Most inspirational women in UK theatre today

It’s International Women’s Day and so we want to celebrate who we consider to be some of the most inspirational women in UK theatre right now.

At just twenty six years old, Carrie Hope Fletcheris one of the most influential young theatre performers, YouTubers and Authors around. At the age of nine she made her West End debut as Young Eponine in Les Miserables and before she hit her teenage years, she had notched up credits in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins. In more recent years, she has returned to both Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Les Miserables as well as starring in The Addams Family musical, The War of the Worlds and the recent cult classic Heathers the Musical in the West End.

Carrie has been releasing YouTube videos for the last seven years and has racked up a loyal following of over 600,000 fans who lap up everything she does. She is due to release her fourth novel later in 2019 and last year released her first solo album, accompanied by a string of sold out concerts.

All that and she is still just twenty six years old. Truly inspiring!

A household name for television shows like Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Gavin and Stacey and Cilla. Sheridan Smithis also no stranger to the West End theatre scene, having had starring roles in Little Shop of Horrors, Legally Blonde and Funny Girl. It was recently announced that she will star as the Narrator in this summer’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium.

Sheridan hit the headlines back in 2016 when she had a public breakdown during her run as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. Sheridan took a leave of absence from the show to be with her dying father but returned to play the role on the UK Tour and has now released two solo albums and performed her own solo concert tour.

Despite a very public breakdown which led to a lot of press attention, Sheridan has clawed her way back and shown everyone that she is much stronger than people may have thought. Inspirational!

Having made her stage debut at just four months old, generations of people have grown up knowing who Bonnie Langford is. From television shows like Doctor Who and Eastenders, to the film Bugsy Malone where she starred alongside Jodie Foster, to an incredible catalogue of theatre shows including Gypsy (alongside Angela Lansbury), Spamalot, Chicago, Cats, and more recently 42^ndStreet and 9 To 5.

Bonnie is a triple threat who can sing, dance and act and is genuinely one of the nicest women you could ever hope to meet. She is totally deserving of a mention here as she embodies all the qualities of the word ‘inspirational’.

Theatre Producer Katy Lipson has produced more than fifty musicals since starting her company Aria Entertainment back in 2012. She is the producer of the Manchester Hope Mill Theatre and is a name everyone in the business knows, up and down the country. I don’t know how she gets so much work done and sometimes, when I’m struggling for inspiration of my own, I think about how hard Katy works and how much she achieves and it helps me try to do a better job in my own life because she goes to show how much can be done if you just put your mind to it.

Who are your most inspirational women in theatre today? Let us know!

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