The word “accomplished” doesn’t begin to describe the talents of Porgy and Bess star Clarke Peters. He began his career in Paris in 1971, when he landed his first professional job in a production of the musical Hair. He landed his first job in the English theatre playing Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls with Watford Repertory Theatre Company. He went on to become a regular on the London stage. His West End credits include Driving Miss Daisy, Kiss of the Spider Woman, One Mo’ Time, Amen Corner, Little Shop of Horrors, Blues in the Night, Five Guys Named Moe and Unforgettable. His work at the Royal National Theatre includes Dispatches, The Passion, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Mourning Becomes Electra and Guys and Dolls. Broadway beckoned in 1999, and Clarke made his Broadway debut as Joe Mott in The Iceman Cometh starring Kevin Spacey and Paul Giamatti. He originated the role of Joe in the acclaimed Almeida production of Iceman, receiving a 1999 Theatre World Award for his performance. He then went on to play Billy Flynn in Chicago in New York, Las Vegas and London. His other notable accomplishments are as a director and musical book writer. He received a 1999 Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical for Five Guys Named Moe, the Olivier Award-winning musical celebrating the music of Louis Jordan. He co-wrote the book for Unforgettable, a Nat King Cole revue that ran at the Edinburgh Festival, the Garrick Theatre and toured Japan and for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award. He also has numerous film and television appearances. See? Accomplished is not enough to describe this multi-faceted performer, writer and director. What else can we call him? Talented? Amazing? Awe-inspiring? We could go on and on. Now it’s time to see if Peters answered your question. Read on!
From Penelope: Besides the gorgeous score, what was the appeal of doing Porgy and Bess for you?
Clarke responds: The journey that Porgy makes emotionally is part of the appeal. There is also the challenge of the physicality of the character that caught my imagination. As you offered in your question, undoubtedly the score is alluring as well.
From Albert: How did you physically get into the role of Porgy? Does it make your muscles ache to be in a twist position for a long time?
Clarke responds: If you are asking what I did to find the physicality of Porgy, it was to observe handicapped people and to draw on a childhood memory of a friend who was disabled by polio. It takes a lot of effort to maintain the postures and causes discomfort at times. Therefore it is necessary to have physio-therapy several times a week to avoid any permanent damage.
From Jeanette: Are you American? Why did you decide to make your home in London? Is it more or less challenging to work as an actor there?
Clarke responds: I am an American who considers himself a citizen of the planet Earth. I reside in London because theatre is a part of the culture here and I feel more at home where people respect acting as an integral part of culture rather than a commodity. Having said that, it is challenge acting anywhere in the world whether it be Britain or America.
From Morris: I've heard that Porgy and Bess may be going to Broadway; Will you move to New York with it?
Clarke responds: I’ve heard that Porgy and Bess is going to New York and hope to be on “that boat that’s leaving soon…” as well.
From Tim: How does Trevor Nunn work? What was the rehearsal process like?
Clarke responds: Sir Trevor worked meticulously making sure the story is told accurately and smoothly. I was told once that 90% of directing is in the casting .This frees the director to serve the final vision without a lot of time spent on character development. In our case that time was spent making sure the difficulty of seamless scene changes happened with ease. Sir Trevor spent hours making sure each—chair, box, table and all props that served each scene were accurately place. Sometimes a prop was placed in a position that served a scene two scenes later. Also, in the storytelling he made us aware that even in the silences we could progress the development of Porgy and Bess’ relationship. This hint enabled [co-star] Nicola [Hughes] and I to fill in the gaps and offered us more to explore. All in all the process was intriguing and stress less. A joy to work with.
From Mary: I was wondering what is like to working with Aidan Gillen, Jim True Frost and Dominic West in The Wire.
Clarke responds: I don’t have any scenes with Mr. Gillen, but Jim and Dom are great to play with. Jim is a very cerebral actor and Dom is more gutsy. The characters they portray may have a bearing on the way they approach their work. Off set they are both great people to hang out with.
From Felix: How did it feel to be the first black Sky Masterson? You've worked extensively in musicals and plays, which one do you like better and why?
Clarke responds: It felt wonderful playing Sky Masterson, I like him. The joy of the part wasn’t in being the first black Sky; as a matter of fact I wasn’t the first. I’ll leave you to research that. It was in playing the role. I like a good story with or without music.
From Cheryl: Tell us about your experience in The Iceman Cometh. Were you expecting it to go on for that long?
Clarke responds: Iceman Cometh was my first foray into epic theatre. I love the challenge of maintaining a character's off beat persona in order to tell a story over long stretches of time. These broken people who are in our midst who we just pass by or purposely ignore are sometimes endowed with enormous virtue borne out of their condition. Drug addicts and alcoholics are not criminals, they’re victims or casualties of a society. They are the writing on the wall. I didn’t expect Iceman to run so long because of its length being well into four hours… without commercial break. Most people can’t sit still for a half hour without fidgeting. They did for Iceman, and it was a very rewarding experience.
From Lilith: What's your greatest strength and weakness as an actor?
Clarke responds: I’d like think my greatest strength as an actor is my willingness to take risks. Someone else will have to point out my greatest weaknesses, and I wish they would so that I can work on them.
From Jerome: A lot of people call Porgy and Bess "controversial." Can you explain why? Do you agree?
Clarke responds: Porgy and Bess was "controversial" because it was the most visible depiction of Afro-American life. Although the dialect and superstitions were true, it only showed one side of the Afro-American experience. It made life appear as though there was no middle or upper class in our community. We have always had professionals in our community, but it was always the down trodden side that sold the tickets and influenced our young. At the time of the opera and decades afterward, this is what the entire outside world saw. So when the civil rights movement began to gather momentum in the ‘60s Porgy and Bess became the perfect example of how white America wanted to document the Afro-American life. Therefore it had to be taken out of the psyche of the American people in order to allow new images of the community to shine through. I agree with that point of view because it was right for then, but now we have many more images to counter those presented by certain people with their own agenda of whit supremacy. I hasten to add that that was not the intention of the creators: to have this piece used as a weapon against people of colour. I believe they wanted to exploit a part of American society for monetary gain and to document it as honestly as they could.
From Simon: What's your favourite part that you've ever had? What's your least favourite? What would you do again given the chance?
Clarke responds: My favourite role is Porgy in Porgy and Bess. My least favourite role was playing a black panther in workshop production of Seaberg: the biography of the actress Jean Seaberg. The reason was because the director didn’t have a clue as to the function of these people in Jean’s life. The role I would do again given the chance would be any one of them, barring the Seaberg panther.