Interview: Actor Siubhan Harrison on WILDFIRE ROAD at Sheffield Theatres

Eve Leigh’s new play Wildfire Road is being presented at Sheffield’s Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse next month. We caught up with performer Siubhan Harrison during rehearsals to talk about this new piece of writing.

Tell us about Wildfire Road and your character in the play.

I play Rina, a flight attendant trying to maintain her professionalism in difficult circumstances as a flight takes an unexpected turn of events and may change the future of the planet. It’s about a group of people facing an extraordinary situation in the face of climate change and how that group deal with their fates.

You've performed in many large-scale musicals during your career and have recently started doing a lot more plays. How does the experience of working a play compare to working on a musical?

Working on a play compared to a musical isn’t that different, they both require commitment, playfulness and the courage to make mistakes in the room. Working in musicals has taught me discipline that I carry with me in every job. As an actor, I try to be open hearted every time I walk into a rehearsal room and try as hard as I can to put my self doubts to one side to enjoy all the challenges it faces.

And how does working on a well-established musical or play differ to working on something like Wildfire Road, a brand-new original play?

I love working on new writing. There is a freedom in new writing that you don’t always get with established musicals or plays. There is always a shadow of previous productions or actors in your mind but with new writing, you’re creating together. But then getting the chance to have a go at the classics or singing hugely loved songs with an orchestra is also an incredibly rewarding challenge.

What advice would you give to an aspiring performer who wants to have a similarly varied career and not just get boxed into one genre of theatre?

I know I’m really lucky to have had a very varied career. I think communication with your agent is so important and I’m lucky to have an incredibly supportive relationship with mine. I suppose I set goals about what I’d really love to be doing, which has meant making hard decisions at times to make sure I was taking the right opportunities for me. I try to treat every audition as equal and to put those imposter mind demons at bay with as much preparation as possible. I really believe if you’re an actor, there’s no reason why we can’t work in any genre.

Off the back of being in a big spectacular production of The Ocean at the End of the Lane in the West End, what is it like to now be working on a play for the much more intimate Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse in Sheffield?

Working on The Ocean at The End of The Lane was obviously on a big scale because it is a huge production but we’re doing exactly the same thing in the rehearsal room, playing, moving, inventing, navigating the text, creating relationships. You learn on every job and grow with that so it’s the same approach but in the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse, the audience are much closer, there’s nowhere to hide here, we don’t leave the stage and there’s no nine foot monsters in the rehearsal room!

What is it like to be making your Sheffield Theatres debut and why do you think regional theatre is so important to the UK's theatre scene?

I’m thrilled to be at Sheffield Theatres, I think they’re one of the best in the country. Their programming is always exciting and I think they’re producing brilliant work - I’m really happy to be here with this play. Regional theatre is the backbone of our industry, we need to support it and encourage it as much as possible. Regional theatre takes risks, there’s so much to see and experience.

What does Wildfire Road have to say about the world we live in today? What do you hope audiences will take away from the play with them?

Wildfire Road asks us big questions about our future on this planet. It asks us about fate, about the state of the global crisis we are living through and the impact of that, why there is so much comedy in high stress situations and how that pendulum can swing so quickly, what thoughts we would have facing a life changing incident, our interaction with strangers in challenging situations, how resistant we are to change and what hope you can find in the darkest moments. 

Wildfire Road plays at Sheffield’s Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse from 4-18 March, with tickets available here.