"Assume everything is interesting until experience tells you it’s not"

Hometown
Born in Norfolk, lived all over Europe due to father’s job, roots in Sheffield and Croydon and now I live in Penarth, near Cardiff

What do you do?
Three things:
(i) Lecturer in acting, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
(ii) freelance actress
(iii) dialect coach

How long have you been at it?
(i) 22 years
(ii) 39 years
(iii) 21 years

What was your very first role in theatre?
Blackbird baked in a pie in mother’s jumper and crepe paper beak!
First professional theatre role was citizen of Paris/whore in Danton’s Death, at Glasgow Citizen’s Theatre, directed by Keith Hack and designed by Philip Prowse.

What else have you done in theatre?
As an actress, I did repertory seasons in Glasgow, Leicester and Harrogate and theatre-in-education work in Ipswich and Leicester.

I’ve done some TV and even been in Tracy Beaker!

I’ve been children’s director at Leicester Haymarket (no longer open and being replaced by a new theatre currently under construction) and artistic director of Cwmpas Theatre Company.

As a freelance dialect coach, I’ve worked across theatre, tv and radio, including Fat Friend’s Carrie’s War, The Diary of Adrian Mole, Sherman, Theatr Iolo, Theatr y Byd, Hijinx, Theatr Na N’Og, Sgript Cymru, Bath Theatre Royal and Plymouth Theatre Royal

Have you got qualifications?
A drama and French degree from Hull University

How did you start working in theatre?
On graduation applied for job as acting ASM (assistant stage manager) and got it, probably on the strength of having been president of Hull University drama society. I only took that on as a student because no one else dared! I had no idea what to do but did it anyway, and it got me places on more than one occasion.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
Pharmacist, opera singer or policewoman from the age of 11, then an actress from 16

What do you do all day?
Teaching students all morning, either how to act on radio or how to act in opera/musical theatre.

In afternoons pursue dialect research, set up master classes, organise recruitment visits to schools or universities, sit on audition panels, read plays, source new plays for the library, communicate with partner institutions, go to meetings, take tutorials, write assessments, attend showings, prepare notes for accent workshops, rehearsals etc

Evenings are frequently taken up with recruitment or attending performances.

What’s the best thing about your job?
Working with enthusiastic young people, new faces every year, seeing students progress in their careers, no two days the same, being part of a team who all have the same vision, being surrounded by performance of all types, happy, challenged, positive creative people, helping people discover how amazing they are

And the worst?
Paperwork, justifying what I do, not having enough funding to do things that I think would improve the course, being tired all the time from having so many focuses. And what about my family!? People who think they they’re helping by contradicting hours of accent work you’ve done with a nervous actor. People who claim to have a ‘good ear’. Lazy people who want to be rich and famous and think that’s what acting is.

What’s your dream job in theatre?
A small but telling part in a good musical or a Chekhov surrounded by a cast of my friends, or possibly Gertrude at Stratford with Matthew Rhys playing Hamlet, which tours to New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, Berlin, Sydney, Seattle, Hawaii, Rio, Montreal and St Petersburg. Sponsored by Moet and Chandon.

Got any wise words for someone who wants to be where you are now?
Grab every opportunity that comes along, however banal it might seem, and do more than you’re asked to do, and do it from fascination, not slavish obedience. Keep an open-mind and don’t be limited by your own fear or lack of imagination. Listen more than you speak. Value your family and friends. Assume everything is interesting until experience tells you it’s not. Be prepared to do things for free for people who need your help. Know your limitations and when to try to exceed them. Get yourself a name that people can’t forget (mine’s real, but hey…) Laugh a lot (but not during a take or when someone’s trying to concentrate) Dare. Use moisturiser.