La Voix hoping for third time lucky in Horsham

But it was a date swiftly rearranged. La Voix was looking forward to her Sussex return in January.

Then the third lockdown hit – and, with more than a touch of déjà vu, the new date was also lost.

But nothing daunted, she and the venue are trying again.

Billed as the UK’s Funniest Redhead she will at the Capitol on Thursday, September 23, hoping for third time lucky.

Promising side-splitting comedy, huge vocals, mesmerising impressions of the world’s biggest divas and buckets full of energy, she’s hoping she won’t do for The Capitol what she did for Brighton last year.

“I was the last show at Brighton Theatre Royal last March. You could say La Voix shut the place down.

“We sold out in a 1,500-seat theatre and everyone was sitting side by side with no masks or anything. We knew that something was coming, but you just couldn’t believe it now.

“My main line of work is theatre touring and cruise ships, two of the worst places to work in 2020.

“And it was my third year of touring and I have really been developing a fan base and following.

“I had an amazing new contract with a cruise ship and it was going to be fantastic – and then everything took a downturn.

“To start with I was doing ticketed shows streaming something from the back room of a bar. We were just thinking that this would just last a couple of weeks and then we would be back and that we would just churn out some shows to keep things up until we could be back in person.”

As things went on, it just became a question of timing. Or rather, the good luck of timing.

“We managed to slip a few shows in before the November lockdown.

“But it was frightening.

“A lot of people just don’t seem to realise that this is how we finance ourselves. They just think that people in showbusiness lead a luxurious life on freebies in a world of their own. This is my living – and if you take away the fundamental ability to do a show, you just don’t have an income. It was a scary, hard time.”

But La Voix, who bills herself as “The UK’s Funniest Red Head”, did manage to find a positive side, developing her technical skills: “I really enjoyed learning the technology and I tried to keep up my role of keeping spirits up through my social media. I did one-hour chats every week. I did make-up classes. I did everything. I did a spoof parody of The Crown, and I have done a mock family Zoom with me playing all the characters.

“And I have really thrown myself into writing new material and creating new outlets for my art. The moment you take away a live audience, the dynamic changes completely, but that has made me push myself. It has made me push everything.

“And I feel now that when we are able to come back, my show is going to be bigger and richer and better because of it.

“My lockdown has been my retreat really.”

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