The renowned Ellen Thomas whose wide-ranging career spans television, film, voice work and theatre talks to Joy at ALT A REVIEW, Thomas is currently on stage as Pearl in Driftwood, at the Kiln Theatre until the 4th of July.
Thomas was born in Sierra Leone and moved to London, as a teenager to pursue acting. She is widely recognised for her many television roles from Liz Webbe in Teachers and Claudette Hubbard in EastEnders, where she notably played four different characters, Pearl Chadwick (1990): Clyde Tavernier’s mother-in-law. Estella Hulton (2002): Precious Hudson’s mother.Grace Olubunmi (2010–2011): The grandmother of Mercy and Faith.
Claudette Hubbard (2015–2016): A tough-talking matriarch and Vincent Hubbard’s mother. She is also the voice behind the formidable Ambessa Medarda in Netflix’s animated series #Arcane.
Her screen work includes Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Johnny English Reborn and Doctor Who.
In this bold conversation with ALT, Ellen discusses making her RSC debut in Driftwood, playing Pearl, and reflects on her journey, craft and how the themes in the play continue to resonate in 2026. Driftwood which marks Thomas’s RSC debut is set in a Trinidad in 1956 before the independence. Heat is rising in colonial Trinidad. While support for political independence is growing, a downtown Port of Spain gentlemen’s club is about to be entangled in a custody battle of its own. Pearl (Thomas) runs ALMA for Englishman Mansion with help from her “beguiling daughter Ruby” (Cat White), both have their own ambitions for ALMA as the racist and “superior” Mansion (Roger Ringrose) is set to return to England. But that is not all they have to contend with as the entrance of Diamond raises the stakes, with Diamond comes, secrets, trouble and temptation for Ruby.
This first play by Martina Laird deals with generational family life and trama, and hope in a pre-colonial Trinidad and with the roles of Ruby and Pearl there is a glimpse of what life was like for black women in the Caribbean at the time, Ruby like most young women of the time is heavily influneced by pop-culture, she imagines herself to be a Trinidadian Rita Hayworth, the skirts, the hair, and she is also very ambituous. Pearl is as described by Thomas as a woman who “life has not been exactly kind to her”. Thomas states . “It took me a while to actually just fall in love with her and let her resonate with me and hopefully resonate with lots of women that age group, that late 50s, early 60s age group who’ve really worked very hard, who are immigrants, who have put everything, trusted everything on their hard work and their grafting, their ability to just work hard and make things happen for themselves“. She also recognises the strength of Pearl. “She’s a tough, tough cookie and she can stand up to any man,. So she’s one hell of a tough woman. I admire her”. Thomas as Pearl delivers her signature powerhouse performances, accompaned by a strong cast.
ALT: Ellen Thomas, thank you so much for talking to ALT A REVIEW in advance. To start with getting the script for #Driftwood and the role of Pearl. What was your first inclination to say, “Yes, I’m going to do this?”
ELLEN:
First of all, I got the casting before even seeing the script. My agent said, “Oh, the #RSC wants to see you.” I’ve never worked for the RSC before.
So it was excitement. It was totally scary, yeah wonderful excitement. Then they sent me the scenes they wanted me to do, a couple of scenes. I looked at them and just thought, “Oh my God, I can only imagine what the rest of the play is like if this is one of the scenes that my character, Pearl, has to do and say.”
So that was the start. I just thought, “Oh my God, I want to say this. I want to do this.” Absolutely. Then, of course, I got a recall. They sent me the whole script and I read it and I was gobsmacked because it was so rich. Seriously, it was so rich. I said, “I want to do this.”
Then I had a chemistry meeting with the wonderful Martins, and I thought, “Oh my goodness, he’s in Bridgerton and he’s brilliant in Bridgerton. I can’t wait to meet him.” I went to meet him and he was the nicest guy. I just thought, “Yes, yes, yes,” and kept everything crossed. Later on that same day, my agent called and said, “Yes, they’d love you to do it.”
Interestingly enough, at that same chemistry meeting with Martins, as I was leaving, the actress who is now playing Ruby, Cat White, was there waiting to go in. I remember meeting her and thinking, “Oh, she’s very beautiful.” I said, “Hi. Don’t be nervous. They’re really lovely. You’re going to like them.” And then, of course, later on we found out that we were going to be the family.
ALT: I’ve seen the play. Emotionally and physically, Pearl has a lot to deal with, and your delivery was absolutely brilliant. When you approach roles like that, what are some of the things you, as an actor, have to do? There’s a lot going on with that character. How do you make it authentic for you?
ALT: So if you were to pull out three themes for the play, what would you say they are?
Ellen: Three themes for the play. Love. And love that is not as straightforward as you think. What I call real love.
Love that is based on the reality of a situation. Having seen the play, you’ll know what I mean by that. That’s one of the themes.
Secrets is another theme. Secrets that are hidden will come to bite you in the bum unless you actually talk about them and bring them out. I also feel that secrets cause dis ease.
So if there’s something bothering you, I’m hoping that people take away from the play that if there are aspects of your family life and secrets that are holding you back, just get on and bring them out. Talk about them. It’s therapy, and it will stop the dis ease that it brings.
So that’s one. The third theme: you have a voice.
Especially women. In the play, Pearl gets to go and vote for the first time in her life because this is set around 1956, just before, ten years before Trinidad got independence.
She finds her voice by going to vote, by seeing Eric Williams and all the other speakers talk about freedom and liberation and all the rest of it. It resonated with her in such a big way.
So I’m hoping that, as a theme, particularly women find your voice. Once you’ve found your voice, you can realise how powerful it is and how you can affect change.
Now, in this time that we’re living in, particularly women, we need to find our voice and speak up because it’s there. It’s there in the voting ballot. It’s there in standing up for your rights.
You have a voice. Use it. Use it. Make a difference for the next generation that’s coming.
Yeah. So those three themes are really important to me as Ellen and also to the character of Pearl as well.
Yeah.
ALT: And just a bit about you. Obviously, you made your debut on the Shakespearean stage. What Shakespeare roles would you like to play? Are there any roles that you think, “Oh, that’s me?”
Ellen: Oh my goodness. That’s a big, hard choice.
Oh, Lady M for a start. Lady Macbeth. Can you imagine that? The Black Lady Macbeth. Why not? Why not?
Oh my gosh, there are just so many. Romeo and Juliet, but the Queen, the Mother. That would be interesting. There are just so many big, strong, powerful women.
I would love to play Iago. Can you imagine it? It would be so rich. You can find all the reasons why Iago is so jealous. Could it be that she actually fancies Othello? Oh, there are so many ways that you can go with that.
Dig and mine. I call it mining.
So yeah, those are the three that come to mind. But any of the big roles that really challenge you, that cause you to dig deeper within yourself and go into the whole gamut of your acting toolbox.
One of the things I remember is walking down the street when we were rehearsing. The first few weeks of rehearsals were in Clapham. I would walk around. I’d go to Brixton and just look and watch women of that age group, how they walk, whether they had a slight disability.
I’d see what carrying all those heavy shopping bags does to their body, how they walk, how they move, and that tiredness and all of that.
So that’s one of the things that I love to do, just go and find the character in real life, in the street.
On a Shakespeare play, oh my goodness, I would love to do that with any of those big characters in Shakespeare’s stories.
Yeah, I’d love to do that.
And for me, I’ve always been intrigued by the fact that Shakespeare is called Shakespeare. For the longest time, I’ve always thought that’s interesting because in European history they have swords, they don’t have spears. And “shake a spear”, I wonder why?
ELLEN:
First of all, you have to inhabit the world of the character. You have to start what I call digging and in this case, it was mining for gold, because the gold was there. You just have to inhabit it. Read, read, read the script over and over again. Find out what everybody says about the character. When you have that, you start to put her together.
That’s exactly what I did. I found out what Ruby thinks about her, what Diamond thinks about her, what Seldom thinks about her all of those things together and I started to build this character. Martina had written Pearl so wonderfully, such a brilliantly deep character. I just put it all together and came up with this woman who I later fell in love with.
It was a gradual process because life has not been exactly kind to her. It took me a while to fall in love with her and let her resonate with me and hopefully resonate with lots of women in that late 50s, early 60s age group who’ve worked very hard, who are immigrants, who have trusted everything to their hard work and grafting.
Interestingly, although the play is set in the 1950s, in 2026 we are still seeing immigrants taking dangerous crossings to create a better life for themselves and their children. So it still resonates.
ALT: You mentioned Cat White and that mother-daughter relationship. It felt very organic relationship talk on how the characters work?
ELLEN:
Yes, they’re like two cats in a bag , they give as good as they get. But that’s because of how Pearl was raised. She was raised by an auntie who didn’t know any better than, “You’ve just got to be grateful I’m looking after you,” and a slap was as good as a yes or a no. Pearl didn’t know how else to raise Ruby. You do what you see and what you know.
That’s why you understand the choices Ruby makes at the end of the play. Ruby makes really strong, hard choices. Ellen agrees with Ruby. Pearl doesn’t but Ellen does. I won’t give too much away.
ALT: On making your RSC debut at this stage in your career. How does that feel?
ELLEN:
I’m a big prayer warrior. I cannot be thankful and grateful enough that this has come about. It has really stretched me as an actor. I’ve wanted to work with the RSC for the longest time. In the past, whenever they wanted to see me, I was busy with television, a movie or another theatre show. This time it all worked out.
So I am so grateful. My debut at the RSC and I got a poster! You know what that means.
ALT: The play deals with the legacy of colonialism. How does it feel to be part of that story in 2026?
ELLEN:
The legacy of colonialism is still being felt all over the world particularly in Africa, the Caribbean and the Middle East. It saddens me that in 2026 we are still reliving the effects of colonialism. It hasn’t gone away.
People are still trying to create better lives for themselves. When you see people making dangerous crossings to find safety, it saddens me deeply. The resistance to them saddens me equally.
History was one of my favourite subjects in school, but some of what I’m finding out now and fact-checking really scares me. We were not taught the full truth about what colonialism did and continues to do. The leaching of land, wealth, rare earth minerals. It saddens me that we were never taught this.
Pearl was brought from the country to Port of Spain and broke her body working hard to provide for her family. It still resonates.
And the colonial masters have not really left. And we’re now finding out that they can’t leave because we’re still supporting them. Do you know what I’m saying? So, all that is being revealed, all that history, the deeper part of that history is being revealed.
ALT: What did you love most about Martina’s writing?
ELLEN:
The beauty of the language. One of my favourite lines is: “I had was to be stupid if I wasn’t going to make sure and take for meself what he owe meh.” She could have written it in straightforward English, but she didn’t. It’s poetic. It has rhythm. Trinidadians who’ve seen it say, “Yes, aunties used to speak like this.” I absolutely love the language.
ALT: What would the mature Ellen say to the 19-year-old Ellen?
ELLEN:
Stop worrying. Stop panicking. Relax. It’s going to be okay. Trust your intuition. It will never fail you. Have no regrets. Grab the bull by the horns. It can be bloody and gory, but take the ride. It’s worth it.
Create the most amazing, wonderful, joyous life you can. It’s your story. You choose.
ALT: Final question. What is your go-to meal at the end of a busy day or work schedule? And who would your dinner guests be?
ELLEN:
It would have to be an African meal, egusi soup, okra soup, pounded yam, semolina, palm wine.
My guests? Wangari Maathai from Kenya, Maya Angelou, who I had the honour of working with (Maya Angelou’s famous autobiographies) Oprah Winfrey, my mother, my great-grandmother Grandma Sarah, and my grandfather, who was my idol.
We’d have that meal on a balcony in Africa, overlooking a safari. I’m manifesting.
ALT: Ellen Thomas, thank you so much for your time.
ELLEN:
You’re more than welcome.
Driftwood opened at The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon running Friday 17 April to Saturday 30 May 2026, before transferring to Kiln Theatre in London on 3 June. The play runs at the Kiln until 4th July 2026. Book tickets now HERE The full cast comprises: Shane David-Joseph (Seldom); Ziggy Heath (Tom); Martins Imhangbe (Diamond); Roger Ringrose (Mansion); Ellen Thomas (Pearl); and Cat White (Ruby)
