TALES FROM THE DRESSING ROOM you would like. I hear Sheridan said, Sheridan Smith, with Little Shop of Horrors - when they went into the West End - between their dressing rooms there was a wall, which they tapped and they went ‘this isn’t a proper wall’ and they had it knocked through! I loved that!” A sudden low buzz invades the dressing room, “Sorry that’s the toilet!” she laughs, “Oh the glamour!” Russell was in the first cast change of Les Misérables when it transferred from the RSC to the West End. She’s played, among others, Sarah Brown in Michael Grandage’s production of Guys & Dolls, and Bertrande in Martin Guerre, and tells characteristically self-deprecating stories about them. “Thank God Michael Grandage cast me,” she reveals, “because it changed things for me. They got in touch with me for Guys & Dolls; they said ‘come in’ and I said ‘I’m not going in, I’m not ready!’ - I don’t have audition songs, I don’t, it’s terrible! I had no idea what to sing! I remember auditioning for Martin Guerre. One of my favourite songs is I Remember, it’s a Stephen Sondheim song. It’s beautiful, just beautiful. And Claude Michel Schönberg said “What are you going to sing?’ I said ‘I’ve got I Remember’ and he said ‘OK, who wrote it?’ and I said ‘Stephen Sondheim’ and he said [puts on a thick French accent] ‘Non! Eet ‘urtz ma eey-ars!’ and I thought ‘well there we are, then!’” and Russell tucks her hair behind her ear and shakes with laughter. Does she take care of her voice, steer clear of alcohol and cigarettes? What’s her daily routine when she’s in a show? “God, I don’t have one! I stopped smoking because I thought Betsy didn’t like me smoking. I don’t drink as I’m too knackered. I don’t have a routine. I should have a routine! I went to Mark Meylon - you ever been to Mark Meylon? Fearless singing teacher. When we were going to New York with Sunday I thought ‘you know what? I don’t really want to be off. I wanna make
sure I’m fighting fit’. I went to Mark, he gave me a tape. I put it on my ipod. I used that every night before the show, but I can’t find it! I don’t know where it is! If I had that I would use it,” she says, but the glint in her eyes doesn’t entirely convince me she would. “I try and sleep as much as I can, I try and drink water. I’m a bit rubbish at it.” But despite her louche, laissez-faire insouciance, Russell does offer an invaluable insight into her process, although I doubt that would be the word she uses. “I remember Meryl Streep saying she never looked at the script. She would learn her lines in the trailer just before she went on, to keep them fresh. I think there’s something in that. I don’t worry what the lines are, I just trust that they’re there. I always leave about 10% of the performance open to what happens on the stage. I like to know kind of what I’m doing, I stick to it mostly - for lighting - but I give myself room to change and sometimes those choices are better and sometimes they’re worse. I let how I’m feeling that day, or what’s happened that day come with me onto the stage.” There’s a little knock on the door and a chap pops his head in. “I was just checking to see if I left a hat in here?” he asks. “A whattie?” smiles Russell. ‘Martin’s hat”, “I haven’t seen it, sorry love,” Russell replies. There’s something about the exchange that makes me imagine Russell hosting a mad-hatters tea-party in her dressing room the night before. “I don’t like being on my own,” she confides, suddenly quieter. “I like the banter. That’s half the reason I love the job, the banter. When we were altogether, you’re all sharing experiences. That’s part of theatre, isn’t it? What other job do you have a friend who’s in her 80’s and next job a 16 yearold? It’s brilliant! I miss us all mucking in together.” There’s something wonderfully Fairy Godmother-y about Russell. It could be the ashblonde hair, the glow that comes from her smile, the sense of humour - “Let me make sure me cleavage isn’t hanging out!” she quips to the photographer. But after an hour with her you feel like you could
ask her anything, and that she’d not only answer you honestly, but would share something with you, take you under her wing, and help you on the road. The best teachers in life are those who help you understand. “If I could look back,” she says, “I would say ‘trust who you are’. That’s the only thing you’ve got. You are your unique thing. It’s going to fit somethings and not fit others. Be at peace with that. Trust in saying ‘this is who I am.’ When you’re young you feel like you have to conform to that high-belt singing, skinny, dancing, false-eyelash wearing, fierce thing. If that suits you, go for it. But if it doesn’t feel comfortable for you - don’t put it on. If you’re five-foot with a bit of weight, you still will work. You’re more interesting. Somebody will bite, somebody will bite eventually. And say ‘no’. Go work in the more interesting places, Southwark, the Gate, the Bush. Turn down long contracts. While you have the opportunity to be free, be free. Go work in Spain! Join the circus! It makes you more interesting. If you can find other little avenues, diversify. Do a play if you can, it makes a difference in terms of your casting for musicals. It’s bizarre but that’s how it is. It’s the best job in the world. I love it, I’m still in love with it. It can break your heart; I had a couple of years of jobs being taken away from me, not being able to get auditions. It happens to us all. My agent said ‘you’ll get a job, and you’ll be so happy because of the disappointment’.” Russell hugs us all goodbye, and kisses my cheek, and I’ll admit - I’m smitten. I hope she’s always this happy, and if she has to be disappointed first in order to get there, then I hope it’s a very, very short story.
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Fourthwall on Broadway Theatre Editor Emily Hardy travels across the pond and meets some of Broadway’s brightest stars, interviewing the likes of Glee’s Telly Leung, star of Peter & the Starcatcher Jason Ralph, producers of Pippin Jack W. Batman and Bruce Robert Harris, as well as producer of Kinky Boots Jim Kierstead. Be inspired, read them online today - www.fourthwallmagazine.co.uk
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Fringe on the Fringe With 28 wide-ranging performances, The Fringe on The Fringe festival launches London’s newest theatre venue in leafy Parsons Green. But Upstairs at The Southern Cross is in no way conventional; a far cry from the traditional black box, the venue at present relies heavily upon audience imagination and cleverly thought-out staging - www.upstairsatthesoutherncross.co.uk
Blog: Being Brave Katie Brennan writes online about being brave and following your dreams - even when they seem like nightmares! “Recently, I’ve been having a bit of a rough time. Work has been rubbish, creativity has been stunted, everything felt so viciously turbulent yet also bizarrely stagnant and I started to question everything”. www.fourthwallmagazine.co.uk