The big interview
Ruth Jones talks to Nathalie Whittle about overcoming stage fright, retraining as a registrar and reuniting with James Corden
Congratulations on making your West End debut! How does it feel to be treading the boards?
I honestly never thought I’d be talking to Good Housekeeping about starring in a West End musical! The last time I did a play was in 2018, and I got so stressed out by the nerves of going on stage that I thought, ‘I can never do theatre again.’ I found the build-up really horrible and the fear of forgetting my lines quite overwhelming. So, when I got offered this job, my initial feeling was, ‘Oh no, that’s not right for me.’ Fortunately, the producers were really kind and gentle – and they ended up talking me into it.
How have you overcome the nerves?
They haven’t completely gone away, but it’s a bit like going to the gym and building muscle – the more you practise, the stronger you get. What I hadn’t expected was that I was going to have to dance, and that’s been a real challenge to get my head around. But it’s also been a really good lesson in not putting limits on myself and not letting fear hold me back – and it’s sort of opened up a whole new world in the process.
Are you doing that less as you get older?
I think as you get older, you realise – and it’s a little bit morbid but it’s a fact – that you have less time ahead of you than you have behind you. So why waste it doing things you don’t want to do, or stopping yourself doing the things you do want to do? Life is too short. There was a moment when I was on stage doing a run-through and I looked out across the auditor
