Alison Gets Real ; From the Original Essex Girl in Abigail's Party to Billericay Mum in Gavin & Stacey, Mrs Bennet and Now Pinny-and-Permed in Alan Bennett... Alison Steadman has Given Us Some of Our Best-Loved Characters. But What of the Woman Behind the Larger-Than-Life Roles, Asks Maureen Paton?

Summary

---

Alison Steadman sits before me, defiant streaks of silver in the fringe of that familiar honey-blond hair. She's a bonny woman with the kind of broad cheekbones that the camera loves, but the actress who has played so many hilarious domestic monsters has no real vanity. Like her good friends Julie Walters and Brenda Blethyn, she wears her national treasuredom lightly and admits she was 'shocked' at being awarded an OBE in 2000. Yet her talent for satire has made her one of the best-known faces on stage and screen. It was Alison who first personified 'Essex girl' when she created the nasally- challenged Chigwell hostess Beverly - brisk dispenser of 'cheesy bits' and ruthless nicker of other women's husbands - in the TV play Abigail's Party, created by her then husband Mike Leigh, and she has never been allowed to forget her most famous role.

That was back in 1977, and she hasn't stopped working since, except by choice during her sons' school holidays. We meet in a cafe near her home in Highgate, North London, to talk about her return to the West End stage in a revival of Alan Bennett's 1980 play Enjoy, which was such a hit on its opening in Bath last autumn that it's now transferring to London's Gielgud Theatre, where Alison made her West End debut 30 years ago.

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

Alison Gets Real ; From the Original Essex Girl in Abigail's Party to Billericay Mum in Gavin & Stacey, Mrs Bennet and Now Pinny-and-Permed in Alan Bennett... Alison Steadman has Given Us Some of Our Best-Loved Characters. But What of the Woman Behind the Larger-Than-Life Roles, Asks Maureen Paton?

She thinks of herself as a character actress, not a star, despite the fact that she's recognised all over the country when she's on tour. But her one concession to her remarkable reputation is that, as she puts it, 'I'm getting more and more choosy because I don't want to do just any role. And I have a bit more say about how I'm photographed because of the age I am.' For although she's not remotely grand, no one dares to tell her what to wear any more.

'Photographers would always ask me to lean forward for sh...

See the full content of this document

---