The musical actress

I had my make up on ready to play Mary Poppins, I was on stage doing star jumps in warm up, when I found out that London theatres were closing and we weren’t going to perform that night.

I left loads of stuff there, because we thought it would just be a few weeks. I hope mice haven’t broken in to my Haribos and coffee.

I don’t know what I’m going to do if this goes on much longer. I’m very fortunate that I’ve been in one of the leading shows in the West End, but there are no guarantees, and we don’t know when and how we can open. I tried to get a job at the local supermarkets, but there were no vacancies.

Bizarrely, theatres have profited in times of recession or war, because people like the escapism of theatre. There will never be a time when people don’t want to hear a story. But social distancing is challenging for a theatre.

I haven’t left my house or area for nearly two months now. On my birthday, the girls and I from the dressing room all sang on Zoom together. I whacked an outfit on, this evening gown, and I drank Prosecco. That was it.

My hair is long and red and it’s a unique selling point. I rarely get cast in something later than 1912. I’ve always fancied going blonde, but I’ve always been told never to change my hair. So, I’ve used lockdown to go blonde. I love it.

I have been fine in lockdown till just recently. I went for a walk the other night in the dark. I thought I felt totally normal but I found myself just crying in the street. I normally know what’s going on with my emotions, but I don’t know where that came from, whether I was sad or scared.