsey Corkhill in Brookside after training at theatre schools in her native Liverpool and then in London. She was in Brookside briefly in 1991 before spending four years as a singer on P cruises and then returning to the soap. In that time Claire had enough sensational storylines to keep a dozen actors happy. Among other things, Lindsey was falsely accused of drug running, raped, blown up and kidnapped. Oh yes, and she became a lesbian.