Q&A with our Fairy – Sarah Leatherbarrow

Sarah Leatherbarrow plays the Fairy in Cinderella at York Theatre Royal. Her theatre credits include South Pacific, Bombay Dreams, Carmen Jones, The Secret Garden and The King and I.

Describe your character in Cinderella.

The Fairy is funny. She has a kind, good heart obviously  but isn’t afraid to roll her eyes a bit at the audience if they don’t cheer loud enough  – or at the shenanigans among her fellow characters. She is however 100 per cent rooting for Cinderella and Prince Charming.

Have you appeared in pantomime before?

This is my first pantomime unless you count the am-dram production of Dick Whittington I auditioned for when I was 12 years old. I wanted to be Dick Whittington’s cat, but alas ended up in the ensemble.

Your worst moment in pantomime:

Not getting the part of Dick Whittington’s Cat when I was 12.

You’ve appeared in many stage musicals – do you prefer them to ‘straight’ plays?

I love both. They are totally different, but the one thing both experiences have in common is the audience. There is nothing to compare to the electricity and energy of a live audience.

You understudied the role of Bloody Mary in South Pacific – did you ever get to play a performance?

No!!! I got as far as putting on the costume and was ready to go, as the actress playing Bloody Mary was at the doctors with a bad throat – but she was cleared to perform. I learned tons from her and from the experience though.

Was it a difficult decision to take time off from performing to raise a family?

I had been performing in West End musicals and tours for nearly a decade and had loved every minute. But I wanted to take a year or so away and make time to finally marry my long term boyfriend. My son followed soon afterwards, and although I carried on with small jobs for a while, that ‘year or so away’ turned into a decade. I really just wanted to go all in with being a mum. I really didn’t think about performing at all until my husband treated me to a night out to the final performance of the Miss Saigon revival. I had been in the final cast of the original production, so it was a real moment. I immediately got ‘the calling’ again. Returning, after all those years away, has been really hard – especially as I went to my first official ‘I’m back’ audition only weeks before we first heard the words Covid-19… I’m thrilled I have persevered though. This year has been pretty fruitful work wise, and is going to end on a real high in York.

Any unusual interests or hobbies outside acting that you’d care to reveal?

I’m not sure it’s a hobby, but my husband and I do all the work (not gas or electrics!) on our house. We just installed our bathroom and we are wondering if we are brave enough to knock a partition wall down and extend the kitchen…

DON’T MISS SARAH IN CINDERELLA, 03 DEC – 02 JAN.