Claire Nielson
Claire is an actor, writer and director who is well know for her many television appearances with The Two Ronnies and for creating the part of Mrs Hamilton in the famous ‘Waldorf Salad’ episode of Fawlty Towers. She also played Edith Rankin opposite Richard Briers in Monarch of the Glen and Amy McSwan in A is for Acid with Martin Clunes. Other TV appearances include leading roles in Taggart, Doctors, Holby City, The Jury, London’s Burning, Upstairs Downstairs, Just William, Angels, Z Cars, Crown Court, Dixon of Dock Green, Dr Finlay’s Casebook, The Dick Emery Show, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?; and the BAFTA-nominated BBC series The Crow Road. In the cinema, she appeared in the film version of Arnold Wesker’s The Kitchen and played Barbara Grant in Kidnapped opposite Michael Caine and Trevor Howard.
Claire’s London appearances include: Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare’s Globe); Brian Rix’s Don’t Just Lie There, Say Something! (Garrick Theatre); Threads (Hampstead); Desdemona in Othello and Lydia Languish in The Rivals opposite Fay Compton (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith); and Maggie in Sparrers Can’t Sing (Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop). In repertory, Claire’s credits include seasons at: Bolton; Hornchurch; Canterbury; Perth; Glasgow Citizens; Birmingham Rep; Theatre Royal, Stratford East; Theatre Royal, Plymouth; and Theatre Royal, Windsor as Ruth in Ayckbourn’s trilogy The Norman Conquests. At international festivals she played leading roles with Theatre Workshop at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt in Paris and the Maxim Gorki Theatre in East Berlin.
For BBC Radio, her credits include: Ripples; Mademoiselle Pearl; Dr Finlay: Adventures of a Black Bag; The Light of Heart; Wives and Daughters; and Lucy Bailey’s award-winning Radio 3 production of The Leopard. She has directed plays in London at the Riverside Studios and the Gate Theatre, and in Stratford-upon-Avon at the Other Place and the Swan Theatre for the RSC Fringe Festival. Also for the RSC she has devised and led many workshops including a prestigious series in Italy for Ferrara University.
Claire read English at King’s College, Cambridge. As a writer, her books include: Your First Grandchild (Harper Collins); The Spirit of Beardsley (Gramercy Books); Buddhism for Bears (St Martin’s Press); and The Tao of Babies (Random House). Her latest novel, The House at Strone, was published in 2022 and she is currently working on the sequel.
Plays authored
Past productions
- Olivia, Twelfth Night, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Shakespeare’s Coming Home
- Contributing Writer / Ensemble Company, An Actor’s Life for Me, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ensemble Company, Come Rain, Come Shine, Hiss and Boo Company and Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ensemble Company, An Actor’s Life for Me, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ensemble Company, An Actor’s Life for Me, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ensemble Company / Writer, On the Grapevine, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ensemble Company, Crackers & Spice, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ensemble Company, Love etc, by Malcolm McKee, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ensemble Company, Love etc, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ensemble Company / Writer & Director, On the Grapevine, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ensemble Company, An Actor’s Life for Me, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ensemble Company, Come Rain, Come Shine, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ensemble Company, Love etc, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ensemble Company, Vicarage Allsorts, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ensemble Company, Come Rain, Come Shine, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Nurse, Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare’s Globe
- Ensemble Company / Writer & Director, On the Grapevine, Shakespeare Revue Company
- Ellen Metcalf, The Shell Seekers, Nick Brooke Ltd. and Kenneth H. Wax Ltd. Lee Menzies in association with the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
- Director, Dancing in the Dark, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Director, The Second Best Bed, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Mrs Allen, Northanger Abbey, Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch
- Director, Abiding Passions, Beltane Theatre Company
- Lucy Fitton, The Family Way, Octagon Theatre Bolton
- Director, Creditors, Alexander Racolin, Annette Moskowitz, Fusion Theatre Company, and Play Producers Inc
- Director, A Bucket of Eels, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Elizabeth Rock, The Doctor and the Devils, Plymouth Theatre Royal Productions
- Miss Walkinshaw, Threads, Hampstead Theatre Company
- Ruth, The Norman Conquests, Windsor Theatre Company
- Gisele Parkyn (temporary replacement), Don’t Just Lie There, Say Something!, The Brian Rix Theatre of Laughter
- Liz, Let Sleeping Wives Lie, Brian Rix Enterprises
- Miss Firminger, Beat the Retreat, Brian Rix and Richmond Theatre Productions Ltd
- Desdemona, Othello, Lyric Theatre Hammersmith
- Lydia Languish, The Rivals, Lyric Theatre Hammersmith
- Mrs Laughlin, Progress to the Park, Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop
- Maggie Gooding, Sparrers Can’t Sing, Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop
- Dame Kitely, Every Man in His Humour, Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop
- Rita Sherritt, Ned Kelly, Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop
- Ann Moon, Sam the Highest Jumper of Them All by William Saroyan, Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop
- Titania, the Queen's daughter, The Enchanted Forest, by A Woodhall, Birmingham Repertory Company
- Alice Sycamore, You Can’t Take It with You, Birmingham Repertory Theatre
- Emily Brent, And Then There Were None, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
- Alison Porter, Look Back in Anger, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
- Margot Frank, The Diary of Anne Frank, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
- Olivia, Twelfth Night, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
- Chambermaid, An Italian Straw Hat, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
