Cecilia Noble is gaining a well deserved reputation for her comic timing, quality acting and sterling singing on stage on a CV that also includes TV (Casualty, EastEnders and Silent Witness) and film, such as Storm Damage and New Year’s Day. During her early teens, while attending a strict Catholic convent school in North-West London, Noble’s desire to act was kept a secret as it wasn’t seen as a career option.
At 14, Noble upset the applecart by choosing this unpopular artistic path, but it has served her well. She was longlisted for an Evening Standard Award 2013 for Best Musical Performance in the National Theatre’s production of The Amen Corner. This Central School of Speech and Drama graduate is now starring in Kathy Burke’s production of Mary O’Malley’s riotous 1950s comedy Once a Catholic at the Tricycle Theatre. She tells Joy Francis why she had to fight to have a career as an actress, how her singing reputation is unexpected and why budding actors need to avoid following the crowd.
Despite knowing that you wanted to act from a young age, you felt compelled to keep it a secret due to being at a convent school. How did you manage to contain such a revelation?
I lived on a council estate in Hackney. There wasn’t anybody in the area or on TV to inspire me yet I knew, somehow, that I could act. I knew I really wanted to go to drama school and I knew I wanted to go to the best one. In the end I had to fight everyone on my decision – the [convent] school and my parents. I went to the Weekend Arts College, an excellent programme at the time filled with working class kids like me who wanted to make it in the arts. I got into quite a few drama schools but choose the Central School of Speech and Drama.
What was the turning point that made you pursue your acting dream more openly?
It was after I told my mum. That was the biggest hurdle. She wanted me to become a nurse or social worker. Acting was the last thing she wanted me, this girl from a convent school, to do. She didn’t see it coming. When I told my school, my parents had to come and meet the head mistress. It was that big a deal. After telling a Jamaican mother that you wanted to be an actress, everything became easier.
What qualities did you need to have to go on such a tough journey at such a young age?
You need to be determined just to stay in this business. In retrospect, going through what I did made me stronger so when I get told no I think, is it really no? My old English teacher came to see me in a production of Wine in the Wilderness/Water at the Tricycle Theatre in 2000 and apologised to me as the school didn’t know what to do with my aspirations. It didn’t do drama so I had to do A Level drama at another school.
You have acted on TV, in films and on the stage but you also do musical theatre. Is this variety in your choices a conscious one or is there one form that you much prefer?
There isn’t really. I just love working. Whatever I’m doing at the time, I love it. Amen Corner was really a play with a lot of music in. At one stage I wondered if I was in the right place. I love new challenges and love learning new stuff. If you just want to feel comfortable you might as well get a normal job. I’ve done the odd bit of singing in the RSC but I think I haven’t done as much as straight acting so it’s still a new thing. I always thought I could sing, but I haven’t really been able to use that skill.
Your star turn as Sister Moore in The Amen Corner at the National Theatre earned you an Evening Standard Award longlist nomination for Best Musical Performance. What was it like working on such a tight and well received production, and how familiar were you with the play’s author James Baldwin?
I first did the play around 16 years ago. I played Sister Margaret. I was far too young to do that role so it was nice to revisit the play again from a different perspective as I was older and wiser. Sister Moore became a real challenge as I had to get into the skin of this person. I love working at the National Theatre. They have all the resources and anything you ask for, it is there. They do everything to make sure that you, the artist, do your best work. Also I was dying to work with Rufus [Norris]. I’m really pleased that he is now the new artistic director at the National Theatre. He will make some wonderful changes and turn it into an international theatre.
You are now working with the great Kathy Burke in her production of Mary J. O’Malley’s comedy Once a Catholic. What’s your role and why did you say yes because I get the impression that she handpicked the cast?
Kathy said that she was thinking about making Mother Peter African or Jamaican. She told me to go away and read the play and to let her know if I thought it would work. I read it and apart from a few words I thought, this is a Jamaican woman.
You were also brought up a Catholic.
I went to a predominantly Irish school. A lot of my mum’s friends were Irish so I knew who these people were. I understood this role as I was brought up a Catholic. I thought I had struck gold again by working with Kathy. She is so inspiring and was an actress so she understands the process, what you need and when. I hope no one gets offended, including some of my mum friends, as they are very Christian. It’s a play, it’s a comedy and it’s a laugh.
You’ve performed at the Tricycle many times. What draws keeps pulling you back?
The good work. It’s a great place to be with a new artistic director [Indhu Rubasingham] and a female energy. I thought, yes this is a great choice and everything seems to tick all the boxes.
Any advice for budding young actors?
You have to stand alone sometimes to follow your dreams. No matter what is going on around you and what people are saying, don’t be afraid to go it alone. You need the inner fight and determination to do it and stay doing it. Don’t follow the crowd.
Cecilia Noble is performing in Once a Catholic at the Tricycle Theatre until 18 January 2014.