Jennifer Caron Hall (born 21 September 1958; also known as Jenny Wilhide) is an English actress, singer-songwriter, artist and journalist. Since 2019 she has been artistic director of SHAKE Festival, a performing arts company and festival based in Suffolk.

Early life

Hall was educated at the

Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle The Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, usually referred to as the Lycée or the French Lycée, is a French co-educational primary and secondary independent day school, situated in South Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and ...

Bedales School Bedales School is a coeducational boarding and day public school, in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by Amy Garrett Badley and John Haden Badley in reaction to the li ...

and

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, where she read English.

Actress

At the National Theatre in London, Hall played Helena in ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...

'' directed by

Bill Bryden William Campbell Rough Bryden (12 April 1942 – 5 January 2022) was a Scottish stage and film director and screenwriter. Early life and career He worked as a trainee with Scottish Television before becoming assistant director at the Belgrad ...

in 1982–1983, starring

Paul Scofield David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was an English actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award for his work. Scofield ...

and

Susan Fleetwood Susan Maureen Fleetwood (21 September 1944 – 29 September 1995) was a British actress. Known for her performances on stage and screen, she specialised in classical theatre and received popular attention in the television series '' Chandler & C ...

as Oberon and Titania. This was the first ever production of Shakespeare in the Cottesloe Theatre and transferred to the Lyttelton in 1983. While Hall continued to play Helena, Scofield was replaced by Sir Robert Stephens and

Brenda Blethyn Brenda Blethyn ( Bottle; born 20 February 1946) is an English actress. Known for her character work and versatility, she is the recipient of various accolades, including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Cannes Film Festival Award, as well as n ...

joined the cast as Hermia In the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's 1996 television adaptation of

Rumer Godden Margaret Rumer Godden (10 December 1907 – 8 November 1998) was a British author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films, most notably ''Black Narcissus (novel), Black Narcissus'' in 194 ...

's ''The Peacock Spring'', Hall played Alix Lamont, a character of half-Indian, half-European descent and narrated the Macmillan Audio Book of it. Caron also appeared in ''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Wilford Lloyd Baumes that originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1977, to May 24, 1986. In addition, three TV movies aired before the regular series pre ...

,'' alongside her mother in an hour-and-a-half special entitled 'The Christmas Cruise.'

Music

Hall was signed to

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

and as Jennifer Hall released the album '' Fortune and Men's Eyes'' in 1987. Her song "Ice Cream Days" appears on the '' Bright Lights, Big City: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack''.

Art

In 2009, Hall began painting on her

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

and exhibiting on a blog, The Blue Biro Gallery. Her digitally enhanced self-portrait was featured in ''Vogue'' online. In 2012, the Theatre Royal in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

commissioned her to paint a portrait of her father in oils. In 2013, Hall had a solo show at the Serena Moreton Gallery in London.

Journalism

As a freelance journalist writing under the name Jenny Wilhide, she has written on arts and trends in titles such as the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' and ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'',

References

Bibliography

*WGBH (1997). Peacock Spring: Program Description. Masterpiece Theatre, 1997. Retrieved fro

*Mulryne, J.R.; Shewring, Margaret; Barnes, Jason; Mulryne, Ronnie (1999). "The Cottesloe at the National: Infinite Riches in a Little Room" (book). Mulryne & Shewring Ltd, 1999.

External links

*
SHAKE Festival
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Jennifer Caron 1958 births Living people Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Actors educated at Bedales School English people of American descent English people of French descent English stage actresses English women songwriters English bloggers 20th-century English painters 21st-century English painters English women singers English women bloggers 20th-century English women artists 21st-century English women artists 20th-century English women 21st-century English women People educated at Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle