Carrie Hope Fletcher: ‘The arts aren’t viable? See how you feel without them!’ | Theatre

More than six months have passed since the pandemic closed theatres in March. What was that time like?
I had just left Les Mis for a few weeks to do a workshop for Cinderella. Covid cases were rising and there was talk of lockdown. I thought: am I actually going to get back to Les Mis? We had one day of the workshop and then all the theatres closed. We were gutted. My boyfriend [Oliver Ormson] was in Manchester doing Back to the Future. They’d been open for about three weeks and then got the call to say, “Don’t come in tomorrow.”

What do you think of the government’s response to the crisis in theatre? The suggestion seems to be that arts jobs aren’t viable
Anyone who works in the entertainment industry knows that our jobs aren’t taken seriously. We’re constantly asked – when are you going to get a real job? In normal life, you’d just roll your eyes and carry on. But when there’s a global crisis and your industry is dying you think maybe you should have fought back a little harder. Now, not taking our jobs seriously is costing our industry dearly. A lot of people have made the valid point that if you don’t believe the arts are a “viable” job, or you think we’re low-skilled, then switch off Netflix, close your books, turn your music off. If you don’t think this is important then you shouldn’t be allowed to enjoy it. See how great you feel with no entertainment.

How has work been progressing on Cinderella?
They’ve been perfecting the score and the script – we will be the most well-prepared show to ever go into the first day of rehearsals! For promotion we filmed a song from the show in Her Majesty’s Theatre – Andrew Lloyd Webber on one side of the stage playing piano, me singing on the other side. It was bittersweet: amazing to be there, opposite Andrew, but in an empty theatre with no audience.

This year has shown the huge audience for streamed stage shows. Do you think it will change how theatres make use of the internet in the future?
I hope so. Over the last few years it has been going that way. The first year I was on Les Mis there was strictly no filming backstage, then slowly social media proved invaluable to building an audience. Each show I’m in now, they’re happy for me to do more online about it. On Heathers the Musical, we tweeted and filmed anything we wanted.

What can we expect from the script for Cinderella, written by Killing Eve’s Emerald Fennell?
It is under wraps at the moment. I’m just enjoying the idea that people are thinking that this will be a “Disney” Cinderella. People buying tickets for that will be sitting in their seats going: “Oh! This isn’t what we thought it would be at all!” I’m excited about seeing everyone slightly confused but hopefully intrigued and happy, too.

You’ve just written Into the Spotlight, a sequel to Noel Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes. How did that come about?
This year is Puffin’s 80th anniversary and what would have been Noel Streatfeild’s 125th birthday so Puffin were looking to do something special. They contacted me about two years ago because of my theatrical background. I had loved the TV adaptation with Emma Watson. My book is more of a sequel than a retelling. It tells the story of three orphans – Marigold, Mabel and Morris. They all end up at the Pebble theatre. Marigold wants to be a writer, Mabel wants to work for Nasa and all Morris wants to do is dance. But their theatre is in danger of going under. Maybe they can put on a show that’s so good they can save it?

The original book ends by asking the reader which of the three orphaned sisters they identify with: Pauline, Petrova or Posy. Which one was it for you?
I was like Pauline. When you watch kids come to the theatre nowadays, some don’t get it: they’d much rather play football or write their own stories instead of watching them on stage. Then you see kids who are so taken with it. That’s what Pauline is like compared with her sisters and that’s what I was like when I saw a show for the first time.

What does Streatfeild’s book have to say about the theatre industry?
I love the amount of support the kids are given going to stage school. We’ve got a government at the moment saying that if you’re in the arts you’re low skilled, it’s unviable. It’s discouraging a whole generation from going into the arts.

Have there been particular songs from musicals that have helped get you through this pandemic year?
Beetlejuice has been my go-to musical. There’s a song in it called Home that I’ve been playing on repeat. Beetlejuice is not in the UK yet, so if I listen to it I’m not going to have the same reaction as if I listened to, say, Les Mis or Dear Evan Hansen or Waitress where I’d think, “Oh God these are shows that I can’t go and see right now.”

• Carrie Hope Fletcher will be discussing Into the Spotlight at Cheltenham Literature festival on 11 October.