‘I am such a mini-me of my mother’: Jenny Eclair’s daughter is proud of her showbiz genes but she’s picked theatre over stand-up

Jenny Eclair’s daughter may look like her mother but she's terrified of following in her footsteps as a stand-up comedian
Her mother’s daughter: comedian Jenny Eclair with playwright Phoebe (Picture: Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd)
Louise Jury17 February 2015
The Weekender

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She describes herself as her mother’s “mini-me”. But Jenny Eclair’s daughter says following in her footsteps as a stand-up comedian would be her worst nightmare.

Instead Phoebe Eclair-Powell chose theatre — and is presenting her first full-length drama as a playwright next month.

“I’m so proud of my mum and all she has achieved. She is quite cool,” Eclair-Powell said.

“But I think it is why I chose plays and theatre because I can’t imagine anything more terrifying than comedy and stand-up, as much as I am engrained in that world.”

She added: “I’m such a mini-me of my mother, it is kind of disturbing.”

Eclair-Powell, 25, began training as an actress at the Drama Centre London but gave it up after a year because of stage fright and studied English at Oxford University instead.

She went on to do a string of jobs, which included working in a sweetshop and as PA to Royal Court boss Vicky Featherstone. She also began writing, initially with the Court’s young writers’ programme, then with help from the Old Vic New Voices scheme and fringe venue Theatre503 in Battersea, where her play Wink will have its premiere.

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It tells the story of a 27-year-old teacher and a teenage pupil whose lives become embroiled online — an arena in which they are not who they say they are.

Eclair-Powell said: “I’m incredibly nervous. It’s brilliant to get to this point but it’s been two years in the making.

“I just keep pinching myself. This is what I’ve wanted to do for so long.”

Of the story, she said: “It’s a case of mistaken identity on their parts and the idea of entrapment between them without them realising.”

She said the play was prompted partly by her own obsession with Facebook and Instagram: “You realise that online you can create a fantasy version of yourself which can be quite freeing but the reality will always hit home when you can’t live up to that.”

Wink runs from March 10 to April 4. Theatre503.com

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