Meet Rosy and Scarlett Rowley – Sovereign’s two long standing community players

“My name is Scarlett and I am seven, nearly eight.  It’s really exciting to be in Two Planks and a Passion at the Theatre Royal.  I am in it because my Mum is in it and the director wanted a child in it too, I am the only child in it! It’s sometimes a bit scary, but I feel very lucky and my big sisters are very jealous because they’re not in it!”

So began Scarlett Rowley’s blog for her debut York Theatre Royal community production. Now she’s among the 100-strong company of performers, singers, musicians, and backstage workers bringing C.J. Sansom’s Tudor-set novel Sovereign to the stage this summer.

Scarlett, now a student at Sheffield Hallam University who celebrates her 20^th birthday during the Sovereign run, is playing royalty – Queen Catherine. Her mother Rosy Rowley will be on stage too, just as she was for Scarlett’s 2011 debut in Two Planks and a Passion. In Sovereign Rosy is playing God.

Since their debut they’ve been in every community production – Blood and Chocolate, In Fog and Falling Snow, The Beggars Opera, Everything Is Possible, The Coppergate Woman and the 2012 Mysteries in Museum Gardens. Rosy’s son Jai has also been a regular in community plays.

In her 2011 blog, Scarlett confessed to being “a bit nervous” before her first rehearsal, writing: “Everybody was very friendly to me and gave me lots of attention. Juliet the Director introduced me and everybody clapped! I’m in lots of scenes, I am a farmer’s daughter and a servant. I’m looking forward to the next rehearsal but it’s in the evening so I’d better not get too tired for school!”

By her second blog opening night was near. “There’s two teams doing the show on different nights, they are the Masons (that’s the one I’m in) and the Tailors, I know a lot of people now and they are really friendly to me. There’s also 3 professional actors that play the Royals, they are really nice and talk to me,” Scarlett wrote.

“All week we have been doing lots of rehearsals at the Theatre Royal, they are called techs and we don’t do much acting, but it’s to make sure everything works and is in the right place…I know the play pretty well now, and I think it’s really cool. My favourite person in it is Jolyf, the man with the red exploding bottom! (It’s not his real bottom, it’s actually a costume).”

Rosy says: “I wanted to get into doing some shows after I had my kids. I saw Two Planks and a Passion advertised and thought it would be interesting but didn’t know it would become such a large part of my life. We’ve loved performing together as a family and have made so many friendships over the years and make new friends every time.”

Sovereign can be seen outdoors at King’s Manor, York, from 15-30 July.

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