Sophia Walker in rehearsal for Clyde's, in which she plays an ex-con sandwich shop owner whose business employs fellow felons.Dahlia Katz/Supplied
Last fall, Sophia Walker screamed.
The sound, a guttural roar from deep in the actor’s belly, was the climax of Slave Play, Jeremy O. Harris’s controversial dramedy about sex and race. The show was a triumphant opening for Canadian Stage’s 2026-27 season, and Walker’s ragged screech signalled a new era for the performer, a mainstay of this country’s theatre scene with extensive experience in Toronto, at the Stratford and Shaw festivals and in film and TV.
“That scream was different every night,” says Walker, set to star in Canadian Stage’s production of Clyde’s this month. “Sometimes it was tough. I’d go backstage and realize I couldn’t keep myself together for our bows. Sometimes it was more of a release, something that needed to come out. It landed in a different place in my body each time.”
Playing Kaneisha in Slave Play was transformative for Walker. “It showed me that bringing all of myself to my work … people actually want to see that,” she says. Preparation was extensive: She met with sexual-embodiment coaches and sex workers, and went for reiki treatments to help stay grounded during the rehearsal process.
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The role of Clyde is a new kind of challenge for Walker, who since the pandemic has introduced audiences to a number of meaty characters. In 2022 she played Niesha in Our Place, an exploration of Canada’s broken immigration systems, and in 2023 she appeared in Fairview, about a Black family preparing for a birthday party. The next year, she portrayed Vera in AIDS drama Casey and Diana, followed by memorable performances in Flex, Slave Play and, most recently, Eureka Day.
Most of her past roles have been relatively easy to root for, flawed women with big ideas and open hearts. Clyde, however, is different: Some reviews of the play’s 2021 Broadway premiere called Clyde “evil,” while others described the woman as just plain mean.
Walker understands – but disagrees with – those readings of the character, an ex-con sandwich shop owner whose business employs fellow felons. Lynn Nottage’s play explores Clyde’s empire through a sort of comic lens, but one that highlights the gruelling realities of finding work after serving time in the American prison system.
Slave Play was a triumphant opening for Canadian Stage’s 2026-27 season, and Walker’s ragged screech signalled a new era for the performer.Dahlia Katz/Canadian Stage
“She is so misunderstood,” Walker says of Clyde. “She’s carrying the trauma and pain and residue that comes with getting out of prison. This is a Black woman in America – that’s already tough. To have a criminal record attached … the recidivism stats speak for themselves. I think people forget that when you deal with pain, it’s not linear.”
The role has seen Walker once again delve into research, this time about everything from American penitentiaries to what constitutes the perfect sandwich. Two documentary films have been particularly helpful: Time: The Kalief Browder Story, about a Black teen from the Bronx who spent three years in jail despite not being convicted of a crime, and The Alabama Solution, about that state’s prison system.
To further embed herself in the play, she also recorded the script of Clyde’s from beginning to end, so she could listen to it like an audiobook while walking her dog or commuting. “I hear something new in the play every time I listen to that,” she says.
(As far as sandwiches go, vegan Walker says the ideal specimen includes focaccia bread, pesto, tofurkey and sun-dried tomatoes.)
“It’s a challenge to figure out how to harden up enough to play this role, but then not take it home with me,” she says of maintaining boundaries between the research – which can be upsetting – and her home life. “There have been times in the last few weeks where I’ve felt myself snap at my partner, and when we’ve talked it through, he’s asked, ‘Is it Clyde?’ And I’ve had to be, like, ‘Yeah.’”
Sterling Jarvis and Sophia Walker rehearse a scene from Clyde's. The role of Clyde is a new kind of challenge for Walker.Dahlia Katz/Supplied
Indeed, Walker’s had a busy, emotionally taxing season, between Slave Play, anti-vax satire Eureka Day and now Clyde’s. But the actor has built a reputation for keeping her different roles fresh, even when they’ve butted into each other on the calendar.
“Between gigs, I try to get a lot of massages, catch up with my friends, sleep, eat good food. I just try to relax,” she says of her limited time off. Her media diet at home, she adds, is lighthearted – lots of Project Runway and RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“I don’t always love the idea of going from one play to another with only two weeks in between, but Eureka Day into Clyde’s hasn’t been so bad. Slave Play directly into this would have been really difficult.”
Even as Clyde’s approaches, Walker says Slave Play – the scream, the audience walkouts, the controversy – continues to linger in her body and mind.
“I left that show with a completely different confidence,” she says. “Having done that show, my voice has dropped several octaves. I’m not afraid to take up space in a room any more.”