Soap star Alice goes back to her musical roots
AS a teen, singer and actress Alice Barlow was embroiled in love triangles, pregnancy and murder through her time as Hollyoaks’ Rae Wilson.
Putting her singing career on hold as she worked with the soap, her acting took over, going on to be a series regular as Sara in E4’s Drifters and playing Annie in ITV’s popular comedy Benidorm.
But now she is going back to her musical roots, swapping the small screen for the big stage with hit new show, Son of a Preacher Man.
The story, by Warner Brown, tells the tale of a ’60s record shop, Preacher Man, which unites three very different people looking for the man who used to run it and was known for sage relationship advice.
Barlow will play Kat, a teenager who has just lost her gran and has fallen in love with someone she has only seen on a dating website.
The 26 year-old says she can relate to the lovelorn character.
“We are both very unlucky in love!” she explains. “But Kat and I are very similar in regards to our feistiness and the added fact she gives everything her best shot.
“I can also relate to her determination at the beginning to go to Soho – it is very much like me.”
The shift to musical theatre has been natural for the performer, who, in 2008 at just 16, entered The Stobart Factor – a singing competition judged by The X Factor judge Louis Walsh. She won, winning £10,000 which she put towards having her teeth straightened.
She also appeared in the 2013 blind auditions on The Voice UK, singing Carly Rae Jepson’s hit Call Me Maybe, getting through with Danny O’Donoghue as her coach.
But the switch to stage hasn’t been without its challenges – especially when it comes to dance moves.
“The biggest challenge in this role, without a doubt, is the ‘all around the world lift’ in the song Anyone Who Had a Heart,” she explains.
“In the numbe,r I do the lift with Liam (Vincent-Kilbride) and I’m always scared he’ll drop me and I’m going to land on my head!”
Despite having been singing from the age of nine, Alice has firm ideas on a back up career if she wasn’t in the limelight: “If I wasn’t on stage though, I’d love to do law.
“But I think that might be down to the fact I’ve watched far too many episodes of Suits on Netflix.
“Honestly though, to anyone aspiring to a career in showbusiness, the single piece of advice I would give is to never give up.” ● Son of a Preacher Man is at Venue Cymru until Saturday, June 2 and tickets are available at www. venuecymru.co.uk or via the Box Office on 01492 872000.