Dawn Sievewright on Rocking Out in the Olivier-Winning Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour & More

Scottish actress Dawn Sievewright made her West End debut in 2010 in Legally Blonde and is now starring as the blowsy, take-no-prisoners Fionnula at the Duke of York’s Theatre in Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, the Lee Hall play that won this year’s Olivier Award for Best Comedy. Produced by powerhouse impresario Sonia Friedman (Dreamgirls, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), the National Theatre of Scotland production celebrates six likable if unruly female adolescents, and so what if Sievewright is considerably older than her character? The delightful performer discussed this and more one recent evening with Broadway.com.

Are you amazed to find that Billy Elliot scribe Lee Hall’s adaptation of the Alan Warner novel The Sopranos has landed in the West End?
Well, I always thought it was a really great story about young women—powerful women—but the way it has all just spiraled has been incredible. I can’t believe it’s become this big, massive thing, and I still pinch myself when I walk past the front of the theater. 

How would you describe the piece?
St. Trinian’s vs. Trainspotting: we get that quite a lot. Also, Sister Act meets The History Boys. I like to say that it’s about a bunch of Catholic schoolgirls who go to Edinburgh to compete in a choir competition, and the choir competition is the last thing on their minds: it’s the craziest 24 hours ever!

What did you think of the fact that such a celebration of young adult womanhood—six teenagers at a fictional convent school in Scotland—was first a novel and then a play both written by men?
We all know Alan [Warner, who wrote the novel] really well, and he’s been to see the show a lot. The thing is, he just understood these girls—these are the girls he went to school with, and Lee Hall is working class, so he gets [the characters] as well. I read the novel before I even went in for casting and couldn’t believe how well [Warner] catches the way girls talk over each other, for instance. He gets women, he really does.

Is it emboldening to you as Dawn playing a character as “out there” as Fionnula?
It is very cathartic, I have to say. We do a lot of rocking out and foot-stamping and laughing every show, and it gets you right in the guts. My character definitely goes through the highs and the lows to come out the other side still fighting. 

So, the role doubles as therapy, as well?
I think there is something about the girls in the play making it through just as we’ve made it ourselves as actors. And if you arrive at the theater tired or upset about something or angry, the nature of the play is that you just take it on and go with it and by the end you find yourself one of nine women on stage [including the band] taking a bow. A lot of people in the audience won't have seen that before. 

Do you lead life on overdrive as much as Fionnula seems to do?
I quite like partying and am quite into my socializing and living life a little bit fast but not as fast as her. I’ve got balls but not as big as Fionnula who has the biggest balls of all. She inspires me to be a bit more crazy.

How does it feel to get to relive your teenage years?
I'm 29 and the oldest in the cast and still able, apparently, to play a 16-year-old. A lot of make-up is required! 

How do you look back on your time here in London in Legally Blonde?
That was my first job. I was in the recast for a year and got to work with Sheridan Smith for four months before she left. I played Kate and Chutney and got to do a lot of dancing, but after that I said to myself that I didn’t want to do that whole “jumping from show to show” thing. I didn’t really handle the whole aspect of doing something for a year very well, and knew that I wanted to create roles rather than step into them.

Have you seen Dreamgirls, another show that puts female singers center stage?
[Producer Sonia Friedman] got us tickets for that and it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I had been at the Savoy in Legally Blonde, but I don’t think that theater has ever before heard singing like in Dreamgirls.

Do you think you women and the Dreams could swap over for a performance?
We’ve had loads of people asking us for a cast recording, so we do know how to rock out. But Dreamgirls? I don’t think I could begin to sing like that!