Singing star got the idea for her show from her many disastrous dates, before meeting Mr Right

SINGER, actress and presenter Claire Sweeney talks about Sex In Suburbia, the new production touring to Sunderland, Whitley Bay, and York this spring

Where did the idea for Sex In Suburbia come from?

All the appallingly bad dates my friends and I have ever experienced. We’d tell each other what had happened and get over the horror of the experiences by laughing about them. Then, about two years ago, my close friend Mandy Muden and I started writing them all down in my front room with the notion of turning them into a comedy. At first we weren’t even sure if we were funny. But the play went down a storm with the audiences last year when it first opened in Liverpool. We take them through every emotion and they enjoy themselves so much that they get up to dance in the aisles and sing along to the big musical anthems we’ve included, such as I’m Every Woman, I Want To Break Free and, of course, I Will Survive.

What happens in the show?

It’s all about the eternal subject of love and romance, and the quest to find Mr Right through a series of mainly unsatisfactory dating experiences. In our comedy the host of a late-night radio show is Britain’s leading agony aunt and dishes out her advice. In the original show I played a relationship expert, but this time around I play myself – a working mum with a baby. I decided to update it because my baby boy Jaxon, who was born in September, has changed my outlook on life.

Have you changed anything else?

Yes, I’ve de-Scoused it so that it will appeal more to a national audience. It was very localised before, about famous names and places in Liverpool, so I’ve taken out those references and made it more generic.

Have you included your own experiences of dating?

Yes, all the material comes from me and my friends. I’m the woman who goes on all these dodgy dates looking for love and then reaches a stage in her life when she would like to settle down and become a mum.

Well, you certainly got that, Claire.

Yes, I was due to go on tour with the show when I found out I was pregnant. Being a mum is the best thing ever and Jaxon is the love of my life.

What kind of baby-related stories are in the show?

Funny anecdotes about pregnancy and breastfeeding. I had the most gorgeous pregnancy and loved my growing bump and being able to eat what I wanted. A few weeks after I had Jaxon, people came up to congratulate me on being pregnant. I hadn’t lost baby weight and they thought I was still expecting. I was a bit embarrassed and replied indignantly, ‘Actually my baby’s six weeks old’. You can’t ping back into shape immediately.

What are some of the more outlandish dates experienced by friends?

Well, one of them found the macho man she was dating wearing a frilly rah-rah dress. There’s another extraordinary tale about a cross-dresser. It’s the true story of a woman married to an uncommunicative, unpleasant man who suddenly discovers that he likes to wear women’s clothes. After the initial shock, she becomes the best of friends with his alter ego – who’s softer, warm and kind - and it saves their marriage. There’s another cautionary tale that carries the warning, ‘be careful what you wish for’. A man wants to take his wife to a ‘swingers’ club, but she is reluctant. When he finally persuades her to experiment, she ends up loving it. He becomes jealous and they end up getting divorced. But there’s nothing vulgar about our show; we’ve made it sympathetic and most of all, amusing.

Do women in the audience volunteer their own stories?

Oh gosh yes. We have a slot in the show where they can share their dating nightmares. Instead of Blind Date we call it Bad Date. We’d been hearing all these disastrous stories and decided to ask the audience if any of them knew the secret to a happy marriage. A woman who’d been married for years replied that her tip for marital harmony with a husband was that you should, ‘Just ignore him’. Every woman brave enough to stand on stage receives a free goodie bag from Ann Summers who are supporting the show. An older lady had been married for 50 years and never looked left or right, so we had to explain to her what the bag contained, bless her. It was all done with good humour.

Will the show appeal only to women?

At first we assumed it would be a comedy for women, but we’ve seen men in the audience, too. During a matinee performance I saw a whole group of fellas fill a row, and at the bar in the interval I asked them why they’d come. They replied that one of their mates had seen it, loved it and recommended it and so they’d come along as part of a lads’ day out.

So have you written a scenario from a man’s point of view?

Yes, one of them involves a bloke whose wife is pulling out all the stops – the lingerie and what have you - to seduce him when all he wants to do is watch the footie. Another bloke told us how he went on a date with this gorgeous girl, but when she took him around her house for a cup of tea he was horrified to realise that he’d taken her mother out the week before!

Who would your ideal date be and where would you go?

My guilty pleasure is Ray Winstone. I’ve never met him, but he seems to get more and more fabulous as he gets older. He’s such a geezer, the type of bloke who’d look after you. A night out at the theatre followed by a slap-up meal would be perfect.

You’re presenting a new radio show…

Yes, in the next two months I’ll be presenting a show on Sunday afternoons at 3pm on Magic, the new national DAB radio station. There will be a focus on the Olivier Awards and interviews with stars and cast members of musical theatre.

  • Monday, March 9, Sunderland Empire, 0844-871-3022 atgtickets.com/sunderland; March 10, Whitley Bay Playhouse, 0844-248-1588 playhousewhitleybay.co.uk; Friday, April 10, Grand Opera House York, 0844-871-3024 atgtickets.com/york

magic.co.uk

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