The aim of
these interviews is to share with one another our love for the theatre and the
arts. So here we go!
Now over to Kerrie Nicholson, a fellow theatre fan and
blogger who is passionate about literature and anything theatrical!
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| Kerrie with Hadley Fraser, Garry Kasparov in The Machine, 2013 (Photo Credit: Kerrie Nicholson) |
Please
tell me how you’ve got into musical theatre and/or theatre general in the first
place?
I
have my grandparents to thank for my love of musical theatre- when I was young
they introduced me to many of the old movie musicals, like Seven Brides for Seven
Brothers,
Carousel, The Sound of Music, and Oklahoma to name a few, and I
fell completely in love with musical theatre from then on. My grandpa fancies himself
to be a bit of a singer, and to this day if he comes in to see me and I’m
watching any of the above- he’ll sit with me and we’ll belt out a song or two
together. It’s very funny!
What
inspired you to get into blogging/reviewing?
I’ve
always loved to write creatively anyway, but a blog was something I shied away
from for a very long time, mainly because I was stuck in a dilemma about what
to write. I then had a chat with a friend of mine from university, who himself
runs a blog and he simply encouraged me to write about what I know and
love- and through that people will see how much you enjoy that particular
thing. A light bulb came on with theatre.
What
have been your favourite posts you’ve blogged/reviewed?
That’s a tough one, one in particular that is precious to me personally
was a review I did of Finding Neverland when it played
at the Curve Theatre in Leicester last year. It was a beautiful show and also
marked the first time I saw Julian Ovenden (who I’m a
huge fan of) and Rosalie Craig onstage. Both were utterly phenomenal. When I go to the theatre I tend
to go with a group of friends, so I also love those reviews where they
say: ‘Kerrie, you bought the experience
right back’, days later. That shows me I must be doing something right!
What
have been the highlights of your blogging/reviewing journey?
There
have been many, but if I had to pick, there are two that come to mind first. A
lovely one that stuck with me was a tweet I received from Peter Polycarpou thanking me for a
lovely review after seeing The Pajama Game in Chichester in
June. When I post my blog on twitter I do sometimes tag the performers in
the post- not because I’m expecting any recognition, purely because I want to
let them know what a brilliant time I had watching them onstage, whether
they read my thoughts or not, and I had an incredible time at that show. For
him to have seen the review and thank me for it was just a lovely surprise
The second has to be February 10th, 2012 and my 3rd
visit to Les Miserables with Ramin Karimloo as Valjean,
and Hadley Fraser as Javert. I’d been wanting to see them both together onstage for ages
after seeing each a few times separately, and it finally happened. I was
a very happy fan writing that particular blog after the event, and went back a
month later to see the pairing again before Ramin left.
Are
there any shows/performers that you haven’t reviewed/interviewed that you would
like to?
Show
wise – for musicals it’s most definitely Matilda and Charlie & The
Chocolate Factory. I’d love to branch out and see more plays, too so
would love to see Strangers
on a Train
as
well. Interviewing for my blog is something I’ve never done, but something I
definitely want to explore- so watch this space!
What
shows do you recommend which are currently playing in the West End or on tour
nationally?
My
two biggest recommendations go to Once and Jersey Boys. Once, for me is raw,
beautiful and there’s nothing quite like it in the West End right now. The cast
are all incredible as are the songs, and it shows that a simple story of Guy
meets Girl can have tremendous warmth, humour and heart. Jersey Boys quite simply, gave me
faith in the jukebox musical and one of the best nights out I’ve ever had at
the theatre- I laughed, cried and left the theatre singing away with a huge
smile on my face.
What
is your piece of advice would you give for anyone who is new to blogging/reviewing?
To
pass on a lesson I learned myself through one of my own reviews recently: just
be true to your own opinion, people might agree, people might disagree… and
that’s fine. Another tip would be write often and about whatever you like, it
just gets your creative juices flowing and is a good way to get your thoughts
down, even if they don’t come exactly as you might want the first time round-
it’s ok to experiment!
Finally,
what have been your 2013 theatre highlights?
I’m
a devoted admirer of Hadley
Fraser,
and my first two highlights go to shows he was involved in, the first being The Pajama Game. He led the cast as Sid
Sorokin and did a phenomenal job, as did the rest of the cast. I knew
practically nothing about the show before I went in and fell completely in love
with the story, songs and everyone’s enthusiasm and energy radiated around the
space.
The
second is a play called The Machine in which Hadley played Chess
Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, written by Matt Charman & directed by Josie Rourke. I remember sitting
on the train to Manchester wondering how in the world they could make a play
revolving around a famous chess match interesting, and it turned out to be one
of the most mesmerising things I’ve ever seen, and it was awesome to see Hadley play something so
different to what I’ve been used to.
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| Kerrie with Jon Boyden and Ben Jennings in Jersey Boys, 2013 (Photo Credit: Kerrie Nicholson) |
Thirdly, I return to Jersey Boys. I remember
going into the theatre and noticing the most familiar songs on the posters and
said to myself: ‘this is alright; I’ll recognise at the least five or six of
these!’ Turns out I knew every single song in the show and could be found
singing and dancing along in my seat with a silly happy smile on my face during
the more up tempo numbers!
Getting a
bit ahead of myself with this final one, but in December I’m going to see Coriolanus at the Donmar Warehouse. I love
the play and am a huge Tom Hiddleston
fan, so it’s a dream come true to be able to say I’ll be seeing him live. As an
added bonus, Hadley & Mark Gatiss are also involved, I’m one very
excited Shakespeare fan!
May I take an opportunity to say a big thank you to Kerrie for taking part in this interview. She can be contacted on Twitter:@kerrien_270811 and also please check out her blog. Many congratulations on her recently achieving her Masters of Arts!
Please keep tuned for my next interviewee....which is coming
very soon!
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