INFORMAL - AN INTERVIEW SERIES
RIA JONES
Ria Jones is a stalwart of musical theatre and has had an illustrious career which saw her become the youngest actress to play the titular role in Evita, aged just 19. She has also taken on iconic roles such as Grizabella in Cats and Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and she originated the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.
Ria has such an infectious and joyous energy when she enters the room and I had so much fun chatting with her about her upcoming role as The Spirit of the Beans in JACK AND THE BEANSTALK at the New Wimbledon Theatre.
We began by discussing her career "It's been a long one! 42 years this year - I can't quite believe it sometimes!". I asked her for some of her career highlights: "Definitely Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and also Mrs Overall in Acorn Antiques". I remarked how different those two characters are: "There probably aren't many actresses who have played both!" she quipped.
As she heads into pantoland for the festive season I asked about her role: "I'm The Spirit of the Beans - The Good Fairy. I love laughter and being able to make others laugh so I'm hoping she's funny! The last panto I did I was the baddie." I asked her if she preferred being the goodie or the baddie and she responded: "I've never actually played the goodie before! I've played the principal girl and the baddie - and I do love the baddie! - so I don't know!" She promised: "I'll let you know when I finish the run as the goodie!"
Even though panto is a tradition in its own right, it's also very different from a traditional theatre show and I was interested to know how much of herself Ria was allowed to bring into her role: "Well Joe Pasquale is directing it and he's great. He said bring yourself to the role and use your own accent, so she'll have a bit of a welsh lilt that's for sure. When this panto was last performed in the London Palladium this role was played by Julian Clary, so it'll be very different from that!"
I can tell by how Ria is talking that she has a love for panto: "I love the message that panto brings. The good versus evil, the comedy characters and it's just feel-good fun."
I wondered how, as a performer, whether she enjoys the playfulness of panto in contract to the somewhat strictness of conventional theatre - e.g. sticking to the script: "It's lovely to be able to improvise because I love improvisation, as I know others in this cast do, as does my brother Ceri (Dupree), who's playing the Dame. I love the energy and excitement that comes with knowing everything can be different. It's not an 'anything goes' situation because you have to be true to the story but it can be fun to react to the audience and your fellow performers."
I'm personally a huge fan of panto, oh yes I am!, and I asked Ria how important she thought the genre is to the entire theatre industry: "Well nine times out of ten it's the first time that a child will have experienced theatre so I think it's a hugely important part of theatre, and it's not as easy as people think it is to perform in a panto!"
With that in mind I questioned Ria about how she manages with the demaning schedule and takes care of her own wellbeing: "I just get lots of sleep and drink lots of water. I eat well and try to keep as fit as I can because it's definitely a marathon. At 4 weeks, this is quite a short run for a panto but when I did my first panto aged 9 and it was the longest running panto in the country at 12 weeks. It was still running in March!"
I finished by asking Ria about her dream role in theatre and quick as a flash she answered: "I'd love to do Mame and sing the song If He Walked Into My Life. Angela Lansbury played the role on Broadway. What an icon, what a career."
On her upcoming role as The Spirit of the Beans she said: "I'm looking forward to bringing her to life." and I for one cannot wait to see her do just that.
You can catch Ria in the GIGANTIC pantomime JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, which is presented by New Wimbledon Theatre and Crossroads Pantomimes, alongside Alexandra Burke as Mrs Blunderbore, Joe Pasquale as Silly Simon, Ceri Dupree as Dame Trot and Benjamin Yates as Jack Trot.
Jack and the Beanstalk
New Wimbledon Theatre
Saturday 7th December 2024 - Sunday 5th January 2025
Interview conducted by Neill Kovacic-Clarke for Pink Prince Theatre on 18/09/24
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