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!
Before the pandemic hit and forced theatres to close, Evelyn Hoskins was appearing as Dawn in the London production of Waitress at the Adelphi Theatre. The show never reopened in the West End and Evelyn never got to finish her run in the show but don’t fear, you can now see this incredibly talented actress on the UK touring production of the show in the same role.
Aside from Waitress, Evelyn has a very impressive CV behind her. With credits that include her playing Lynette ‘Spueaky’ Fromme in Assassins at the Nottingham Playhouse and Watermill Theatre, Cecile Caldwell in Cruel Intentions at the Edinburgh Fringe, Loops in Mayfly at the Orange Tree Theatre, Bonnie in Bonnie and Clyde at the Other Palace, Maureen in Mrs Henderson Presents at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, Molly Aster in Peter and the Star Catcher at the Theatre Royal Northampton, the title role in Carrie at the Southwark Playhouse, Alice in Alice’s House of Cards at the Royal Festival Hall, Wendy in Peter Pan on a US Tour, Martha in The Secret Garden at the Birmingham Rep and Thea in Spring Awakening at the Lyric Hammersmith and Novello Theatre.
Chatting to Evelyn, she tells us how much she has missed theatre. Once again being able to return brings her so much enjoyment and the chance to see her friends back on the stage, “I love going to the theatre and it’s been very missed. I can’t wait to go and support friends again.”
When the pandemic hit she was in the West End production of Waitress, "I thought I’d finally landed my dream job when it was abruptly taken away from me. You never know what’s gonna happen so find joy in everything. Love what you already have.” Upon her return to the show, she now feels like she can live out that dream job once again. “You never know what’s gonna happen so find joy in everything. Love what you already have.”
Talking to Evelyn about the pandemic she tells us how her priorities have shifted,”I’ve learnt to try and not let my work be my only passion.” Having taken a job as a phone advisor for an energy company and finding a love for sewing, she’s found other passions and loves through this. She tells us how we must “Live in the moment as you never know what’s going to happen next.” So embracing every opportunity you get and see it as a lesson is important to get through some of the toughest times we may face.
Something that Evelyn has learnt about our industry over the pandemic is how we can all pull together and make the best of a bad situation, “What I took and have tried to keep hold of is how the industry became a level playing field, those of us in the arts were thrown into the same boat & what that made us do was come together as a team, support each other, lift each other up and I feel like I’d love to be able to keep that moving forward.”
You can catch Evelyn and her incredible colleagues on the UK tour of Waitress, the current cast are confirmed to be with the show until the 5th February 2022 with the tour having dates through to the 20th August 2022. Its a beautiful show and the cast are phenomenal, make sure you catch this one!
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