MINCE AND TATTIES ON THE MENU FOR NUN ON TOUR
AS part of the hugely-successful Call The Midwife, Victoria Yeates has become a recognisable face.
But fame is a part of the job that Victoria, who plays Sister Winifred, still hasn’t grown used to.
The 33-year-old has been in the hit Sunday night drama for three years and not even the lack of a nun’s habit saves the flame-haired star from being recognised.
“My boyfriend Paul is a musician, and at one of his gigs in Hackney recently these hipster girls aged about 20 or 21 came up to me and said they loved the show,” Victoria smiled. “I haven’t got used to it and find it bizarre.
“When Paul and I got engaged it was in the papers the next day. We were surprised that people would be interested! But it’s exciting to be part of a show that keeps getting better and with a demographic that continues to widen.”
Victoria is currently in the touring production of Arthur Miller’s classic, The Crucible, alongside former Coronation Street star Charlie Condou.
“I keep seeing posters everywhere I go for the show and I say to Charlie, ‘oh, there’s my big face’! It’s still surprises me!”
The 17th Century-set tale is based on the Salem witch trials and Victoria plays Elizabeth Proctor, who is accused of being a witch as mass hysteria breaks out in a New England town.
“I read The Crucible at school and always wanted to play the character,” Victoria continued. “She has a lot of integrity and strength.
“The story is high drama and quite political but at its heart is a domestic relationship.
“It keeps the audience connected. The events surrounding it are so absurd, even though they actually happened, that the love story keeps it grounded.
“It’s quite timely, although when the company first started looking at doing it, Brexit and Trump hadn’t happened.
“When we chat to people afterwards, they say it’s like today – the hysteria, alternative facts, people becoming disillusioned.
“It will be interesting to come to Scotland with everything that’s going on there just now, too.”
Victoria is in Aberdeen this week, her first visit to the city, and the tour finishes in June at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow, a city she’s more familiar with.
She said: “The great part of being on tour is you have the chance to visit places you might not usually see.
“We were in Cheltenham last week, which was beautiful, and I stayed in a lovely cottage in The Cotswolds.
“Laura Main from Midwife’s family lives in Aberdeen, so I’m going to visit them and hopefully she might make it up to see the show.
“I filmed BBC series Lip Service in Glasgow seven or eight years ago and that was my first time in the city – it was such a fun place.
“I became quite fond of mince and tatties, so I’ll be having that again. It’s a hearty, comforting meal, and when I’m doing such an intense play as The Crucible every night I need that fuel.
“It takes a lot out of me, so I need good sleep and to eat well.”
Before Midwife, much of Victoria’s career was spent on stage, so she’s enjoying being back in front of a live audience and on tour.
“Audiences have been gripped – we have teenagers in the crowd who are doing it for their GCSEs and to keep their attention like that for three hours is quite remarkable.
“You never know until you’re in front of an audience if you have a good show, but the reaction proves we do.”
Once The Crucible finishes in the summer, attention will turn to Call The Midwife, which has been renewed for a further three years.
“I think it’s getting better and grittier. It keeps trying to push subjects, and does well, considering it’s a pre-watershed Sunday night series,” said Victoria.
She describes the cast as one big family, but admits to nerves when she first stepped on to the set.
“My first scenes were with Jessica Raine and Bryony Hannah, who I’d gone to RADA with, so that was a little more relaxed, but when it came to Judy Parfitt and people like that, I was much more nervous.
“It was like the first day of school all over again but everyone made me feel so comfortable and they’re such a lovely group of people.”