After two and a half years in Les Mis

Former University of Chichester student Amena El-kindy graduated into the awful first summer of the pandemic.

But she has more than made up for it since. After more than two and a half years as Eponine in Les Mis, she is now embarking on a tour of SIX which will take her into the spring.

Dates along the way include the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton (October 27-31), Brighton Theatre Royal (December 1-5), The Hawth, Crawley (January 26-30) and Portsmouth Guildhall (March 9-13).

“I was at Chichester from 2017-2020. We lost most of the last two to three months of my course (because of the pandemic) which was not as bad as it was for some people that came after me but actually finishing my course was really cool.”

They took a planned site-specific performance that they were going to do online instead: “We turned it into a puzzle for the audience to come along with us on. The university worked really hard for us to get something out of the end of our course, and I just took so much from going to Chichester. It was a great time.

“As someone from North Devon I had not been exposed to any touring or live theatre. By the time I went to university I had only seen one or two or maybe three professional shows but I knew that I wanted to sing and dance and act and that I had a talent for it. I really started from scratch at Chichester.

“When I started on the course I said to my parents that if I'm going to do musical theatre then I'd better get a first out of it. And that's exactly what I did. The things that I learned from Chichester were everything that I needed to work from the bottom to the top. I didn't go to university to get that party experience. I was really on a mission but I had a lot of fun as well.

“I think having a few months where I was finishing my course at home was such a blessing in disguise. I started as I meant to go on. I kept in that world and practised at home and sent self-tapes out even though there was no chance of getting anywhere. I was just keeping my mind active.

“I ended up going to Germany for a year and a half. My partner at the time was German. I did a lot of singing teaching on zoom to British and German people. I learned German while I was out there! Most people come out of a relationship with a headache. I came out of a break-up with a whole language so that was pretty cool!”

Amena started in Les Mis in September 2023: “And I was there for just over two and a half years playing Eponine which was amazing. I must have done more than 500 performances and I just realised how similar Eponine was to me. In almost every way! But I didn't realise it until I'd grown out of the role. She is independent and she is borderline lonely, and I just found that part of it very cathartic about the character. People often say to me that I am an extrovert but I love being alone, and I love those quiet and reflective deeply-emotional characters.”

Amena went through three cast changes in her time on Les Mis before eventually feeling it was time to move on: “It was a mutual thing. The show was ready for a new Eponine and so was I. The cast change before, I wasn't ready to leave but by the time I did, I was ready to go. I had outgrown the show.”

And now comes SIX in which she plays Catherine Parr, the survivor. Henry VIII’s wives were famously divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. After dying in her most recent two roles, Amena is delighted now to survive.

And as the eldest of six sisters in real life, the show feels doubly appropriate.

“It is the shortest show I've ever done but probably the most high intensity. The show is done before Act One of Les Mis goes down. It is a very different feel. I've only seen it once but I have listened to it countless times, and I think what makes it so great is that the show is so empowering. It's about girl power and I get to be a real role model. And that's really important to me. I've got five younger sisters (aged seven to 17) and I've got three younger brothers. I really am the big sister!”