BWW Interviews: Hannah-Jane Fox, Star Of FINGS AIN'T WHAT THEY USED TO BE

Hi Hannah, and welcome to BWW:UK. I'm excited about finally seeing Fings Ain't What They Used To Be - it's great to have a legendary show back in London.

It's very exciting. It was the Shameless of its day - that kind of dialogue and theatre. It gave people like Barbara Windsor a big break, and working-class voices were being heard on stage.

So is it still relevant now?

Yes. It's Lionel Bart's earliest music. You can see where Oliver! takes off from where this begins. Some beautiful melodies don't get as much air time as Oliver!

Tell us a bit about the plot.

It's set in Soho in 1956, 7in a late-night drinking and gambling den. It's about Fred, who comes out of prison and finds the world around him is changing, and all of the characters are responding to that too. We've all been researching the time, and a lot was happening in Soho at that time. It's romantic, and funny, and it's a knees-up.

And your character?

I play Lil, she's a tart with a heart. She's been with Fred for 20-odd years and she's hoping that he'll make an honest woman of her. She wants to be a housewife and have a nice life.

You're best known for the big belty stuff, such as We Will Rock You - this sounds like a bit of a change.

It's a different style, but I trained in musical theatre. I happened to do rock jobs one after the other - Rent, and Rocky Horror. This is essentially a play with music. It's an actor's piece. It was originally a play - the playwright really knew about this life, and they happened to meet up with Bart and asked him to put some music to it. It's certsinly a very nice thing to go back into. It feels good.

And rehearsals are going well?

We're actually rehearsing at the Union, which is fantastic and I've seen some excellent things here. It's an unusual place to work!

There must be a lot of challenges working in quite a small space.

Yes, this is a very big company, so ideally this would have been a slightly larger space, but we're going to fill the space we've got well. You'll feel more involved and threatened - there's this gangster vibe, and we're amongst you...

Fings Ain't What They Used To Be opens at the Union Theatre on 10th May.

 

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