In The Spotlight - Laurie Grimwade

How long have you been performing in shows
As a child, I went to dance school, so I was involved in shows from a very young age. I then worked many years as a holiday park entertainer, so I performed in many smaller shows, about 10 years ago I did one panto at the Y Theatre in Leicester, and now I have joined Greasepaint and in my second show and I love it.

What got you interested in music / theatre
When i was about 4, I was walking through a churchyard with my dad, he tells me that when I heard the choir practicing, I made him take me into the church to listen to them. I love many kinds of music and have done since apparently about 4.
He has also repeated told me a story about when I was at Primary school, The head, miss britt made everyone audition for the choir. The story goes, I told him that if I didn't get into the choir that my life wouldn't be worth living. He then phoned miss britt and asked her to listen to me with a favourable ear. I got in.

What was your first show
The wizard of oz, at my high school. I played Dorothy. I took me so long to learn the lines, and I still remember most of them now, nearly 15 years later!

What has been your favourite show and/or character and why
I was in a show called 'a night at the musicals' and that's got to have been my favourite, It was a really small cast of 5, travelling around, performing 3 times a week for a season. I loved it so much because, it involved many shows at once, Oliver, Cats, Wicked, Hairspray, Les Mis and Mary Poppins.

What has been your most embarassing or funniest moment in a show
The most embarrassing moment, well, I worked a season as a magicians assistant and we did a show called 'Sandy the clown and tinker bell'. 'Sandy' would come onto stage and keep going on about how glamorous his beautiful assistant was, and then I would come out, in the most hideous outfit, that was far too small and skimpy for the size 16 that I was at the time. I could berely fit into any of the illusions, and one especially, 'zig zag woman'. The illusion was in fact slightly broken, so during every performance part of the box would fall off its runners, leaving me to try to clamber out the bottom of the illusion, bottom first, giving the impression I had broken it because I was too large.
Although I have tried to explain this to my mum, after she saw the show, she still thinks its hilarious that I was so big that I broke the illusion.
My favourite funniest moment was during a halloween show, we had to wear all black with white skeletons sewn on to us and dance under UV lights. On the last night both mine and my friends skeleton's fell off us, so in a panic, we ran around each other with sellotape, taping the skeletons to ourselves, and went on stage and performed the dance.. the funny part is that we hadn't thought about the quick costume change we had after that dance, it was at this moment we discovered that a few layers of sellotape soon tangle themselves into an unbreakable band.. it took so long to cut through it, that we ended up missing half the next number. oops

Describe the best and worst costumes you have had to wear
The worst costume must be the sandy the clown and tinker bell one. A tiny neon swimming costume, with ripped fishnet tights.. I'm cringing even now thinking about how bad I looked.
The best costume was skeleton one for UV show, mostly because it was so funny.

What has been your proudest moment
My proudest moment was opening night of the 'night of the musicals' show, as this was my baby. I put the show together, directed and choreographed it.. so I supper happy on the first night when it all came together.

If you could choose any show to perform in, what would it be and why
There are too many to mention. I love so many. My favourite show for a long time has been Jekyll and Hyde, after seeing Greasepaint perform it so well, I waned to join. others… Miss saigon, Phantom, Blood Brothers, Wicked.

Do you have any plans to pursue theatre as a career
No, having it as a hobby is great. I think I would get bored of a show if I was in the same one for a very long time. Its great being part of a company that puts on two shows a year.