The former Wolverhampton Girls’ High School pupil, who learned her trade doing am dram in Telford, began her career at the hardest time imaginable – in the midst of a global pandemic, when the nation’s theatres were all closed.
The show is set in the final hours of April 14, 1912, as the RMS Titanic, on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, collides with an iceberg. The unsinkable ship slowly sank. It was one of the most tragic disasters of the 20th Century, with 1,517 men, women and children losing their lives. Emily says: “Kate is a fantastic character to be playing but the fact that I’m also playing a first class passenger means we get to see both sides of it. It’s great to play a first class character and a third class character because there’s a stark contrast.
“People were never going to go home when they set sail on Titanic. They just wanted a new life. That makes it even more heart-breaking. It’s amazing to learn about that story. “I’ve got lots of people coming. I’m staying with my family throughout the week. There are lots of different groups coming and my nan is coming, which I’m thrilled with.”“I really enjoyed my time there. I was always pushing for the theatre aspect of it all. I ended up setting up a musical theatre club at school, for some of the younger girls, which spiralled a bit.
“We played the Light House, in Wolverhampton, in the courtyard. I went to an amateur dramatics group too, in Telford, called the Arts Centre Telford. I met my partner at am dram and we are both in the industry – he’s in London, having recently done a panto in Shropshire.