Jenna Russell returns to Chichester to play Maureen Fry in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, the new musical which opens the Minerva season this year (May 5-June 14)
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now this
00:06is exciting, the first interview of the new season, the 2025 season at Churches Festival
00:11Theatre. Lovely to speak again to Jenna Russell, who was here three years ago in a fabulous
00:16eight-porn. This time it's the unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry in the Minerva Theatre, which
00:22Jenna, you haven't been in before.
00:24No, I've not. I've sat as an audience member, but I've not been in anything. Very exciting.
00:29As a performer, what makes the Minerva appealing as you are contemplating this show, this new
00:35piece?
00:36New piece? Well, it's the intimacy of the space that I love. I'm a big fan of having an audience
00:43close by. I've never been afraid of looking in the whites of other people's eyes. In fact,
00:48I quite relish it. So it's always nice. And also it's, you know, virtually in the round,
00:55which is always a lovely thing because there's nowhere to hide. And I like that. I like that. I
01:02like watching things that close and in that sort of major thrust environment. I like it very much.
01:11Sounds fascinating, especially as the starting point, as you and Mark, as Harold, are very shut
01:17tough couple, aren't you? And then a big adventure happens that, as you were saying,
01:23forces you to look outwards, to open your eyes.
01:26Yeah. Open your eyes, look out and feel some hope again when you think that maybe you'll
01:32never feel that. You know, it's second chances and forgiveness. There's a lot of that in the
01:40in the show. Gently, you know, we can carry pain forever, but letting go of it's very hard.
01:48And that's the point, there is unspoken, but shared trauma between them, isn't it?
01:52Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But like I said to you, you know, every family has, has a story. Every,
02:00every family has a, a, a, a trauma in their backgrounds or things that they may not talk about,
02:08or when they do, you know, you're never quite sure what the truth is, what the, what's been
02:15imagined, what's been retold through time. That's the beautiful thing about drama, isn't
02:21it? You just have these delicate tales.
02:24But in a way, you've got the tougher journey. Harold has the literal, literal journey, doesn't
02:28he? Whereas you stay at home.
02:30I stay at home. I stay at home and fester a bit. But that'll be interesting as well, because
02:37it, you know, I think there'll be lots of, lots of movement and lots of colour, because
02:43all the people that Harold meets on his journey are kind of normal people, but extraordinary
02:47people, you know, who, who have knowledge to pass on. And Maureen's journey is a, is a quieter,
02:56subtler thing, but that might be nice in contrast to, um, the, the outward journey that Harold's
03:05making, um, and, and Maureen is, is, is happening inside our house and kind of taking a deep
03:13breath and trying to move on that way.
03:16Well, it sounds a really enticing, appealing start.
03:20It's gorgeous. It's really gorgeous.
03:22It's really lovely to speak to you.
03:24And you.
03:25Thank you ever so much.