Any aspiring actors/writers out there looking for a role model? Consider Charlene Boyd, who has revealed herself to be superhero spectacular when it comes to taking hammers to glass ceilings, not only in acting but now as a writer.
Boyd has developed June Carter Cash: The Woman, Her Music and Me, a synthesis of the country legend’s life through song and her own personal story.
The actor-turned-writer from Cambuslang never set out to weave her own life into the bioplay of the country legend but when in Nashville, researching Carter Cash’s story, the parallels sung out loud and clear.
“I’m fine on stage being someone else, but not me,” she explains, smiling. “When I wrote the script there was no ‘me’ in it. It was only when standing on the same spot (on stage) that June did and sat on the porch at her house looking on those same mountains that I felt I should incorporate my own story into this piece.”
Charlene Boyd, whose TV work includes The Trial of Christine Keeler, Mayflies, Control Room, Annika and River City is one of Scotland’s major acting talents. However, growing up with her mum she never reckoned on acting as a remote possibility. Boyd certainly never imagined in her wildest dreams she could write a play, which began with a pitch to Glasgow’s Play Pie and a Pint team and was then backed by Creative Scotland “to help me map out my idea.”
This idea evolved into a 20-minute video revealing Boyd’s plans for the show which, incredibly, almost every theatre company in Scotland declared an interest in. Boyd chose Grid Iron and a co-production deal with the National Theatre of Scotland, with Cora Bisset directing.
Meantime, in 2021, during a 10-day window break from Covid lockdown, Boyd took off to Nashville to research her story. But at what point did the life comparisons with June Carter Cash begin to emerge. “The more I learned about June the more it opened me up to talk about myself. You see, being a woman, working in the arts, who has also been through divorce – and who has persevered against adversity – well, it makes you realise how so much hasn’t changed (in the industry).”
Boyd offers an example. “When June was married to Carl Smith in 1952, he wanted a stay-at-home wife, but she grafted a career. Then he ditched June for another woman. But June went off to New York, with her baby, to study acting because that had been her dream – and still returned to the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday night to perform with Carl, even though he’d cheated on her.”
She adds: “What was tragic was the audience booed – not Carl – but June, because she had gone through a divorce. And now here she was working, ‘a pathetic woman who really should have gone back to the mountains.’”
Charlene Boyd could empathise with the country singer, who would go on to marry Johnny Cash. “I know how that feels, going through a separation and being in a community of the arts, with everyone knowing your business. It can be a really vulnerable time. I felt judged for going on tour when I have kids at home. And the judgement still happens. But what June did was look the audience in the eye. And so, on stage I can talk about my own divorce, about how difficult that was and how I’ve created a career. And I’m not going to back down.”
Charlene Boyd is now set to appear in new Netflix drama Department Q, appearing alongside Mark Bonnar and Shirley Henderson. But she could never have imagined such success. For the Appalachian Mountains read ‘Cumbernauld.’
“I’ve really suffered from imposter syndrome,” she explains. “I grew up playing the class clown. I never guessed I could be an actor. And even though I had the idea for this play, right at the beginning I said we should ask a playwright to write it. I never felt clever enough to write it myself. But Cora said it had to me, because it was my story I really had to do it.”
Boyd’s attachment to country music is long established. “My mum was a single mum who spent nights singing with a country band and the music was a big part of my life. And when I was at the RCS, I was asked to join a Johnny Cash tribute band, as June. (She still plays with them.)
Now, Charlene Boyd is appearing as her heroine June Carter Cash - and herself, on stage, the play being the story of Woman’s struggle. “That’s right,” she smiles. “But there’s another fantastic element to the story. My daughter Mabel just did her P6 school project - and her subject was June Carter Cash. I’ve never felt so proud.”
Charlene Boyd stars in June Carter Cash: The Woman, Her Music and Me, Summerhall Arts Centre, Edinburgh, Aug 2-24 (except Mondays) with a Scottish tour including Òran Mór, Glasgow, August 30 - September 1.
Don’t Miss
Elizabeth Newman’s adaptation of children’s classic The Secret Garden which celebrates the power of transformation and healing through nature, and is staged, appropriately in Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Amphitheatre, July 27 – August 22.
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