My reading during Nonfiction November has been purely memoirs this year, and the three I’ve read so far have all been superb! Hopefully I may fit one more in this month. Meanwhile here is my review of the first one:
This woman is indeed a national treasure! She has forged a successful acting, directing and writing career against the odds, doing it her way.
Burke was born in 1964 in Islington to Irish parents. Her mum Bridget, died of cancer when Kathy was only 2. So her two older brothers, Barry and John, plus young Kathy were brought up by their father – except they weren’t really, for he was often drunk. There was often no food on the table, and Kathy relied on being fed by neighbours and parents of school-friends. She was a naughty kid, always skipping school and roaming the estate where they lived. One early episode made me tear up when an ice-cream van came …
‘Fat cow’ was an insult I was used to from my peers, but the first time I was called ‘ugly’ was from a grown-up. […]A cockney woman I’d never seen before suddenly appeared, ‘I’ve had a win on the bingo! Who wants an ice cream ?!’
‘Me please!’ we screamed in unison with hands up in the air. We couldn’t believe it.
I was so delighted, I beamed at her with all my might when she said, ‘Ooh, aint you ugly!’
My world stopped while the other kids laughed. I felt awful. I was hurt. It was a feeling I hadn’t had before. It made me feel ashamed. What was I supposed to do with that? I held back the tears, swallowed down the lump in my throat, laughed along and replied, ‘I’m the best dancer at the ugly bug ball, though!’ Then pulled a face and did a little jiggle, which made her laugh and the kids laugh even more.
The lady apologised when she handed Kathy her ice-cream, but the damage was done.
Wayne & Waynetta (confused): We’re the parents.
Vicar: No, the godparents.
Wayne: She just told you, we’re the parents. You deaf or something?
Vicar: I mean, who’s the godfather?
Wayne and Waynetta (together, loudly after looking at each other): Marlon Brando!
Kathy was to find her feet when she put her name down to attend the Anna Scher Theatre school and eventually a place became available. From there it was short hop to proper acting jobs – the film Scrubbers being the first of many. Loads of recurring roles in sketch shows beckoned, French & Saunders, Harry Enfield, Ab Fab. I adored her as Waynetta Slob in Harry Enfield’s The Slobs, and later as Perry in the Kevin the Teenager sketches. I can’t resist sharing one of my favourite Slobs scenes with you, which had me guffawing at the telly when I first saw it, and still makes me laugh today.
Several serious roles followed alongside comedy and she won an award for playing the mute and ‘scabby’ Martha in the TV series Mr Wroe’s Virgins, directed by Danny Boyle in 1993 – not a production she enjoyed being in. However, she was to really make her mark as a serious actress as Val in Gary Oldman’s film Nil by Mouth, for which she won the 1997 Best Actress award at Cannes, and was BAFTA nominated; she’d known Gary since they were teenagers. She also spent a lot of time directing plays and TV shows, including her own plays, not appearing on our screens so much in the 2000s. She stops the book around then, as she was approaching 40.
After this, however, great character parts would still come her way – notably as Connie Sachs in the 2011 film of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – with Gary Oldman as George Smiley of course, and earning a supporting actress BAFTA nomination. I couldn’t think of a better person to play Connie, after Beryl Reid in the original series.
Throughout her fantastic career, Burke appears to have been very grounded. Despite her father’s problems, she remained very close to him and her brothers and their families, and her friends. She is generous to almost all of those she’s worked with, (maybe not Danny Boyle). This is no tell all memoir either, she admits to flings and relationships but doesn’t share them with us – being content to live on her own, and having got over a broody phase. She tells her story like it was, with grit and plenty of self-deprecation and humour, warts and all. She has a rare skill on screen that draws you to her – from the comic Waynetta and Kevin to serious Martha and Val, and beyond.
Two photo sections balance production shots with friends and family. I would have liked an index, or filmography etc, but that’s a small quibble. Otherwise this is an absolutely must-read actor’s memoir.
Source: Own copy. Gallery hardback, 295 pages + plates. BUY at Blackwell’s via my affiliate link.
Oh she’s so good! What a brutal story from her childhood – how cruel to tell a child they’re ugly. She’s absolutely perfect as Connie in Tinker Tailor, probably the best casting in the film.