Jennifer Caron Hall

Jennifer Caron Hall
Born	(1958-09-21) 21 September 1958 (age 67) London, England
Occupation(s)	Actress, director, producer
Spouses	Alex Clive ​ ​ (m. 1984;div. 1989)​ Glenn Wilhide ​ ​ (m. 1996)​
Children	1
Parents	Sir Peter Hall Leslie Caron
Relatives	Christopher Hall (brother) Edward Hall (half-brother) Rebecca Hall (half-sister)
Website	shakefestival.com , jennycloth.com

Jennifer Caron Hall (born 21 September 1958; also known as Jenny Wilhide) ^[1] is an English theatre director, producer and actress.

In 2019 she founded SHAKE Festival, a performing arts company and Shakespeare festival based in Suffolk, UK. ^[2]

Producer and Director

During the pandemic she produced a rehearsed reading of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, starring Geraldine James as Prospero and her sister Rebecca Hall as Ariel. The cast also included Robert Hands, Antonio Aakeel, Lauryn Canny and Aidan Cheng. ^[3] She followed this with an online reading of A Midsummer Night’s Dream starring Dan Stevens as Oberon and her sister Rebecca Hall as Titania, with newcomer Máiréad Tyers as Hermia and Luisa Omielan as Bottom the Weaver. ^{[4] [5]}

In September 2025 she produced and directed a five venue tour of Akenfield, in rural Suffolk. This was the first stage adaptation of Ronald Blythe’s rural masterpiece of 1967, which she commissioned from her husband Glenn Wilhide. The cast was made up of local people with authentic Suffolk voices. ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]} The set was designed by Suffolk-born sculptor Laurence Edwards and among the cast was Helen Shand, wife of Garrow Shand, a farmer who starred in the 1974 film of Akenfield directed by her father, Peter Hall. ^{[10] [11]}

In January 2025 Hall produced a rehearsed reading of The Scapegoat: Flight to Spain, abridged for SHAKE Festival by Lucy Hughes-Hallett from her 2024 biography of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. The cast was Alex Jennings, Juliet Stephenson and Suffolk born newcomer Xander Ridge, and the reading took place at The Tabernacle, Notting Hill in London. ^{[12] [13]}

Early life

Hall was educated at Arden House nursery school Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, Bedales School and Newnham College, Cambridge, where she read English. ^[14] She grew up in Stratford upon Avon, London, Los Angeles, Oxfordshire, Sussex, Burgundy and Paris.

Actress

At the National Theatre in London, Hall played Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Bill Bryden in 1982–1983, starring Paul Scofield and Susan Fleetwood as Oberon and Titania. ^[15] This was the first ever production of Shakespeare in the Cottesloe Theatre (now renamed the Dorfman Theatre) ^[16] and transferred to the Lyttelton in 1983. While Hall continued to play Helena, Scofield was replaced by Sir Robert Stephens and Brenda Blethyn joined the cast as Hermia ^[17]

In the BBC's 1996 television adaptation of Rumer Godden's novel The Peacock Spring, ^[18] Hall played Alix Lamont, a character of half-Indian, half-European descent. She also narrated the Macmillan Audio Book of the novel. ^[19] Caron Hall also appeared in The Love Boat, alongside her mother in an hour-and-a-half special entitled 'The Christmas Cruise’ and as Princess Betsy in a 1997 film of Anna Karenina starring Sean Bean and Sophie Marceau. ^[20]

Other Work

Hall produces hand woven scarves and shawls, using some hand-spun wools and natural fibres, in a studio in Suffolk, UK, which she sells under the name Jenny Cloth. ^[21]

Hall was signed to Warner Bros. Records in Los Angeles, and as Jennifer Hall released the album Fortune and Men's Eyes in 1987. ^[22] Her song "Ice Cream Days" appears on the Bright Lights, Big City: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack . ^[23]

Self-portrait by Jennifer Caron Hall.

In 2009, Hall began painting on her iPhone and exhibiting on a blog, The Blue Biro Gallery. ^[24] Her digitally enhanced self-portrait was featured in Vogue. ^[25] In 2012, the Theatre Royal in Bath commissioned her to paint a portrait of her father in oil. In 2013, she had a solo show at the Serena Moreton Gallery in London. ^[26]

For some years she worked as a freelance arts journalist writing under the name Jenny Wilhide, in titles such as the Evening Standard ^{[27] [28] [29]} and The Spectator . ^{[30] [31]}

Alongside arts journalism she ran a boutique PR agency called Claude Communications, publicising clients in the Design, Lighting and Travel sectors. ^[32]

References

1. "Jenny Wilhide | Newnham Associates". Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
2. "Stars set to perform alongside Suffolk teens". Living in Suffolk. 8 June 2024.
3. Aspden, Peter (16 November 2020). "Jenny Caron Hall on her unfinished business with Shakespeare". Financial Times.
4. "A Midsummer Night's Dream Review". The Times. 1 April 2021.
5. Wolf, Matt. "Setting The Stage again for Shakespeare; Critic's Notebook". The New York Times.
6. King, George (21 May 2025). "Classic Suffolk book to be adapted for the stage". BBC News.
7. "Akenfield - Jenny Hall and Glenn Wilhide Interview". Beyond The Curtain. 22 September 2025.
8. Fossett, Abygail (5 October 2025). "Review: Ronald Blythe's Akenfield on stage in Ipswich, 5 out of 5 Stars". East Anglia Daily Times.
9. Viscardi, Kate (25 September 2025). "Akenfield: A Suffolk village history brought to life". East Anglia Bylines.
10. Western, Chloe (18 June 2025). "Suffolk sculptor Laurence Edwards to help create Akenfield". East Anglia Daily Times.
11. Fossett, Abygail (16 August 2025). "Woman who met husband on set of Akenfield shares love story". East Anglia Daily Times.
12. "Suffolk theatre company takes new performance to London stage". Suffolk On Stage.
13. "The Scapegoat: Juliet Stevenson and Alex Jennings to read the dazzling new biography by Lucy Hughes-Hallett". The Tabernacle.
14. "Newnham Associates: Jenny Wilhide". Newnham College, Cambridge. Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
15. "BBC World Service – Meridian, A Midsummer Night's Dream – Bill Bryden". BBC. 2 December 1982.
16. "A Midsummer Night's Dream Custom Print | National Theatre Bookshop". shop.nationaltheatre.org.uk.
17. "King's College London Arts and Humanities Data Service".
18. "The Peacock Spring Part 1 (1996)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019.
19. Peacock Spring Audio Cassette. ASIN   0333669533 .
20. "Anna Karenina (1997)". IMDB.
21. "Jenny Cloth".
22. "Overview: Fortune and Men's Eyes". AllMusic . Retrieved 22 November 2011.
23. "Review: Bright Lights, Big City Original Soundtrack". AllMusic . Retrieved 22 November 2011.
24. "The Blue Biro Gallery: Digital paintings by Jennifer Caron Hall" . Retrieved 22 November 2011.
25. "The Vogue Blog: Hall of Fame". Vogue . 18 May 2010. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
26. "Serena Morton Gallery" . Retrieved 15 November 2013.
27. Wilhide, Jenny (10 April 2012). "The Booming Interest in Fashionable Fonts". The Evening Standard.
28. Wilhide, Jenny (10 April 2012). "All shapes and sizes from the urban potters". The Evening Standard.
29. Wilhide, Jenny (10 April 2012). "Printastic: Why prints are more popular than installations". The Evening Standard.
30. Wilhide, Jenny (23 June 2007). "Brick Lane Booty". The Spectator.
31. Wilhide, Jenny (26 May 2007). "The art of Horsemanship". The Spectator.
32. "Claude Communications". Dexigner.

Bibliography

• WGBH (1997). Peacock Spring: Program Description. Masterpiece Theatre, 1997. Retrieved from .
• 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

• Official website
• Jenny Cloth

• Jennifer Caron Hall at IMDb