Maxine Peake

Early life

Born in Westhoughton, Greater Manchester, Peake is the second of two daughters born to Brian and Glenys Peake (née Hall). Her father was a lorry driver before working in the electrical industry, her mother a part-time careworker; Lisa, her elder sister by nine years, is a police officer. Her parents separated when Peake was nine and she lived with her mother until the age of 15. When her mother moved in with a new boyfriend several miles away, Peake went to live with her grandfather so she could continue her GCSE studies at Westhoughton High School, before going on to take her A-Levels at Canon Slade School, Bradshaw near Bolton. Her grandfather encouraged her to develop her creativity and start acting.

Peake joined the Octagon Youth Theatre, Bolton, at 13, before a period at the youth theatre of the Royal Exchange, Manchester. She later did a two-year performing arts course at Salford College of Technology. During this time she appeared in productions with two leading amateur theatre companies in Bolton: The Marco Players and The Phoenix Theatre Company. Peake was a member of the Communist Party of Britain Salford branch in her youth. In her teens Peake was a representative for Wigan Ladies rugby league team.

Peake's early attempts to enter the acting profession were unsuccessful. She was rejected by every theatre education company in North West England, and tried unsuccessfully for three years to get into Manchester Polytechnic Theatre School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. However, at 21, she obtained a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her attempts to find sponsorship for RADA were the subject of a 1996 documentary by The South Bank Show; eventually, after being put forward by RADA, she was awarded the Patricia Rothermere Scholarship.

Later life

In 2009 Peake returned to the north-west, after living in London for 13 years. The move freed her of the financial constraints of trying to buy a house in London. Living in Salford with her art director partner Pawlo Wintoniuk, she says, gave her the freedom to choose more risky roles and lower-paying jobs in theatre. "For the last few years I have been lucky enough to choose what I want to do. Living in Salford gives me the confidence to do that because I don’t have a massive mortgage." In 2014 the actress revealed that in an attempt to have children she had explored every option, including IVF treatments. She has suffered two miscarriages.

Career

Peake has appeared in a number of television and stage productions including Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies, Channel 4's Shameless, in the lead role of barrister Martha Costello in the BBC's legal drama Silk and alongside John Simm in the BBC drama The Village, depicting life in a Derbyshire village during the First World War. Following career advice from Victoria Wood, between the two series of Dinnerladies, Peake lost so much weight that an explanation had to be written into the script for her character, Twinkle.

Peake portrayed the Moors murderer Myra Hindley in See No Evil: The Moors Murders. Broadcast in May 2006, it was met with mixed reactions; soon after this Peake announced that she was leaving Shameless. January 2009 saw Peake appear in her first major feature film role, as Angela, in the film Clubbed.

She has played the title role in Miss Julie at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. She previously played the part of Kristin in a 2000 production. as well as Doll Tearsheet in the BBC2 adaptations of Henry IV, Parts I and II.

In November 2012, a play that Peake had written, directed and starred in about the life of the Leeds-born cyclist Beryl Burton was broadcast on BBC Radio Four as Beryl: A Love Story On Two Wheels. In 2014 Peake adapted her play for the stage. Titled simply Beryl, it was commissioned by the West Yorkshire Playhouse where it ran in June and July 2014 to coincide with the start of the Tour de France in Leeds, returned in June and July 2015 and toured across England in Autumn 2015. Peake wrote a later play called Queens of the Coal Age again for Radio 4 that told the story of Annie Scargill and three other women who tried to occupy a coal mine during the 1980s Miners' Strike.

Peake provided the vocals for the Eccentronic Research Council's 2012 concept album 1612 Underture about the Pendle Witch Trials and for their 2015 album Johnny Rocket, Narcissist & Music Machine…I'm Your Biggest Fan. Peake also features as a crazed stalker in the music video for "Sweet Saturn Mine" by Moonlandingz; a collaborative effort by Eccentronic Research Council and Fat White Family in 2015.

In September 2013, Peake was appointed an Associate Artist of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. Her association with the theatre began in childhood and she was a member of the youth theatre. Major productions in which she has performed include The Children's Hour in 2008, for which she won a MEN Award, and Miss Julie in 2012 for which she won a Manchester Theatre Award. All of her performances at the Royal Exchange have been directed by Sarah Frankcom with whom she also collaborated on The Masque of Anarchy in 2012 for the Manchester International Festival. Building on this work, in September 2014 Frankcom went on to direct her as the title character in a radical re-imagining of Hamlet. The demand for tickets was so great that the production was extended for a week, having been "the theatre's fastest-selling show in a decade". The Guardian said of her performance: "Peake’s delicate ferocity, her particular mixture of concentration and lightness, ensure that you want to follow her whenever she appears". A year later she appeared in Frankcom's production of The Skriker, as "Caryl Churchill's shape-shifting, doom-wreaking fairy". The Guardian's Lyn Gardner listed the production in her top ten British plays of the year. In 2016, Peake resumed her partnership with Royal Exchange Artistic Director, Sarah Frankcom, to star as Blanche Dubois in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. Peake's performance in the role garnered critical acclaim with The Guardian describing her performance as "exquisite" and "breathtaking."

In 2017 it was announced that Peake is to star in Mike Leigh's next feature, Peterloo, a feature film based on the events of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre in Manchester. In August 2017 it was revealed that Peake is to star in an episode of Netflix's Black Mirror. The episode entitled, Metalhead, has been directed by Hannibal and American Gods director, David Slade.

Political views

Peake brings her views into much of her work. She is a feminist and socialist. She was active in communist organisations during her youth. In January 2014, Peake won the first Bolton Socialist Club Outstanding Contribution to Socialism Award, for using her work to oppose the government's "crippling austerity measures".

In July 2015, Peake endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election. She wrote on her website: "For me, Jeremy Corbyn is our only beacon of hope to get the Labour Party back on track, get the electorate back in touch with politics and save this country from the constant mindless bullying of the vulnerable and poor."

In January 2016, Peake featured in the Climate Coalition's short film I Wish For You as Mia, with Jeremy Irons starring as her grandfather, to highlight the urgency on combating climate change.

In 2016, Peake along with numerous other celebrities, toured the UK to support Jeremy Corbyn's bid to become Prime Minister.

In April 2017, she endorsed Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the 2017 UK general election. She said: "I am a Corbyn supporter. My mind boggles why people treat him like the anti-Christ, but it goes to show people are a lot more right-wing than they like to believe. People say he's not been vocal, but he is out at grassroots. Every time I go somewhere, he's there." In May 2017, she took part in a Labour Party election broadcast.

Radio drama