Lead role in debut for Crawley company at the Hawth

“This is my first time with the company, and I was just drawn to the show. The show is just amazing. It's got a really important message about equality and rights for women and the storyline is brilliant. It's got so much in it, so many peaks and troughs and highs and lows and it's an amazing story to get into. There was someone that I had done shows with before that convinced me to come along and audition. I have done a few shows with HAODS but I was really nervous to come into a new society not knowing everybody in the cast and walking in as Rita. But they made me so amazingly welcome. They were so friendly and they have just made the whole experience really, really enjoyable.

“I went to weekend theatre school when I was younger. I started there when I was about eight years old and I got the bug for theatre from a really young age. I've always been involved in shows and plays ever since then, and I would have loved to have had a career in the theatre. I I did go to university and studied drama but drama school was very expensive so I did other things. I work in a media agency but the standard of amdram around here is incredibly high. The shows are like West End shows. We've got amazing theatres and amazing directors and choreographers. It's not necessarily a career but it's fantastic to do.”

Made in Dagenham is a powerful story set in 1968 that follows the courageous women of the Ford Dagenham plant who go on strike to fight for equal pay. Based on true events, the musical celebrates their tenacity and their solidarity and the impact they had on the world, changing workplace equality forever.

“Rita is the main female lead. She rallies the girls together for the strike. It's all set in 1968, and she is an incredible character. She really feels the injustice of not having equal pay. Her husband gets paid double what the women do so there is a lot of passion. She is fierce and she heads up the team of girls but another side to the storyline is that as she is fighting for equal rights her relationship starts to break down with her husband. You see this vulnerable side to her with the breakdown of her marriage. It's a big beast of a role. You are having to play every emotion under the sun but I just love it. It's a fantastic challenge. It's not just all the emotions but it's all the words as well and there are very few scenes where I'm not actually on the stage. And it's coming together really nicely. The company are really getting their message across. Rita is really fun to play and I think I've actually fallen in love with her!”