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Eyes
Down - Rosie Cavaliero is Christine
Rosie
Cavaliero is quick to stress that she is nothing like Christine,
the character she plays in Angela Clarke's Eyes Down.
It's
not hard to see why.
"Christine
is head of the catering department at the bingo hall. In lay man's
terms, she runs the diner.
"She
lives alone with her Chihuahua, Penny - and Penny is her life, her
child, her everything.
"She
was married a long time ago, but it only lasted six weeks.
"She
hasn't had a boyfriend since, so she's very lonely.
"Martin
is in love with her, but she really doesn't notice his signs of
affection.
"In
fact, she doesn't think that she can have a relationship ever again
- she's happy with Penny, basically."
Like
Tony Maudsley's character, Martin, Christine is very sympathetic,
and her sweet nature sets her apart from Ray Temple's bullying and
caustic ways.
"Christine
isn't nasty at all," Rosie continues.
"She
tends to go off on one and talk about a subject for far too long.
"I
love the way that she goes into all these weird details and gets
fixated on the most peculiar things.
"Apart
from Penny, her great love is 70's and 80's music - she's in a total
time warp."
While
she and Christine may be miles apart, Rosie nonetheless felt that
she understood and liked her character.
"Well,
the 80's were my teenage years, so I can definitely identify with
that. Then again, I liked all the standard stuff - Wham!, Adam and
the Ants - but Christine is a die-hard fan of groups like the Manhattan
Transfer!
"All
this means that she is the butt of a great many cruel jokes.
"She
is quite a large lady and her size is referred to a lot, especially
by Ray, whose cruelty seems to know no bounds.
"That's
what I liked about the script for Eyes Down: the characters are
straight-up and wholly believable, which I suppose merely serves
to make the humour even more savage.
"At
the end of the day, people are cruel, but the team of people who
work in the bingo hall get on well in spite of themselves.
"They
are good friends
and there is definitely a family atmosphere amongst the team."
It's
an atmosphere which is as apparent off-set as it is on-set.
"It's
funny, because I have worked with Angela Clarke before," says
Rosie.
"We
acted together in both Blood Wedding and Time and the Conways at
the Octagon Theatre in Bolton, but that was a number of years ago.
"We
became pally then, although unfortunately I haven't seen much of
her over the last few years.
"But
I've never worked with any of the cast before. I'm very much enjoying
it.
"Rehearsals
have been fantastic, apart from the fact that I can't stop laughing.
I
don't suppose that I have a knack to stop myself from laughing.
"By
the time we go into the studio, I know the script well enough not
to laugh - well, that's the theory, at least."
Not
only does Rosie have to wear a wig for the role of Christine in
Eyes Down, she also needed to discover a bit about the oddities
and nuances of bingo, although as it happens this didn't prove too
much of a problem.
"I
once went on a hen night to a bingo hall," says Rosie.
"The
bride-to-be asked for there to be a theme, so we all had to dress
up as either Pat Butcher or Peggy Mitchell from EastEnders. We all
looked completely mad.
"I
think we annoyed a lot of the die-hard bingo players, because there
we were, looking like we'd just walked off the set of Albert Square,
laughing and joking. We really weren't on the ball at all.
"I
got to see just how serious the people who play bingo are - for
many of them it's the most important date in their diary.
"You
have to have your wits about you for bingo, I learned. It all happens
so fast, but we were behind the whole time.
"It's
a skill I have yet to acquire. I didn't win anything, although I
can see why it could become addictive. I can definitely see why
people keep coming back."
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