Interview: 'I Love Feeding Off an Audience': Actor Zoe Birkett on Ambition, Fight Scenes and Balancing Motherhood With TINA: THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL

TINA: The Tina Turner Musical has been playing at the Aldwych Theatre in London for seven years, having made its world premiere on 17 April 2018. The jukebox musical follows the life of Tina Turner, from her childhood in Tennessee as Anna Mae Bullock to becoming the global rockstar the world knows as Tina Turner. 

Recently, we had the chance to speak with Zoe Birkett, who is currently playing the role of Tina along with Karis Anderson. We discussed what it has been like for her to play the iconic rockstar, how she balances the show and her home life and what it’s like to perform on stage versus in a recording studio.

How did you first get started in the world of theatre? 

Oh, wow! My first theatre performance . . . I may have been like eleven. I was in Roald Dahl's The Twits as a kid. And then I also was part of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, one of the little kids that the Narrator sings at. I remember sitting in the circle as one of the children being like, “I want to do what she's doing [the Narrator], she's literally singing her face off! What a cool job!” But I've been performing since I was three, so it was inevitable as a very young child that this was something I was always going to do.

You've had experience with singing and then also being on the stage as an actor. What is it like going between the two? 

My first introduction into the land of entertainment was Pop Idol, which was the British version of American Idol. So for quite a while, I was doing a pop star life, which is very different to theatre life - still equally as hard, but lots of time in the studio, recording interviews, performing to fans. But theatre life, eight shows a week, is completely different. It's a different type of juggle, especially as a working mummy!

I've been performing professionally for thirty years, which is a long time, but I've done various stuff as well - presenting, which I absolutely love, and lots of TV work. But I love the industry, and I think it's one of those industries where you get to try lots of cool, different stuff. I'm open to trying new stuff and I'(M) Willing to learn and grow as well - it’s important that it doesn't ever really feel too much like a job. It's always great fun.

What made you want to be a part of TINA: The Tina Turner Musical?

I'm a huge Tina fan! I grew up listening to Tina, and I'm sure lots of people say that, but it's true! My mum used to be obsessed with Tina. She used to do lots of Tina Turner impersonations around the house - my mum's a singer. My dad had a tribute agency, so we saw a lot of tribute acts doing Tina as I was growing up as well. And as an inspirational woman with her life story, so many women of that era could really connect with her.

Since the show opened, I've been part of different projects - I was never available to audition, for a start! So when the audition came up I was like, “Actually, I'm available to do the cast change. I've got to go in for this!” I went in and it was an amazing, mad, fast couple of weeks for me. I'd already been offered another project.

After my first audition, I got an email saying, “We really want Zoe to come back next week for our workshop.” And then after that workshop, my agent had to let them know, “Listen, we have been offered another project, and they are pushing to sign. If you're even considering Zoe at all for the role of Tina, we need to get this going now.” It was a really quick process! They were like, “We can't let her go. We really wanted to be part of the show and play Tina.” So I was like, “Okay, amazing!”

I've never been in that position for a while where you've been offered two wonderful jobs. I was sad to say bye to the other one as well, but for me, the role of Tina was the one that I've always wanted to play. It's the hardest role in the West End by far. With the physical violence, the choreography, vocally, acting emotionally as well, it was a huge challenge that I really wanted to take on.

And what is it like to become Tina Turner?

It's incredible! It's a journey. I'm quite professional/anal about my lead up to the show starting at 7:30pm, so I come in very, very early. I'm always in by 4:30pm, so three hours before the show - I'm one of the earliest people to get there! I'm generally showering, steaming, getting ready and starting my vocal warm-ups. And I watch Tina quite a lot before I go on stage! Then I do my physical warm-up and I have to have a fight call every single day with the guy who plays Ike [Rolan Bell], as a check-in. We obviously know what we're doing, it's a choreographed fight, but it's more about how our bodies are feeling. Are we tired today? Can we push a bit harder? Should we lay off a little bit? How are you? It's a check-in before we play some horrible scenes on stage with each other. I always find that really important, that check-in.

And then from the half, I'm straight into wigs and go into costume. I'm quite early in getting ready, because I like to be completely ready and done by the fifteen. And because I'm a working mummy, at the time that it is, it’s around 7:15, 7:20 - that's when my daughter goes to sleep. So that's when have a little catch-up with her before I go to work.

So you're talking to your daughter in the full Tina costume!

Every single show that I have done, I'm in full costume. Honestly, it's so funny! [Laughs]

How are you balancing paying tribute to Tina Turner while also making it your own role?

That, for me, is vital. We're not a tribute show. It's a three-hour play with this wonderful music on top. But I am Zoe, and a lot of people want to come and see me as well. So it's important that I keep the essence of me in there, but also the nuances that Tina has. We're not a tribute by any means - there's only one Tina. Naturally, some people are going to want to compare. I've worked very hard on creating a Tina-esque sound.

I'm very blessed in the sense that I have a rock soul voice anyway, so I don't have to try too hard to make a raspy noise - that's within my vocal range, in my sound. But it's important that I don't go too far, because then it can become a tribute. As an actress, it's important to sell a story, for me, more than selling the music - the music sells itself. But a lot of people don't really know the story of Tina and the journey that she had, the struggle. So that's my main goal. 

What is it like to be telling this story for you so often, as it does get pretty difficult at times?

It's really hard! The audiences find it difficult to watch a lot of the time. You hear a lot of gasps, especially towards the end of Act One with the big fight scenes. But my only saving grace, and I've said it quite a few times for the last nine months with this role, is because I am a mummy, the moment I leave the stage, I'm me. I never take it home, I never carry the baggage. I'm very fortunate I get driven home by chauffeur - I don't have to run for a train, it’s exhausting enough as it is! In that car journey home, I have my downtime. I put trash TV on my phone, I listen to some podcasts and I watch some really stupid stuff to get myself back into who I am and what I like - I don't carry it with me at all.

If I'm being honest, the hardest part was rehearsals because I was doing it and repeating it every day. So rehearsals, which was called “Tina Bootcamp,” that was probably the hardest part, because the repetition of having to go over and divulge so deep into it. But now I do it once a day and I switch off. As soon as I leave the door, I'm gone - I'm not in “Tina Mode,” which is a good balance for me.

You've had experience with both recorded music and performing live. What is it like between the two? 

I mean recording . . . I don't love it, I have to say! I love feeding off an audience. I love visually seeing people enjoy themselves and my performance. I love hearing them clap along and sing along to the classic songs. Recording, I enjoy, but it's not my favourite. Now that I'm almost forty, I can definitely say that it's not my favourite thing. You're cocooned in one studio booth by yourself repeating the same thing, thinking, “Is it good enough?” Because you've got no audience feedback. So I prefer live audience, for sure. 

What has it been like seeing audience reactions to TINA: The Tina Turner Musical? 

It's been crazy! My first taster of what people thought of my Tina . . . I did a West End Live! performance on a Saturday, and I opened as Tina on the Monday! It was a little exclusive preview of what my Tina was going to be. I sang “Proud Mary” and my video went viral in the two days running up to my open night. I was like, “This is insane. What is going on?” The response was amazing, which helped people want to book tickets to come and see what the rest of my Tina, which was lovely. The nine months has been truly insane for me. Every month has been something major. We've just celebrated the 40th anniversary of “Private Dancer” - I reincarnated an image of the album and that went crazy. I've had some wonderful support, for sure! And it's really meant the world because I worked really hard in all the research that I put in, so I'm happy people are enjoying what I'm bringing.

Do you have a favourite Tina Turner song either to perform or listen to, if they're different?

I do! So my favourite Tina song is “Steamy Windows,” and that's not in the show. I remember getting the score being like, where's “Steamy Windows? Oh, it’s not in it, okay,” but the back catalogue is huge. You can't put everything in! The show's already three hours and on Broadway it was three and a half, so they've had to condense it as it is.

But within the show, my favourite song to sing is “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome).” It's actually my audition song for auditions! Where it's placed in the show is fantastic. It's in a really clever place towards the end. We're exhausted by that point, so I'm literally praying that it's going to fly out my mouth, but it's a real powerful song. I love it!

What do you hope audiences take away from TINA: The Tina Turner Musical?

I hope they take away her story and her strength because a lot of people have no idea. A lot of people book and think they're going to come and see some happy, clappy, sing-along jukebox musical and it is far from that. We don't get to “Tina Concert” until the end. They will take away this magnificent story of a woman who just faced such adversity and triumphed everything from misogyny, ageism, racism, violence and seriously broke back boundaries for women and people all over the world.

And her legacy is continuing to live on! I love the fact that we see a lot of younger people in the audience as well, in theie younger 20s, who haven't grown up with Tina. So they are now, like, “Whoa, this woman!” We're now a society where everything is for women at the minute. It's fantastic. As women, we are changing, so having that story in the West End is really helping everybody.

And finally, how would you describe TINA: The Tina Turner Musical in one word?

Oh, wow. There you go! Just, “Oh, wow.” I think people come away going, “Wow.” I don't think they can understand how one woman has done all of that. We get a lot of, “Are you alive? Are you okay?” It's a lot of “Oh, wows,” from the story, from the music, from the great actors that we have on stage. We have a live band - that's amazing! Not many people have live bands that you can see on the stage - they're usually in the pit. And again, the story of such an iconic woman, they don't realise . . . So, “Oh, wow” probably sums it up! 

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