It has been 21 years since Lisa Faulkner starred in the play The Vagina Monologues, and now the actress is heading back to the stage in the world premiere of the theatre production of Single White Female, based on the hit 1990s psychological thriller film.
Lisa, 53, who is known for her roles in Missing You and Holby City, for co-hosting John and Lisa's Weekend Kitchen with her husband, the chef John Torode, and for winning Celebrity MasterChef in 2010, can’t wait to play single parent Allie opposite Kym Marsh's obsessed roommate Hedy.
© Instagram"I think we’ll have fun," says Lisa in this exclusive interview with HELLO!. "I'm really looking forward to playing Allie, and playing that slightly psycho character will be great for Kym. I think she’ll do it brilliantly.
"We've met a couple of times and my best friend, Angela Griffin, has worked with her. Angela said: 'You’re going to get on like a house on fire; she’s lovely.'"
The new play is a reimagining of the hit 1992 film and bestselling book by John Lutz, in which a lodger’s fixation unfolds into a sinister sequence of events. And as soon as Lisa saw the script, she was sold.
"It reads really fast and like a film, so I was excited about it," she says. "I remember watching [the film] and thinking it was brilliant; I loved Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
© Getty Images for the NTA's"What's exciting is that [the scriptwriter] Rebecca Reid has brought it up to date. It's in the world of social media and they're older. It's funny; the people who were my age when we watched it are all mums with late-teen daughters [now]."
Lisa is a mother to a teenager herself: she adopted 19-year-old Billie as a baby with her former husband, the actor Chris Coghill. The actress says of Billie: "She hasn't seen the film, but she has read it with me and she’ll come to see the play. It's one of those plays where, if I wasn't in it, I'd take her to see it."
Family life
Some of Lisa’s famous friends have plans to watch, too, including Angela Griffin and Amanda Holden. "They've got a separate WhatsApp group, because I've told them I don't want to know when they’re coming," she laughs.
© Instagram"I don't want to be spotting them and for that to put me off. I’ll check my phone and see that they're there afterwards."
He's my husband and my best mate. We really do support each other and hold each other’s hands through everything. He's such a gentleman and so kind.
John, her husband of six years, will also be supporting her. "He's been running through the lines with me. He's so happy for me," she says.
Living and working with the chef is "lovely, and I feel very lucky", she adds. "He's my husband and my best mate. We really do support each other and hold each other’s hands through everything. He's such a gentleman and so kind.”
Billie still lives at home. However, Lisa says: "She goes travelling a lot. I don’t see her for weeks, then she's back. She hasn't left home quite yet, thank goodness."
Like her mother, Billie is interested in acting. "I’m like: 'No, keep away from the acting.' I think it can be a great thing, though it's very up and down. But if she wants to do it, she can."
The UK tour of Single White Female opens at Brighton’s Theatre Royal on 9 January and runs until 13 June; swfonstage.com
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