TALK TIME:Sonya Kelly, Actor and Comedian
You’re in ‘The Odd Couple’ with Anne Gildea and Sue Collins. Aren’t there only a couple of minor female parts in that play?
No, Neil Simon also did a female adaptation of the play for a female cast. Anne and Sue play the Felix and Oscar characters. I play their best mate who turns up and makes all sorts of stupid suggestions and remarks.
You started out as a serious actor, but recently moved into stand-up comedy.Yeah, it's funny because, when we started rehearsing The Odd Couple, Ann and Sue were relatively new to acting. So they were watching me become a comedian, while I was watching them becoming actors. Ann is now my comedy mentor. We meet once a week and she goes through all the material I've written and frequently tells me, basically, 'This isn't funny.'
What was it like doing stand-up for the first time?Terrifying. I entered a competition in the UK called the Funny Women Awards. I just got on a plane and flew over there – I didn't tell anyone I was doing it. I didn't win, but it started me on the road. After that, I spent the past two or three years building up my skills.
What's the hardest part of the adjustment?Probably getting it into your head that every 10 to 15 seconds something has to happen. Your story can be really interesting, it can be very funny, but it's got to be stand-up. Stand-up a way of speaking that involves tension and release. If I'm telling a story, I have to go back and stick a joke in somewhere, even if it's a total lie, just to get the rhythm right.
What are your favourite areas to explore in your work?I tend to go into minutiae, I like to examine people's behaviour – particularly the veneer that a lot of middle-class women in their 30s have, in terms of wanting to appear physically and psychologically perfect in every way. I'm interested in what's going on behind that veneer.
Christopher Hitchens once wrote a famous article in 'Vanity Fair' arguing that women, basically, aren't funny. Is that an attitude you've come up against as a female comedian?I think the history of women being funny is quite a new thing. Up to 100 years ago, it was considered extremely vulgar for a woman to be comic or effervescent socially. But a key component of being funny is being given permission to be funny. The most common comment I get when I come off stage – and it's usually from lads in Celtic football shirts – is 'Girls aren't funny. But you were funny.' It's important for them to remind me that girls aren't funny, which I think says more about them than it does about me.
Of course, you’re not the first member of your family to pursue a career in acting or comedy.
That’s right, my uncle Frank has always been a towering inspiration to me. It’s lovely to have someone in the family who gets you and understands the highs and lows of the business. Over the years, I’ve watched him raise a family by virtue of his own creativity and that’s a real inspiration. He also saved me from choking on a boiled sweet when I was five, so that was pretty important, too!
The Odd Coupleruns from August 12th-23rd at the Mill Theatre, Dundrum
