The first-ever revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony and Olivier Award-nominated musical The Woman in White since its West End premiere in 2004 is now running at the Charing Cross Theatre. Susan Elkin caught up with two of the production’s stars. 
It is during rehearsals between previews for The Woman in White that I caught up with Ashley Stillburn (pictured above) who plays Walter Hartright and Chris Peluso who is Sir Percival Glyde. We’re in the bar at Charing Cross Theatre accompanied by Peluso’s rather engaging, very patient dog Peety.
“This is my favourite part of the process,” says Stillburn. “Each preview has – shall we say? – a character all of its own. Things happen sometimes spontaneously and then we rehearse them and work on them to see whether we’ll go on using them. Our director Thom Southerland is very relaxed and collaborative.”
Peluso agrees:
“It keeps a show fresh if you’re innovative, but it’s no good setting out to be ‘different’ for the sake of it. It’s essential that you remain true to your character and the situation he’s in.”
