Interview

Kim Cattrall

She smart, she's sexy and she's in the West End. Paul Webb shares a cosmopolitan with Kim Cattrall, star of Sex and the City and, more to the point, of Whose Life Is It Anyway?, at the Comedy Theatre.

Is this your first starring role in the West End? "Yes, but I've been to London as a visitor many times. In fact it was when I was over here as a child, in the late 1960s, that I decided I wanted to be an actress. My parents took me to see a production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest, and I was hooked!

"They also took me to Stratford on Avon, where appropriately enough I saw A Peter Hall production! [Sir Peter Hall is the director of Whose Life Is It Anyway?] The play was As You Like It and one of the stars was Janet Suzman, who plays the judge in Whose Life Is It Anyway?, so the show is a bit of a class reunion!"

Do you get to socialise much with the rest of the cast? "Not a lot, largely because I've been fighting off the 'flu that hit London earlier this year, so I've basically wanted to get home after the show. But I think it's good to keep a sense of being a company, so we have weekly check-ins together before the show on Monday so we can chat about what we've been doing..."

You're obviously thought of very much as a New York girl, thanks to Sex and the City, but you were actually born in Liverpool? "Yes, my parents emigrated to Canada from there when I was a baby, and I've lived in New York since I was 16. I've been back to Liverpool since, and I try to come to London a couple of times a year if I can."

Have you caught up with any of the American actors currently performing in London? "Not yet, but it would be good too. I'm a friend of Christian Slater, who I've worked with, and I was very happy he had such a success in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest."

In Whose Life Is It Anyway? you play a woman paralysed from the neck down. Did you do much research into that sort of physical condition before taking the role? "Two of my friends are handicapped: one of them is Chris Reeves, who has died now, but who put up such a brave fight, and in fact I was talking about him to someone just this morning. I think he was a modern day hero, and was totally inspiring for me when it came to playing the role.

"The irony is he played a paraplegic in a film, a while before he had his own accident, and he talked to me about his experience of talking to people in that condition as part of his research into that character. He changed the lives of everyone he met when he had that accident.

"My best friend suffered a terrible stroke and I've first hand experience of what it's like when doctors and a family talk about making a decision as to whether to let someone in that state die, or whether to try to keep them alive despite the handicap they'll have to deal with if they do pull through."

You mentioned Janet Suzman earlier - it's a very powerful scene between the two of you. "It is, and though it's a relatively brief scene, towards the end of the play, it's absolutely pivotal. Janet's character, a judge, has to take the decision as to whether or not to set me free, by allowing me to die. We had a real chemistry when we met and it takes an actress of her calibre to make the role of the judge work as well as she does."

How do you find living and working in London, and do you have any favourite restaurants? "It's great. I'm living in Chelsea, which is a lovely part of town, and there are some really nice restaurants around there. I tend to travel around by cab, and the cabbies in London are very polite, but I much prefer travelling around New York - its easier in every way - the streets are laid out logically and the traffic moves much faster."

Is there anything else you'd like me to mention in the interview? "Yes! There was some nonsense written about me - on the internet, I think, or it was picked up on the net anyway - saying that Kim Cattrall wasn't my real name, that I was really called something else. I've no idea where that came from and my Mom was outraged. 'I named you!' she said, 'So I should know!'"

Are your parents coming over to London to see the play? "Yes, my Mom's coming in April. My Dad has a new hip so he won't be coming over with her."

Do you mind the downside of celebrity - the fact you're recognised wherever you go? "No, it's part of the deal, though I am amazed at how often people do recognise me, whatever I'm wearing. There are advantages to being known for playing a very high-profile role, but people ought to realise you're human and need to be left alone at times.

"Naturally I hope that if people want to see me, it's to see me act, so they'll come to the play. It's a very well-written, very powerful play, and a great cast. It's very moving, about about a very serious and topical issue - the right of someone to end their life if their illness makes it unbearable - but it's also very funny, which is one of the things that attracted me to it, so people will have a good night out."

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By Paul Webb
Thursday February 17