CHOCOHOLIC CONFESSIONS
What was your first memory of chocolate?

In an interview with David McGillivray, Flaminia Cinque talks about her emotional role in The Permanent Way – and eulogises about chocolate… Originally from What's ON magazine (to visit their site click here

Fiery actress Flaminia Cinque is passionate about everything. But only when she’s in England. Born here, of Italian stock, she finds that she becomes “incredibly English”, quiet and reserved, suddenly aware of the importance of queuing, when she goes to visit her family in Brisighella, a medieval village near Florence. She is very much “duel nationality.”

intensely moving

Tired of playing Italian waitresses, she is delighted to be appearing in her first play at the National, David Hare’s The Permanent Way, in which she is out of character in several meaty roles. The Play analyses the wreckage of the British rail network that resulted from privatisation in 1991. Hare’s script uses the actual words of people affected by mistakes, greed and tragedy. Flaminia is intensely moving as Maureen Kavanagh, who now gives talks on behalf of the Disaster Action Group.

“I’ve got to say that I’m not an actress who’s visibly nervous,” says Flaminia. “But that night [when Maureen saw the play] I was. My biggest worry was that I don’t look like her. She’s larger, older, blonde. And I was worried in case she felt I’d not done the [Essex] accent correctly. But she said it was spot on.”

Other members of the audience have cried and hugged the cast and exclaimed, “You’re saying what we’ve been saying for years.” But the play also works for a wider audience because it’s a morality play, “about behaving honourably or dishonourably.”

'it's a morality play'

Although the following would probably take first prize in Dick Vosburgh’s “write a lousy link” competition, it is nevertheless a fact that Flaminia’s earliest chocolate memory also involves honour. She arrived home from school, found a chocolate cake and ate the whole thing. (“I was spherical.”) After dinner, her father said, “Get the cake from the fridge.” Flaminia owned up. “What, all of it?” dad asked in disbelief. But there was no wrath. “Well, you must have been hungry,” he concluded. “Let’s buy another one.”

This admirable attitude must have helped Flaminia lead a life free of chocolate guilt. “I never deny myself,” she states, and advises others to do likewise. “If you can cope with six squares, have them. If you can’t, your body will tell you.” It comes as no surprise to learn that her greatest delight is Perugina’s irresistibly romantic Baci, the little foil-wrapped “kisses”. She eulogises about the midnight blue box, with its picture of a couple dancing under silver stars. “That image will never leave me,” she sighs.

Director Max Stafford-Clark talks about the creation of The Permanent Way here.