Anna O'Byrne Talks THE WOMAN IN WHITE

This is Jamie for Broadway World UK, and we're here at the Charing Cross Theatre for an exclusive backstage chat with the Woman in Whites, Anna O'Bairn

So can you tell us about your role in the Woman in White? So I play Laura Fairley, who's an heiress, essentially

The show is about an artist from London, Walter Hartwright, who is summoned up to Limeridge House in Cumberland to be engaged as a drawing master to two half-sisters, Laura and Marion

I play one of the half-sisters, Laura. and on his way there he encounters a mysterious woman in white who has a secret

Upon his arrival at Limeridge House, he discovers that the woman in white bears a resemblance to Laura

Did you read the book before actually taking on the role? Yes, yes, I did, I did

I love researching, so I was like straight to the book, straight to the original source material

and I adored it. I thought it was brilliant. Perfect, so obviously without giving anything away, does this show actually follow the book quite closely

or does it have a few twist and turns? It's freely adapted

I think that's the tagline. So our book writer, Charlotte Jones, and our lyricist David Zichl and Andrew himself

have been involved in... The original secret that the woman in White has

in the Wilkie Collins novel is something that was quite scandalous in 1860

but it doesn't mean so much to us these days in our modern world

So they've altered things a little bit, and obviously there are some challenges involved with bringing this huge 700 page novel to the stage to be performed in two and a half hours

So you've got a working relationship with Andrew. Yeah How is it to be working on a new or like a revival of a show Is your relationship kind of the same or you kind of like father and daughter How is that dynamic again Yeah I do have this sort of pre

working relationship with Andrew and both of the times that I've worked you know sort of with him

over a period of weeks or months has been on a new version of a show but both times in both

Love Never Dies and in the Women in White they have felt like new shows we've been receiving

revisions every day, new lyrics, new bits of music, both times Andrew has been inspired

to write new pieces of music for the shows. So yeah, I feel really fortunate to be in this

position and I haven't done a Lloyd Webber show since I did Phantom in the West End, which is

I think four years ago now, so it's really lovely to be revisiting Andrew's music

Let's also talk about My Fair Lady. If this comes back from Australia, Julie Andrews

actually directed. Can you tell us about that? Yeah, it was, do you know what? I mean, what an experience to have? I think I'm still processing it in a way

It was her from the ground up really. She was recreating Moss Hart's original direction from the 1956 version of the show

And she's just everything you think she's going to be and much, much more

And again, about giving it away, why should someone come and see your show

I think over Christmas time, it's the perfect time to indulge in a little like Gothic Victoria Ghost Story

story and obviously it's wonderful to have this piece of Andrews that feels like a new

a new Lloyd Webber show in the West End so I adore it I'd be booking a ticket if I

wasn't in it so that's my endorsement