The leading lady of Lahinch

Actor and writer Siobhán Hewlett speaks to Dan Danaher about her love of north Clare and battling stage fright

AT the age of 24, and flushed from success with ITV comedy Fortysomething, Siobhán Hewlett, was cast in her first big stage role. As opening night approached, the actor, who is now based in Lahinch, began to feel the onset of that which her profession dreads the most – stage fright.
Actors, surveyed for a recent academic study on stage fright, have variously outlined symptoms ranging from swollen tongues to fainting, uncontrollable crying, cold sweats, breathing difficulties and palpitations.
Cast to play a “sex kitten” in her first big play at the Donmar Warehouse, one of the best theatres in London, Siobhan recalls, “I will never forget just suddenly being terrified at the first preview.
“I had consumed about five bottles of rescue remedy just before the press night. I remember sitting on stage and I thought I was fine. I had to smoke in the play so I went to pick up the cigarette and my hand was like jelly. I had to drop the cigarette in my mouth because of my nerves.
“I didn’t know how I was going to get over them. In the end, I did manage to get over them. That was the worst experience.
“Later, in the scene when I saw my hand shaking, I had to hold my hand with the cigarette because I was terrified of being judged and not working again.”
Stage fright is an occupational hazard, of course, though the potential of experiencing it is more than compensated by the purity of the medium, she feels.
“I love film and theatre and really enjoy television work as well. I think theatre is the purest form of acting. You get to go on stage every night and play. Although you are acting in the same play, it is totally different every night.
“The actress is part of a shared experience with the audience on stage that will never happen again.
That night, the way you delivered that line and the way another actor and audience has responded happens only once.
“I love feeling and steering the audience. Particularly, with comedy you can feel the audience wanting to laugh, and you make them wait. I love entertaining people.”
To minimise the dreaded stage fright, she does a lot of meditation, tai chi, breathing exercises and relaxation before performances. Two hours before the curtain comes down, she arrives in the theatre, settles in a calm space, completes her warm up and focuses on relaxation.
“Just before you go on stage, you think I can’t do this, ‘everyone will find out I can’t act’. Then suddenly you are on stage, the lights are on, it is too late to go back and something takes over.
“You come off stage, have a glass of wine, maybe two and then go home.
“It gets easier in the way you understand how your own mind works. Being an artist you have a tendency to torture yourself. The fear will always be there,” she explains.
While she still experiences the fear factor before performances, she has learned how to cope much better with nerves, and doesn’t feel under the same pressure, as she also completes a lot of other work as a writer and producer.
Siobhan has come from a long line of actors and entertainers hailing from a theatrical dynasty stretching back to the 1800s.
‘Loch & Lomond’, her great grandparents, were Variety and Vaudevillian performers, as were her grandparents who met whilst performing for the judges and diplomats at the Nuremberg War Trials, introduced by their mutual agent and her godfather, Lew Grade.
Her grandmother, Kathleen Dunne was the last remaining captain of the Bluebell girls – the high kicking can-can troupe who danced her way from Ireland around Europe and South America in the ‘20s and ‘30s, working with Mistinguett, Josephine Baker Maurice Chevalier and Jacques Tati.
As soon as she could talk, she felt acting was what she wanted to do and asked her mother to get her an agent.
“My parents were against this. My mother had been a child acting star and was very successful. My father was an incredibly successful television star but they didn’t want me to go into the business because it is a brutal industry.
“You have to love it beyond everything because it can be a challenging life. I did feel pressure to be a great actress. Standing in front of my family performing was terrifying because they were and are my harshest critics and biggest fan.
“It is the best job in the world and I love it, but from an employment perspective it is precarious.
“I missed so many friends’ weddings and holidays for most of my twenties. You are always on call.
That is why I set up my own production company and started writing because I want to tell stories that I think are important and be in control of my own life.”
The precarious nature of such a career and its potential effects on mental health and wellbeing are constant companions for actors, even those who like Siobhán have enjoyed success.
It was underlined as recently as last March for her when waiting to hear whether she had secured a role following two auditions, which placed her on a shortlist.
Five weeks of waiting for a final decision left her feeling like a “nervous wreck”.
“My brother, Patrick called me and said ‘you are always like this when you are waiting to hear about a new role’.
“I protested I wasn’t like that, but when I got the call from my agent, saying I had the job I realised he was right.”
The actress who was brought up between England and North Clare has recently decided to base herself more permanently in Lahinch.
Describing North Clare as a very special place, she says when she is away from the area it tugs on her heart and soul and she gets really excited to see the Atlantic Ocean on her return.
“We love Lahinch. Lahinch is my home. I was living in LA for a while but I realised this is not my thing.”
Siobhán’s family are originally from Cork but in the late sixties, her grandparents fell in love with Lahinch, and bought a cottage in Liscannor from Michael Malone Senior.
The family also bought another cottage a short distance away and divided their time between north Clare and Kent.
From the age of about six, Siobhán grew up in North Clare and felt more at home running around the fields and milking cows than in England.
Three years ago, she returned to Lahinch to sort out her grandmother’s affairs and decided to live here more permanently in spring of 2020.
“I felt complete when I got back. My American friends say your eyes go up ten shades of blue when you are in Lahinch. It completely took my breath away.”
In addition to her film work, she is a television, radio and theatre actress and also a writer, producer and artist.
That diversification could take another path as she hopes to construct a writing retreat workshop near her grandmother’s cottage, subject to planning permission.
She says it’s fantastic that some parts of Lahinch, Liscannor and Ennistymon haven’t changed over the years and welcomes the introduction of more sustainable farming like Moyhill Farm.
As a young child, she celebrated her First Holy Communion in Liscannor, and was photographed afterwards on the Cliffs of Moher.
Nowadays, she enjoys surfing in Lahinch and socialising with local surfers.
Her parents Donald Hewlett, who died nine years ago and Therese McMurray Hewlett, both actors, lived in North Clare for a few years.
Siobhán was educated in private schools in England on art scholarships thanks to her work as an artist.
In 2008, she took time out from acting in 2008 to look after her father who was ill at the time.
While she made some incredible friends and had a great time in Los Angeles from 2009 to 2015, she felt was too far away from her brother and mother.
“North Clare is a special place. If I am away from it, it really tugs on my heart and soul. I was going out with a local guy who picked me up once from Shannon Airport.
“We were driving towards Lahinch, and as soon as I saw the ocean I went ‘oh my God’. He said ‘you are more excited to be here than seeing me’, and he wasn’t wrong.”