Kate Fleetwood talks about playing the iconic baddie in a new musical version of the story – and acting alongside 96 puppets 🐶
is so modern, in fact, that it has been updated since it was written – it was supposed to open in 2020. “The world has moved on. A lot of our lyrics reflect that we’ve been through a pandemic.” Was there time, then, for Emma Stone’s turn asin Disney’s 2021 update to influence Fleetwood’s approach? Quite the opposite.
“I believe there is a place for a villain to just be a villain,” Fleetwood continues. “There is room to go, ‘Yeah, she’s just a bad person.’ It’s cathartic for the audience to feel, ‘Thank God I’m not as bad as them,’ or, ‘Oh my gosh, I think I recognise sides of myself in that person.’ If we redeem every bad character, where do we put that part of our psyche? We all, especially kids, need a monster under the bed, so you know you’re safe at home.
. The burning question of how to represent those pivotal animal characters on stage – and, as per the title, rather a lot of them – has been at least partly answered by puppetry designer and director Toby Olié, one of the puppeteers operating the original Joey in the National Theatre’s. “Our main dogs, Perdi and Pongo, each have two operators,” explains Fleetwood. “And then we have more puppets [96 in total], and children playing some of the puppies.
The puppets pose a particular challenge when braving the rain and other elements outside at Regent’s Park. “We’ve got a lot of fur – so you think, ‘Oh God, it’s going to be drenched,’” exclaims Fleetwood, before adding hastily: “It’s all fake fur, obviously.” Rain breaks aside, the show is “high-speed”, she says. “It requires a lot of physical energy, which I’ve really missed having done more screen work recently.” That’s partly down to Covid, but she also made the choice to try to get more screen roles “so I had more breadth and longevity”.
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