Courtney Stapleton is currently one of the understudies in the hit musical SIX at the Arts Theatre. Courtney graduated from Arts Educational. Theatre whilst training includes Sasha Larkin in Soho Cinders; Grace Shinn in The Music Man; Marta in Company, Phyllis in Iolanthe and Frank’s Girlfriend in Catch Me If You Can. Courtney made her stage debut in Mamma Mia in the West End and has since appeared in Bat Out Of Hell (West End); Cameron Mackintosh’s Les Miserables in the West End and in Kerry Ellis Live at the Palladium and the Olivier Awards.
Tell us a about what Queens you play.
I am Alternate Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr, and I have one show per week as these queens and I cover the other four in case of holidays, sickness and injury!
What kind of research did you do to prepare for these roles.
I watched a BBC documentary series about the 6 wives of Henry VIII to get to know them a little more and to try and remember what I had learnt in my GCSE’s! And I also watched Beyoncé’s Live at Rose-land concert because this was the concept the the show is based on.
How do you identify with these roles?
I think that I see a part of myself in all of the queens. I love Jane because she’s true to herself, she doesn’t care what anybody else thinks, she loved Henry and she is proud of that fact and I like to think that I try not to let other people’s opinions get to me in that same way. Catherine Parr and I are VERY similar, she is an observer, she watches the story unfold with the other queens for the whole show and then she comes through strong with such a positive and empowering message. She is a Badass and I LOVE her.
