‘Find the project that makes you happy’

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L: Mary is this really forgotten about middle child, like she is absolutely middle child syndrome, so one of the things I did was change them up with accents — Lydia Bennet is very scouse and over the top, big scouse brows and she walks with her chest. Mary started by bringing her chins down, she’s always got her chins out all the time; she’s got big glasses and a big bow on the top of her head. All her sisters are beautiful and she wants to be beautiful but she’s got this stupid pink dress that I manage to rip and my wardrobe person hates me for it! She’s tried so hard to make this beautiful dress to be like her sisters and she just looks like a trifle! So, because she has her chins out and she has to push her glasses down her face, she comes out nasally and wild. And then slowly over time they’ve got a little bit more stupid —Lydia walks and swings her shoulders around, being constantly put down by her mother. It’s fun and one thing that didn’t go wrong but was funny the other night was that Mary comes on right at the end of the show and she gets this big moment. I got to the front of the stage, it was completely silent and then someone at the very back wolf-whistled me. As Mary, I looked ahead, looked straight at them and just looked them dead in the eye in the audience and whispered ‘call me’. That was very fun to do.

É: Do you have any advice for young performers hoping to make it in the industry?

L: It’s the cliché of you’ve got to be yourself, like if you go into an audition room do the pieces and the songs that make you happy. Find the project that makes you happy!

É: Thank you so much for doing an interview with me! I hope the rest of the tour goes well. We spent the rest of our time discussing where the good places to go out in Exeter were... (TP after the last show, anyone?)