Reeves House Concert

OE INTERVIEW Interview with Patti Clare

In December 2021 Old Eastbournian, Patti Clare came to the college to watch the school’s production of ‘Les Miserables’. Before she watched the fantastic performance, she sat down for an interview about her time at Eastbourne in the early 90s and her experience as both a stage actress and a TV actress. Most famously she has stared as “Mary Taylor” on Coronation Street since 2008 and is a three-time winner of the British Soap Award for Best Comedy Performance!

Hi, Patti. Which house were you in?

Nugent. So, when I came it was only the sixth form that was mixed. The rest of the school was just boys, so we were like these exotic strange creatures, and we all stayed in one house and that was Nugent. But it was split into two, there was the main house and then there was a house on the other side where the day girls tended to be. That was the house to try to get into because (I shouldn’t say this!) you could sneak out because our housemaster was on the other side of the house!!

Which A levels did you take?

I did English literature, history, and classical civilisation. The stuff I learnt in classical civilisation actually helped me so much in my acting

Do you have any advice for aspiring actors who are currently at the college?

I would think very carefully because the business has changed with covid. The old fashioned route of repertory theatre’s aren’t as much there for younger actors but having said that there aren’t any rules anymore! There’s never been a magic formula on how one becomes an actor and progresses through. I would say get your exams and if you want to go on to further education then do that because there’s plenty of time unless you’re absolutely burning with almost vocational zeal! But even then, I would strongly recommend getting your education out of the way because it is a long journey.

What is the role that you’re most proud of?

Do you have any lasting memories of Eastbourne?

I do, I loved my time here. I’d come from a convent, so it was a huge change. The sense of space and freedom and how we were treated as an adult and a human being. Especially as a female you were absolutely equal to everyone in the school. The freedom of being able to go out in the afternoon is what I loved most though. You couldn’t keep me in! I loved going to the beach. On top of that my education and the help from my teachers. Eastbourne was just a wonderful, wonderful school, for me anyway. Boy, that’s a really good question. I think in terms of theatre it was a role up at the citizens theatre in Glasgow. I worked there from the age of 18 to 36, so many years. It would be a role I did for them in a