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Coffee & a Chat Here, we caught up with Strictly Come Dancing star Joanne Clifton ahead of her performance as Morticia in The Addams Family at Norwich Theatre Royal in April.
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Joanne Clift
Everyone’s favourite kooky family takes to the stage this April as the spectacular musical comedy The Addams Family comes to Norwich. Used to a dazzling array of costumes on Strictly, professional actress, dancer and singer Joanne Clifton will be donning black in the lead role of family matriarch Morticia. What do audiences have in store? ‘It’s a feel-good, fun, laugh-out loud family show,’ says Joanne. ‘Audiences know the characters, they know the world of The Addams Family from the TV show and films but there are some surprises in store. And it’s really, really funny. The feel-good factor is something people are craving after what everyone’s been through.’ There’s no doubt that these past two years have been very difficult for people in the arts world. So how did Joanne keep busy in lockdown? ‘How long have you got?’ laughs Joanne. ‘Me, Katya Jones from Strictly and my friend Sasha Latoya created an online motivational course called The Beyond Lockdown Empire, which went so well we
turned it into a book. I continued working on a musical I’m writing with Ben Adams called Bloody Nora. I also did dance classes on Zoom, podcasts, lots of things - I kept myself really busy because I’m not good at taking time off.’ It must be an amazing feeling to be back on stage in front of a live audience. ‘I can’t wait for the buzz of having a live audience again,’ says Joanne. ‘I love film acting as well but the live aspect of theatre for me is so thrilling - the fact that anything could go wrong at any point, or that someone could do something different on stage and you have to react to it, or how audiences react to different things in different parts of the country.’ Morticia is such an iconic character. How will you put your own stamp on it? ‘When I get a job I do watch the films or any kind of footage from the show twice maximum, then I don’t watch it anymore,’ says Joanne. ‘I get a feel for the character, then I leave it because I want to do my
