“And she’s (Zadie Smith) turned this play into this magnificent, amazing, joyous piece of theatre it came at the right time during Covid. And she stuck so closely to the original Wife of Bath story. So even the most ardent Chaucer fan, cannot fault her for it, because she has captured it for now, for this moment in our life. And it’s brilliant”. Ellen Thomas
Ellen Thomas is one of the UK’s most versatile actors with an expansive resume across TV, radio and stage. Most recently Thomas appeared in the film Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (Vi Butterfield) (main image credit courtesy of Focus Features) and is currently on stage in The Wife of Willesden at the Kiln Theatre (Old Wife/Auntie P).
Early career roles saw her in The Lenny Henry Show, The Gentle Touch, Shroud for a Nightingale, Don’t Wait Up, Kavanagh QC and French and Saunders to name a few.
In Teachers, Thomas played Liz Webbe, a school secretary, and she appeared in all four series, from 2001 to 2004. She was a regular cast member in BBC Radio 4’s Clare in the Community and in BBC Three’s Coming of Age, in which she portrayed the principal. For her role in Rev, she was nominated for “Best TV Comedy Performance” at the Black International Film Festival and Music Video & Screen Awards.She had a minor role in Come Fly with Me, as Mrs Mbutu.
Ellen is also known for the historic number of characters she has portrayed in the BBC soap EastEnders. She played Pearl Chadwick in 1990, Estella Hulton in 2002, Grace Olubunmi from 2010 to 2011, and the ballsy and raunchy Claudette Hubbard a viewer’s favourite from 2015 to 2016.
From 2018 to 2019, Thomas appeared in the medical drama by the BBC, Casualty, in the recurring role of Omo Masters. ALT caught up with Thomas at the Kiln Theatre in London just before she was about to go on stage for the Saturday matinee. Thomas recalls her first professional role in Oscar Wilde’s Salome and the “significant changes” in the industry regarding diversity and why she is “drawn to big roles” and more.
ALT A REVIEW:
How did you get started in acting, what was the attraction?
Ellen Thomas:
Oh, <laugh>. I was an imaginative child. <laugh>, some say precocious, but I say imaginative. I love to use my imagination. I started, Saturday morning ballet glasses like lots of children do, and I loved it so much. And I remember thinking when I was about 12, I could do this, and even if they don’t pay me, I don’t care because I love it so much. <laugh>, I don’t mind. And then of course, later on, I went really quite far with ballet and what I realized in the end was that I loved being on stage, telling stories, entertaining people, and it didn’t have to just be through dance, classical, ballet and music. It could also be through drama. And it was like a door opened <laugh> in my imagination. I think it’s the love. It has always been the love, the passion.
ALT A REVIEW:
What was your first professional job and what was that experience like?
Ellen Thomas:
Oh, my goodness. My first professional job was, Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Salomé was being done around schools on tour as the play was being taught in schools. I played Salomé and they wanted an actress who could dance or dancer who could act. And I just cornered both <laugh> and I played the princess. And my goodness, my family were like, we can’t wait for you to stop playing this because you are behaving like a princess at home. You’re not on stage now. Now. I took it that deep <laugh>. I just demanded things, commanding things from family, and they were like what had got into her? What’s going on. Oh, she’s playing a part <laugh>. Salomé was my first professional job, and I bit the bug, and that’s been it.
ALT A REVIEW:
Everyone’s talking about diversity right now, what do you think have been the changes?
Ellen Thomas:
Significant changes? The doors are now being opened. it’s only a crack, but they’re being opened, whereas before it was, firmly shut. You could play the smaller roles and that was it. So, with diversity and wokeness and MeToo and all that campaigning, I think it’s amazing and it’s timely and it’s earned. We have so earned it over and over again. We deserve all the props we’re getting now, playing leading roles, being in all the commercials. There’s no commercial on television now in the UK that doesn’t have a black presence and all of that. Nearly every show in the West End, TV series movies, we are there telling our stories, representing that has been worth it. Yeah. We earned it. We deserve it.
ALT A REVIEW:
We are here at the Kiln Theatre tell us a bit about your character/s, you play 3 what is her/their motivations?
Ellen Thomas:
The Kiln theatre one of my favourite theatres back in the day, it was called The Tricycle, so many of us still call it The Tricycle, but it’s the Kiln theatre now. The Wife of Willesden, oh my goodness, I love this play so much. I get to play three diverse characters, completely different characters. My favourite clearly is Auntie P. What I love about Auntie P, is all my aunties, you remember as a child in church and you saw the aunties, you saw the hats, the clothes, the glasses, and the bags and the way they were everything about them. I am so joyous that I can go back in my memory, remember all those aunties and play them, you know, all their little quirks and the walk and everything. I’m just loving doing that and giving them, the Aunties life on a British stage is a blessing. A huge blessing.
ALT A REVIEW:
Clare Perkins plays Alvita the Wife of Willesden what is the relationship between your character specifically Auntie P?
Ellen Thomas:
I’m her auntie, her mom and me were sisters. So I’m a real auntie, not the UK Auntie <laugh>, the auntie that started life, as, what would you call it, living life to the full <laugh>, enjoying everything that life has to offer <laugh>. And then she found religion and she converted, we know that people that convert to Christianity later in life, they are zealous. And Auntie P is zealous. She carries her Bible around with her all the time. She can quote, passages from the Bible. She is trying to convince Alvita to change her life, <laugh>. And that’s where we meet them. She’s always on and on, quoting passages at her, telling her how to live her life and so on, which she’s not interested in.
ALT A REVIEW:
The Wife of Willesden is by Zadie Smith, when did you discover Smith and what do you like about her work?
Ellen Thomas:
I discovered Zadie when she wrote White Teeth and I thought, oh, who is this woman, she’s actually captured the zeitgeist of that moment in northwest London. I’m interested in her. So, I then started to look at some of her other work. It’s been amazing having her in the rehearsal room. She’s taken on Chaucer which is a big take because Chaucer is like Shakespeare one of the most favoured and classic authors of all time. And she’s turned this play into this magnificent, amazing, joyous piece of theatre it came at the right time during Covid where everybody had nowhere else to go and all the rest of it. And she stuck so closely to the original Wife of Bath story. So even the most ardent Chaucer fan, cannot <laugh> fault her for it, because she has captured it for now, for this moment in our life. And it’s brilliant. It’s brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
ALT A REVIEW:
You’ve played a lot of comedic roles, is comedy more complicated to approach as an actor than a straight role?
Ellen Thomas:
They’re kind of the same, except with comedy is timing. Timing is crucial, but for me it’s always about the detail of the character, which is what makes people laugh, which is what’s funny. I will always look at the comedy, the details of that character, try to find that and then bring it along with timing. And also, if it makes me laugh, chances are, it’s going to make <laugh> everybody else laugh as well.
ALT A REVIEW:
Do you think it’s a better time in the industry right now for Black women?
Ellen Thomas:
Oh my God, yes, for example Treason with Tracy Ifeachor, there’s so many. When you look at Netflix, nearly every photo there is a black person representing male and female representing. I think it’s amazing and wonderful time. Yes. Thank God.
ALT A REVIEW:
Growing up who were the women who stood before you in the industry that you admired?
Ellen Thomas:
Carmen Monroe, Mona Hammond, God rest her soul, a beautiful talent and soul. Corinne Skinner-Carter. there were so many, there were about half a dozen of these women that growing up you just thought, oh, she’s doing it. If she’s doing it, then I can do it. I’m going to find out more about this. Those were the women that opened those doors, you know, for us. And I am so grateful myself, Dona Croll and all the other actors of our age we’re all so grateful to them because they opened doors for us, windows, doors, wherever they could, they opened them, flung it open, and said, come in, come quick. <laugh>. They did all of that, you know, so I am super grateful. And the men as well, but the women in particular for us girls were the crème de la crème .
ALT A REVIEW:
What kind of roles do you like to play what makes you say yes?
Ellen Thomas:
Oh my gosh, <laugh>, I’m drawn to the big roles. I’m drawn to the leading ladies. I’m drawn to like Shakespeare’s, strong female characters and so on. I loved, when I was doing Eastenders. I’d done Eastenders four times, it is one for the history records. I have played four different characters over the last 40 years of this show and that has not happened. One of my favourites was Claudette because Claudette was so raunchy so ballsy, so sexy, so glamorous, and so East London, all of those things. And we’d never seen that character on stage on television before, you know? I loved that. I’m so grateful to Dominic Treadwell-Collins for bringing her into EastEnders at that time. She was a hit, she was trending, the frock she wore sold out. I’m like, hello people have totally taken to her. I love those kinds of roles because you just get your teeth into it and you just go grrrrrrrrrr. <laugh>. Yeah.
ALT A REVIEW:
Which do you prefer stage or screen?
Ellen Thomas:
The stage because you can’t beat a live audience, you know, the vibe they’re bringing in. I always say to myself, hopefully you’ve come from work or a hard day, and you’ve come to be entertained. Okay, I’m going let you leave all your troubles outside because you’re coming on this ride with me in this show, in this piece. And that, for me it’s priceless. With TV, movies, the editor, the director, the producers all get to edit your performance. <laugh> On stage its you and the other actors that’s it. <laugh>. It’s wonderful.
ALT A REVIEW:
What would the 19-year-old Ellen learn from the more mature Ellen today if you were handing out advice?
Ellen Thomas:
Oh, God much. I was so naive. <laugh>. I was so blinkered. I was doing ballet at the time, and I walked down the street, turned out in first. I was so, like nothing could touch me. What would I tell her that it’s gonna be, okay? I would tell her, map out a career path. don’t just rely on job after job after job. Map out a path. What to do try to find out exactly what you want from your career, because it’s going to cost you a lot. It’s going to cost you, sometimes it’s gonna cost your family life, love relationships, and so on. So, map out closely as you can at 19, which path you want to go down. Be flexible but map it out. That was something I didn’t do. I would tell her do that. I was so busy trying to build a CV and a bio so that people could say, oh yes, she can do it. I kind of forgot to do that. Now in this time in my life, I’m doing that much, much more. Yeah. Saying yes to something and no to others and so on. This is the direction I want to go in.
ALT A REVIEW:
To anyone who hasn’t seen the play, why should they come and see it?
Ellen Thomas:
Oh, my goodness. <laugh>, come see it, it is just so rambunctious is the word. It is full of life. It’s got love music, lots of how I shall put it, life lessons. I think those are some of the most important things about this play. Some of what Chaucer was talking about 600 years ago about male female relationships, the role of women is so tangible today and so real. Which I’m thinking 600 years ago this man was saying that and we are now living, we are living that. I think women, particularly women friends, come see this play. Bring your husbands, bring your boyfriends because there’s going to be moments when they’re just gonna just know, whoa. But they’re in for a good ride. They’re in for a joyous, wonderful ride. Give you lots of things to talk about afterwards. And it might even make you go back and read the Wife of Bath, just to see and compare and see how closely Zadie has managed to capture it. Everybody who’s been to see it people are coming back two, three times. Book your tickets and don’t do that thing, please do not just turn up. No, the show is selling out. Can I say what’s happening in the new year with the play?. We are transferring to Broadway, <laugh> Wife of Willesden transfers to Broadway immediately after we finish here at the, the Kiln Theatre on the 11th of February. Couple of days later, we are off to Boston and then New York, we’re on Broadway, <laugh>.
ALT A REVIEW:
My last question would be, what are you working on next?
Ellen Thomas:
Now next is my own personal project. I’m trying to tap into our women my age, our experiences in the UK, where are we going, where we’ve been, what our lives are like. Now I just want to capture the zeitgeist of that. Where we are we now? There’s a few of us moving back to the Caribbean, to Africa, and what is that like, what are the stories that are around that? I am trying to capture that as a personal project for me.
Ellen is on stage now with The Wife of Willesden which runs until 11 February 2023 at the Kiln Theatre. Described as a “A thoughtful reimagining of an unforgettable narrative of female sexual power”. Definitely one to watch, it will shake the January blues and the February ones too!! A powerful cast support Zadie Smith’s “brilliant” writing.
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