Pocket Size Theatre and Liza Heinrichs (Captured by Liz) have teamed up again and created our new series 'Coming Home'. In this new piece, we look at the reopening of Theatres in London and around the country and celebrate our industry coming back. We got together some performers who will be some of the first to return to theatres and created this piece to bring some positivity to the theatre industry which has been through one of the toughest years in our lifetime. Whilst it is important to acknowledge the hardships we've all gone through, it's important we pull together as a community and celebrate our beloved industry finally coming back!
In April of this year, MAMMA MIA! Hit the big ’21’. Opening at the Prince Edward Theatre in 1999 and later moving to the Prince of Wales Theatre, the current home of the show is the Novello Theatre in which the show will return to the West End and re-open its doors on the 25th August 2021. The show is currently the 7th longest-running show ever in London, and the West End wouldn’t feel right without it.
Emma Mullen was playing the role of Sophie Sheridan in the UK touring production of the show and will open in the London production when it returns. She found out in March last year she would be making her West End debut in the show in June 2020 and a week later, all theatres across the UK closed their doors due to the pandemic. Almost a year on from her cancelled West End debut, she is preparing to finally get the chance to do it!
When talking about her return to theatre, she is obviously looking forward to getting back on stage in front of an audience but also tells us she cannot wait to be back in the audience watching a show. “I’ve missed people so much, and it’s almost bizarre to think about hundreds of people coming together to be part of something with one another. There’s nothing like it.”
With the industry being shut down, we’ve all had time to reflect and a lot of issues have come up that we all need to work hard to fix and make this a better place to work. When talking about this to Emma she tells us she really hopes we’ve all learnt over the past year but it’s hard to tell if this will actually be applied until we get back, "We’ve had too much time to reflect and learn for nothing to change and be better. I’m hoping there will be positive changes that come from the time out we’ve had. We need to get behind each other on issues that are affecting people, even if they don’t directly affect ourselves.”
When thinking about her personal growth within the past year she tells us she thinks it's impossible for anyone to come out the other end of this situation unscathed and that she most definitely changed through this, “I’d like to think I’m going to appreciate things so much more, especially the little things that I took for granted.” She goes on to tell us how people should feel ok about feeling slightly different after the year we’ve had, “Be kind to yourself going back into things. We’ve had so much time out, and it’s ok if you feel slightly different than you did before. Also, enjoy the little things, be present and remember what’s important.”
Emma most certainly has been keeping busy through this year as well, whilst awaiting her West End debut to come along she has had a job working from home since May last year, on top of this she has also found a love for teaching having taught some online workshops and has even launched her own business, so it's safe to say she’s been keeping herself occupied!
Its very clear Emma is super excited for theatre to finally return, not only because she’ll be in town in one of the most successful shows around but purely because she just loves it. We wanted to know what show she’d like to see and she told us “I honestly can’t choose anything specific, because at this point I’d go to the opening of an envelope. I think I’ll just go to the first thing I can get a ticket for. I cannot wait."
Mamma Mia is such a West End staple and I’m sure we can all agree that after the year we’ve all had, we’ll all need a good night out at the theatre and this show couldn’t be a better fit for that! Emma Mullen will be making her West End debut in the lead role of Sophie Sheridan opposite theatre legend Mazz Murray and we cannot wait to see her in the London production when it reopens on the 25th August 2021.
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