I guess I’ve known Kelsea Knox for around a year, but until the last few days never sat down and actually talked to her. Fort Knox is, as you probably know, where America’s gold reserves are kept. It is, therefore, not only a repository of riches, but immensely strong. I was amazed at the strength of character that I heard Kelsea tell me of in her story (although she would be far too effacing to attribute that strength to herself) and the depth of talent. Until recently I only knew Kelsea through her art work. But then a few weeks ago I watched her on stage in a one woman performance which was totally raw and gripping. So we had to chat. 

 

Kelsea with a Red Bull, me with a black coffee. Caffeine topped up she spoke with a soft Irish brogue from under the peak of her almost ubiquitous baseball cap. She told me the story of just the last three or four years. Coming from a fairly ‘arty’ family Kelsea had always drawn and painted. At 18 she was in training for the heptathlon and had ambitions to compete. But a serious knee injury cut short a nascent athletic career. (Kelsea showed me the scar around her knee…I winced….) She had been helping out with productions at her school in Dromore, County Down and was on a bus when her drama teacher ‘phoned to tell her that the lead in the musical western Calamity Jane that evening had pulled out with stage fright. ‘You know the plot, most of the words, will you cover?’

 

With prompters in both wings to help just in case, Kelsea took to the stage and her love of performance was born. The Arden School of Theatre in Manchester was her destination. But as we all know, the past three years have been disrupted by Covid and she filled some down time running – both online and face to face – courses of therapy and discovery for brain injured people, using her drawing skills. “Some people responded really well, expressing their emotions through drawing and creating images. It helped to bring out what might have been buried in the minds of people struggling with their injuries.”

 

Throughout these times Kelsea ran her own business taking art and design commissions. This she still does, creating beautiful images both on her iPad and with traditional inks. “I’m on Insta,” she told me with a smile. “Just search for buckeejitwithapen.” I’ve seen the way that Kelsea can create an instantly recognisable caricature with just one or two lines and I’ve seen her delicate and complex ink drawings. As we sat she scribbled with her digital pen on her iPad demonstrating. 

 

But then drama of a different kind struck when she was badly injured in a car smash, which broke both her legs and several ribs. Still producing her art-work whilst convalescing, she spent six months in Italy teaching English before returning to Manchester and throwing herself into drama; acting, writing, stage managing, tech…any aspect of the profession which she sees as a development of her career. 

 

In the week that we chatted Kelsea had auditions for major TV series and it will, I’m sure, only be a matter of a very short time before she becomes a familiar name and face on our screens. But in the meantime she has written a one woman play, which will have its debut in Manchester early next year. “It’s called BT. That’s the post code for Belfast and it’s based on stories I’ve heard from my family over the years about the Troubles. It’s set in 1972 and there are eight characters. I play them all.”

 

Strength and a wealth of talent. Britain’s Fort Knox and the best version.