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Sadie goes solo on stage after 24 years
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent21.11.08
SHE is best-known as a staple of the tabloids with her marriages to Gary Kemp and Jude Law and wild nights out with Kate Moss.
But Sadie Frost, also a businesswoman and mother-of-four, is set to make a different set of headlines with a return to theatre - 24 years after her last and only stage appearance.
The 43-year-old is to star in a one-woman play, Touched ... For The Very First Time, about a teenager whose life is transformed at the age of 14 on hearing the Madonna hit, Like A Virgin.
From that moment, Lesley, living in Manchester, dreams of becoming a "modern woman" and making friends with her favourite pop star.
Frost said it was a "great piece" and women in particular would identify with it. "It was lovely to read a play that was so female-orientated. I was a teenager and a young adult at this time in the Eighties and it was a very important time for me and my development, so I really related to the play," she said.
"The play isn't about Madonna - Madonna is used as a reference point throughout the play. It's funny and quite racy." It is also set to prove a challenge as Frost plays a range of characters in the 75-minute piece. She was cast after general auditions and a workshop.
But she is refusing to consider what the critics - and audiences - will say about her. "I used to worry a lot about what people think but I don't now," she said.
"I've been a mother for 18 years and since I've been a mother, I haven't ever thought about doing theatre because of the commitment taking me away from the family.
"But my eldest son is 18 and going to university and my youngest are in full-time school. This was the first time I could actually think about doing theatre," she added.
"It's the most challenging thing I've ever done. But I'm loving the whole rehearsal period." Frost started her showbusiness career aged four in an advert for Jelly Tots before training at the Italia Conti stage school.
She was 19 when she appeared in Mumbo Jumbo, directed by Nicholas Hytner, at the Manchester Royal Exchange. Michael Grandage, now artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, was the leading man.
But it was her last appearance on stage and she then switched to acting in films such as Bram Stoker's Dracula and The Krays, with long gaps during her pregnancies.
Her time was devoted, instead, to her fashion business Frost French, now back on track after financial problems, and writing and producing films.
The play could be the start of a new direction - and even an image shift away from the party girl she insists was only ever a small part of her. "Yes, I've attended parties, but that was probably eighth down the list of things I do after mother, businesswoman, producing films, writing, a lot of charity work," she said.
She adds: "If this went well, I would love to do other stuff."
Touched ... For The Very First Time by Zoe Lewis, directed by Douglas Rintoul, is at the Trafalgar Studios for a limited run from 4 February.
