Soap star Cheryl looking forward to ‘ The Change’ taking centre stage
Former EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison says she can’t wait to head to Ayrshire with Menopause The Musical.
The actress, known for her much- loved portrayal of Heather Trott in the Albert Square soap, comes to Kilmarnock’s Palace Theatre on Saturday, February 11 and Ayr’s Gaiety Theatre on Thursday, February 16 and Friday, February 17.
The musical is a hilarious celebration of ‘ The Change’ and stars Maureen Nolan, Casualty’s Rebecca Wheatley and Penny Dreadful actress Ruth Berkeley alongside Londoner Cheryl.
And the ex- soap star says the show isn’t just for women who’ve been through the menopause – it isn’t even just for women.
She said: “When you say to anybody that’s not female, they scrunch their faces up and go: ‘ Oh my God, too much information!’.
“But actually, the men that have been have thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve got an uncle who came who’s a bit of a geezer and he said it was hilarious and he now understands a few things – like why his wife chucked a Tonka truck at his head!”
Menopause The Musical debuted in 2001 in Orlando, Florida and has gone on to be performed around the world with more than 11million theatregoers attending.
Cheryl believes the show isn’t just a fun night out – it also carried a powerful message that deserves to be shared far and wide.
She said: “I think we get through to everyone with the musical. It’s fun and it’s tackling a subject that is very important but with humour and music and a situation where women and men go, ‘ Ah, now I understand.’
“Younger women go ‘ Oh my gosh, is this what we’ve got to look forward to?’, those that are going through the menopause say ‘ Oh, I identify with this’ and people who’ve been through it say ‘ Aha, yes, that happened to us’.
“It’s like anything – we are British and we don’t talk about anything when what we should be doing is talking about everything, from men’s prostate cancer to this, or whatever it is.
“However something is tackled and shown, it’s got to be spoken about and that’s got to be a good thing. I’m a great believer in education and it doesn’t matter how you get it through to people that’s the way to do it.”
The show starts its UK tour in Inverness on Thursday, February 7 and will pack out theatres the length and breadth of the country until the final date of the tour in Bradford on Sunday, April 2.
But for Cheryl, the Scottish shows will be a true highlight of the wildly succesful musical’s latest tour.
She said: “We’re looking forward to coming to Scotland, and especially me personally – my misspelling of my surname, Fergison, is all my fault and not my family’s!.
“My adopted dad has the middle name Ferguson, which is what I adopted for my working name – but because I spell phoneitcally I spelled it wrong on the equity form.
“His roots are up here, so coming back to Scotland is really important. It’s going to feel like coming home for me.”
Tickets for the Kilmarnock performance are available from eastayrshireleisure. com or 01563 554900. Tickets for the Ayr performance can be purchased at ayrgaiety. co. uk or on 01292 288235.