Beauty in Shoreham: "It is not just about standing there and being pretty"

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Ariane Murchie will be our Beauty in Beauty and the Beast which runs at Shoreham’s Ropetackle from December 20-January 5.

She did a few pantos when she was at school and also since graduating she took one around care homes: “But this is my first panto and also my first non-touring show so it will be great to be in one place.

“I've always loved watching panto. My brief experience is that I really loved it and I saw they were looking for actors for this on an acting website and I heard back really quickly.

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“I think the thing for me is that panto is such a heartfelt thing. Every year my grandma would take me to see a panto where I lived in Scotland. We always managed to fit in a panto and it is something that just makes me think of Christmas and family and home.”

Preparing for the role now: “Obviously you have to start by reading the script which will give you a few ideas for the character, and having read it I'm really pleased that she is a little bit sassy which I like. It is not just about standing there and being pretty. She's got a bit of a backbone which is what you want.

“I haven't been to Shoreham before now but the nice thing is that I'm going to be able to stay with my mum’s friend in Brighton and I'm really looking forward to getting to know the area a bit more. It will be hard work in the panto but it's going to be great fun.”

It's an exciting new chapter in Ariane’s career after all the trauma of graduating right into the pandemic in 2020: “We were just about to put on our second show of the third year and it was the day of the dress rehearsal and we were all told we had to leave. We thought we would be back in a couple of weeks but obviously we weren’t. But they were great. They had us all back in the September, when things started to lift a bit, to put on something that we could invite agents to and since then I've been really fortunate. With a couple of gaps I've been going from job to job.

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“I moved to Germany for 16 months to work with a company called White Horse Theatre that are a TIA (theatre in education) company that do shows in schools to help teach children English. It was so beautiful in Germany. I got to spend a lot of time in Bavaria which was lovely and my German was pretty good when I was out there though it has definitely slipped a bit since.”

Since then Ariane has enjoyed the chance to work with Folksy Theatre and will be working with them again next year for a show Angelica Sprocket's Pockets: “I love working with children. I love making them smile, seeing them experience the magic of theatre and seeing it on their faces.”

Children notoriously can be tough audiences: “But they have been very kind to me so far!”

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