Michelle Collins is soap royalty - having taken top roles in both Corrie and EastEnders, and she is one of our best stage-steppers with a wonderfully varied CV to her name, spanning Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Calendar Girls to Romeo and Juliet and The Play What I Wrote.
Next week, Michelle makes a welcome return to Milton Keynes Theatre, starring in Thoroughly Modern Millie.
She went On Stage with Total MK and shared her love of the theatre with us...
- Tell us about your first memory of the theatre
Probably when my mum took me to the Palladium to see Tommy Steele. I think it was for my birthday, Babes in the Wood. I remember getting the bus and it seemed so huge and glamorous.
- And the moment when you realised the theatre was your calling
I don’t know if there is a moment really…although I remember going to see a Shakespeare production, Romeo and Juliet with my school and the show had to be stopped because my class were so rowdy, but I loved the show. Then when I was about 15 I joined a youth theatre, and that’s when I realised I loved the whole process of being in a theatre and rehearsing. It definitely started when I was a teenager.
- Which stage actor, living or dead, would you most like to meet, and what question would you ask them?
I was listening to Glenda Jackson the other day on the radio because she’s 80 and just played King Lear.
I think it’s incredible as an 80 year old to learn all of those lines and then to come back having not been on stage for 25 years, to completely change gender and play a man. I really admire her. I think I’d have loved to have seen Laurence Olivier on stage or maybe even someone like Beryl Reid – she was supposed to be amazing on stage, or someone like Tennessee Williams.
I’d have liked to have seen Liz Taylor and Richard Burton on stage together, that would’ve been electric. I’d have asked them if they shared a dressing room as a couple. It must be very hard doing something on stage together as a couple, that would be interesting. For example, did they learn their lines together? How does it work?! Being half welsh myself I’ve always had a thing about Richard Burton.
- Do you have any superstitions, or pre-performance routines?
Never say the Scottish play! I don’t go into a Green Room, I’m very suspicious about Green Rooms, I never go in them. That’s it really for superstitions, they’re the obvious ones I can think of.
- The best piece of advice given to you when you started in the business
Learn from other people, always be humble, but mainly always learn, watch and listen to other people. Always observe and always be on time. It’s important to give yourself lots of time to prepare. I like a good hour and a half before the show starts. It’s important to be properly warmed up physically and vocally. I did that During Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and found it really important.
- How do you fill your spare time while on tour
I usually go to the gym. You always say you’ll do local sightseeing but that doesn’t often happen. Sometimes I visit a few art galleries and do some shopping, but I’m doing another play straight after Thoroughly Modern Millie so will be learning my lines! I’ll be very busy, my brain will be completely stacked!
- Now the plug - sell Thoroughly Modern Millie to us...
There’s a very good cast! If you like Strictly or even if you don’t you’ll love it because the dancing is amazing. It’s one of those musicals where you recognise the songs, without realising. I think it’s quirky, and great fun. I play Mrs Mears who’s very un pc and a hilarious character. It’s very funny. It’s not like your average musical, it’s different, slightly camp and as a musical, very original. The costumes and sets are also fantastic, it’s set in the 1920s a fantastic era.
To book tickets for Thoroughly Modern Mllie - at Milton Keynes Theatre from Tuesday - click here
