Actress Kelly Campbell
What was your best holiday?
Camping with my family in France is one of my fondest memories of holidays. There were three families of cousins in a convoy of caravans taking the boat to Le Havre and driving south without any plan. Sometimes, my parents would ask a delighted restaurant for a table for 20 while the kids would hide around the corner. It was great, as a kid, to have cousins as friends. We had a lot more freedom in those days, unlike children now, and we were left to our own devices.
What was your worst holiday?
My family all wanted to go away together so I organised it. My sister recommended an island off Puerto Rico where her friend had a house. It looked great, at the top of the hill with sea views. However, right beside it was a very small house where the woman used to play the same Beyoncé song loudly over and over again all day, from 7am. The water got shut down at one point, some of us got sick and it was a bit dirty around the house. It wasn’t a disaster, but not like what we had expected from the photos.
If budget or work were not restrictions, what would be your dream holiday?
I’ve always had a fascination with Japan and I’d love to go. It’s such a different society, culture and way of living. I think your senses become sharpened in a place that’s so different and you feel very alive.
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?
I love to go on holidays with my family: three brothers, my sister and my parents. We are all pretty scattered in different countries so it’s nice to have an opportunity to spend time together. We try to go on holiday together once a year and all gather in Kinsale every few years.
What’s your favourite place in Ireland?
My mum has a house in Kinsale and I love to go there. I’ve been travelling in Ireland quite a bit and find Mayo so rugged and full of history. I went to college in north Antrim and I love the coast of Coleraine, where there is a roughness from the brutal winters which are very invigorating.
Your recommended holiday reading?
At the moment I’m reading Renegades: Irish Republican Women 1900-1923 by Ann Matthews. It’s about the women written out of history in that period. A great short read is On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, which is about a honeymoon disaster.
Where will you go to next?
I’m touring until the beginning of November and I’ll need a holiday after that. Maybe I’ll just park myself in a house somewhere to catch up on my sleep! We’re going to Bath and Cambridge in England as part of the tour so I’m looking forward to that.
In conversation with
GENEVIEVE CARBERY
Kelly Campbell plays Nora in the Abbey Theatre's production of The Plough and the Stars at the O'Reilly Theatre, Belvedere, Dublin. abbeytheatre.ie