SOMEWHERE along the way, while writing her first play about country singer June Carter Cash, the story shifted for Charlene Boyd.
Actually, Charlene – a charismatic and thoughtful actor well known for her TV and stage roles in the likes of River City, Scot Squad, 2:22 A Ghost Story and The Macbeths – knows exactly when it happened.
“I thought I might write a jukebox-musical-style piece about June,” explains the Glasgow-based actor. “I sing in a pub band, we do a lot of Johnny Cash songs, we have a bit of a rock country vibe – and I’ve always been interested in finding out more about her.
“So I started reaching out to people in Nashville, people who knew her and worked with her, and it became apparent that not many of us know the real June Carter Cash, beyond her connection to Johnny.”
Charlene’s research took her all the way to the Appalachian mountains, where she met, among others, June’s daughter Carlene Carter.
“She was not an easy person to get to speak to – when we did finally meet, she said it was purely my persistence that persuaded her,” says Charlene, smiling.
“It was incredible, speaking to people who knew June first-hand. Maybe it’s my actor’s approach, but that’s what I wanted – real people, real stories.
"Facts only go so far and if it was just about facts, anyone could write a story about June.
“In the mountains, I started to understand June, through the people who knew her and for the first time, it felt like this was about my story, as much as it was about June’s. I realised then it was going to be more than a jukebox musical.”
June Carter Cash: The Woman, Her Music and Me is about to begin a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe, before heading to Glasgow’s Oran Mor (from August 30 to September 1) as part of a Scottish tour.
“I’m really excited,” beams Charlene. “It’s been such a long process, but now we are at the final push.”
Charlene, who grew up in Cumbernauld, graduated from Glasgow’s RSAMD – now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland – in 2009. While an established actor, she had not written before, so had fully intended to commission a writer for her project.
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“I’d actually sent out a wee video to help me with a funding application to develop the idea, and there was so much interest, I couldn’t really believe it,” she explains.
“I thought I’d commission a playwright but Cora Bissett, who is directing, said to me, ‘you have to write this, it’s your story.’”
She adds, grinning: “So here we are - Grid Iron Theatre and the National Theatre of Scotland jointly commissioned it, I’ve written it, and we’ve just sold out the Fringe.”
The story stretches across the Atlantic from Nashville’s legendary Bluebird Café to Glasgow’s high-rise flats, exploring Charlene’s relationship with her musical heroine and their shared experience as performers and working mothers who have both been through painful separations.
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“What resonated me with was how June just kept on going, fought for her career, grieved, got divorced, lived a life,” says Charlene.
“That’s who I want to see on stage – I don’t want to watch women who are handed jobs, or easy lives, because it doesn’t happen like that.”
As a working mother, with a young son and daughter who sometimes join her on tour, Charlene is used to the collision of her two very different worlds: the glamour and excitement of performing; and the reality of paying the bills on a single-parent income.
“No matter what you’re going through, you have to get up on stage and just do it,” she says.
“For a long time, I felt guilty about working, as if it was ambitious or self-indulgent…Mum guilt is all-encompassing. No matter what you do, there is always someone, saying something, to make you feel guilty.”
She adds: “But I have a lot of pride in the fact that I kept my career going, that I’m doing the best I can.”
June Carter Cash was a multi-instrumentalist, who played the guitar, banjo, harmonica and auto-harp.
“I don’t play, that’s why I need the band – who are phenomenal – to help me tell the story,” says Charlene, adding with a laugh: “Yeah, I don’t play an instrument, I am not American, I have never written anything before - I’m facing a lot of fears doing this.
“I’ve jumped in at the deep end, definitely, but I’m absolutely loving writing. It has lit a spark in me for sure.”
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