Holby City and Doctor Who star Sharon D Clarke has confirmed she is having treatment for cancer, which has meant she has had to postpone her latest acting role
Sharon D Clarke has revealed she is having treatment for cancer(Image: Channel 5)
Holby City, Ellis and Doctor Who star Sharon D Clarke has revealed she is having treatment for cancer. The star announced her diagnosis has meant she has had to postpone her show.
The actress, 60, who shot to fame after landing her role as doctor Lola Griffin on BBC’s Holby City, had been set to entertain crowds in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new production of Othello.
She has now explained that the show dates have been pushed back while she undergoes treatment. It was due to run between February 13 and April 3 next year in Stratford-upon-Avon, but it’s not yet known when it will return.
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) confirmed Sharon’s decision to step back, saying she will be “taking some time and space she needs to undertake treatment”.
Sharon said: “I would like to thank all the beautiful people at the RSC for their understanding, love, support and healing energy. Othello will be my north star as I undergo treatment.”
She went on to thank her family and wife Susie McKenna for their support in her tough times. “Susie, my family and I are overwhelmed, humbled and buoyed by the tidal wave of love that we have received and are so blessed to have an army of strength and support to hold us up,” she added.
“Love and thanks to my beautiful people.”
Monique Touko, the show’s director also spoke out after the news, saying: “On behalf of the entire creative team, we send Sharon all the love for her ongoing treatment and recovery.
“As a director, I have been incredibly blessed to collaborate with Sharon on this major reframing of Shakespeare’s tragedy, which reimagines Shakespeare’s Othello through the lens of misogynoir.
“Her generosity and passion for this project continues to astound me and I look forward to us coming back together when the time is right to share this production with the world.”
It’s said the decision to postpone the show was a difficult one, but was made sue to Sharon being ‘integral’ to the adaptation.
The RSC’s co-artistic directors, Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, said: “Sharon is, in every sense of the word, a warrior and, we know she will meet this challenge with the unwavering strength and indomitable spirit that she brings to so many aspects of her life and work.”
The RSC described the upcoming production is “set in a climate-threatened future in which a Black lesbian holds a seat of power”.
It “re-imagines Shakespeare’s 400-year-old story through the lens of misogynoir, as an unsanctioned marriage perilously crosses boundaries of race, sex and status, allowing jealousy, suspicion and malign intent to close in.”
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