Opening Night star Sheridan Smith said playing an actress in the grip of a mental breakdown was “a gift” of a part that allowed her to take “back control” of her life.
The actress, who has spoken publicly about her own breakdown and struggles with alcohol and anxiety, plays Myrtle Gordon in the musical directed by Ivo van Hove with music and lyrics by Rufus Wainwright.
She said: “When they came to me with this, I’d just done Shirley Valentine in the West End so I felt like ‘that’s great I’m back doing something I love’, but then this was next level and working with people like Ivo van Hove and Rufus Wainwright I was like ‘really you want me to be part of this?’
“But it’s a gift of a part and especially because I feel I can bring my own experiences to it.
“When I met with them and they said ‘how do you feel about this part? Do you feel well enough?’ I was like ‘of course, in a way it’s therapeutic and taking back control’.”
She added: “There are so many lines in the show that resonate when he says ‘Why do we do this to ourselves? To manifest our demons’ and ‘Waiting for the critics to come and grace us with their opinion.’ Every lyric in this show resonates with me.”
The star, whose theatre career includes the title role in Hedda Gabler at the Old Vic as well as musicals including Legally Blonde, said she knows some people will “have mixed feelings” about seeing her in such an avant garde show but said she wants it to be “accessible” for people who saw her in more mainstream hits.
She said: “I feel like some people will be expecting a big jazz hands happy clappy musical and it’s not that. It’s about a struggling actress and you want people to connect to it so it’s not just about the industry, it’s about anyone going through a crisis.”
One difference audiences will notice is Smith’s extensive range of tattoos which are on show rather than covered up in the usual laborious long visit to make-up.
She said: “Ivo said to me ‘when did you get your tattoos?’ and I said ‘oh God, I had a bit of a breakdown and ended up covering myself in tattoos’.
“I usually have to spend three hours in makeup and he was like ‘no, it’s part of you’.
“He’s about the real you.”
Among those at Tuesday night’s performance were acting stars Ruth Wilson, James Norton and Jonathan Bailey, as well as singer Jessie Ware.
