Comedienne explains why she's 'having a break' from Doreen Tipton as she finds new roles
"People say how much they know me as Doreen Tipton, but they don't know much about Gill Jordan."
For 10 years, Gill Jordan has lived the life of a benefits scrounger and self-professed "lazy cow" as Doreen Tipton, appearing in pantomimes, performing her own stage show and being part of the Black Country comedy scene.
After a decade as the self-unemployed Queen of the Black Country, the 54-year-old has made the decision to take a break from Doreen and pursue other artistic endeavours, including going back into acting.
She said: "I'm just kind of having a break from Doreen and doing other stuff, going back into a little bit of mainstream theatre after 10 years of Doreen and running my own company.
"It's an exciting time going back into it and I've got a Shakespearean festival in the summer at Stafford Castle where I'm playing the nurse in Romeo and Juliet, so lots to look forward to."
For Gill, the change in pace from Doreen to her own persona has been a way to challenge herself and also show people a different side to what she does.
She said: "People like to say they know me as Doreen, but they don't know much about me as Gill Jordan, about how I trained for three years at Birmingham School of Speech and Drama in the 1980s.
"I did a three-year acting diploma there, with classic theatre training, then I toured with companies and formed my own for about 25 years and, after 10 years of Doreen, I'm coming back.
"I'm not ditching Doreen, but I'm going back and giving myself a break to get back into mainstream work.
"A lot of people think Doreen is a real person and they don't realise that I'm actually a trained actor, so that's a big part of this."
Gill has been taking on other challenges since giving Doreen a break, including taking up painting and producing a series of art works during lockdown.
She said it had started with a portrait competition for Doreen Tipton in 2017, with her sitting for a group of artists at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, then began to take up painting after meeting artist Derek Powell at the Red Rose theatre in Rugeley.
She said: "I did a show at the theatre and Derek came up to me and asked if I was interested in taking up painting, which was something I'd never done, not even at school, because I was more into music and drama.
"He told me about the class he did at the theatre on Thursday evenings and invited me down, so I started going and took my kids with me and it was just fabulous, so I started doing it as a hobby.
"During lockdown, I got more into it when the theatres were all closed and started putting a few paintings up on Facebook and I'm hoping to do a little exhibition with Derek at Bishton Hall later this year."
Gill said the change for her from a full time schedule as Doreen Tipton to tackling Shakespeare and painting was very exciting.
She said: "It's wonderful to be able to get back into acting and I got the invitation to play the nurse while I was doing panto, so it's nice to have a classical piece to work with.
"I love Shakespeare as well, with my favourite being the Merry Wives of Windsor, and it's just lovely to have the opportunity to get back and do something like this."
Having been part of the Black Country comedy scene for a decade, Gill said she was very aware of the work of Alan “Aynuk” Smith, who died this week aged 84.
She said the humour of people like Aynuk was a gentle one which lay at the heart of the Black Country and was a great influence on the character of Doreen Tipton.
She said: "I think a lot of Doreen came from the Black Country Night Out tours and records and it was the type of humour my grandmother and mother was influenced by when they entertained.
"David Tristram, who is the fabulous writer and co-creator of Doreen, was born in Quarry Bank and we would often talk about characters like Aynuk and Ayli, which was just great humour and they will always be in the hearts of the people."
