Important to be a mum

“You just couldn’t have the empathy if you aren’t a mum yourself”, says Niki who enjoyed a year and a half in the show in the West End, toured with it last year and is on the road again now (Kings Theatre, Southsea, May 3-7, 02392 828282).

The show is the moving tale of twins who, separated at birth, grow up on opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with tragic consequences - both sons of the down-trodden Mrs J.

Niki hadn’t even seen a musical when she first stepped up to the part. She’s never had an acting lesson, and she’s never been taught to sing.

Instead she’s cleaned toilets and struggled in life - experience she counts as far more relevant.

“It’s one of the biggest female roles. If I had known Barbara Dickson and Petula Clark and Kiki Dee had done it, I would have thought about it longer! I just never really had time to think about it. (Producer) Bill Kenwright just saw me and liked me for the part.”

There’s certainly a key to it: “I think you have got to be grounded. You have got to be a normal person to play Mrs Johnstone, to play her the way I think she should be played. And you have got to be tough - just to give birth to nine kids.

“I am a feisty Mrs Johnstone. I am from a council house background. We used to have

to go out in our slippers to get the newspaper from the next-door neighbours because we could not afford our own.

“I am told I am quite hard playing Mrs Johnstone, but I think you have got to be. Her superstitions are just the way she was brought up. She has had to fight for everything. The only time she seems vulnerable is in how much she loves the kids.”

“My dad worked in a foundry”, Niki says. “I have cleaned toilets. I have worked in garages and factories.”

She recognises Mrs Johnstone’s struggle: “You have just got to think that it is going to get better for you.”