Wanderful: Lisa George’s Fairy Godmother in UK Productions’ Cinderella at Grand Opera House, York
AFTER 13 years as “loud, gobby, feisty” Beth Sutherland in Coronation Street, Lisa George decided to leave soapland’s cobbles to tread the boards once more.
A decision she made in 2024, when her final episode aired last August, that now brings her to York to play Fairy Godmother at the Grand Opera House in UK Productions’ Cinderella from December 6 to January 4 2026.
“The decision had been bubbling away because of my visual impairment,” says Lisa, who has the rare eye condition of NAION (non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy), one that causes sudden and painless vision loss in up to 11 per cent of people.
“I first lost vision in the bottom half of my right eye [when Lisa had been hit in the eye by a rope] and then had a second occurrence in 2022 [in her left eye] and was formally diagnosed in 2023 after a year of searching for what was wrong.”
As chance would have it, when she partnered with Tom Naylor in Dancing On Ice in 2020, it turned out he was the son of Gerard Taylor, an eye specialist she had consulted in 2017.
“I don’t think people realise I have this eye condition because I don’t make a song and dance about it,” says Lisa George
For Lisa, who also had been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes in 2016, matters came to a head when she was watching a production of Romeo And Juliet at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester last year.
“In a black-out during the performance, I suddenly thought about not being able to see,” she recalls. “I’d earned my stripes, I’d worked on Coronation Street for 13 years, and I thought, ‘if I’m going to go blind, I need to do theatre again now. I don’t just want to be known for Beth [Sutherland] . I’m going to play other roles before anything might happen to stop me’.
“The condition is stable; I can see, but I was petrified I would never work in theatre again after I was diagnosed, but I was also aware that I’d be able to have people hold my hand, or show the way with torches. There’s far more help nowadays.”
Cinderella is her second pantomime since leaving Coronation Street. “I don’t think people realise I have this eye condition because I don’t make a song and dance about it – though my script is massive!” she says.
Working with director Ellis Kerkhoven and choreographer Xena Gusthart for the first time, Lisa is “absolutely delighted to be appearing as Fairy Godmother at the Grand Opera House”. “Panto is such a special time of year, and I can’t wait to see families and friends come together to share in the magic over the festive season,” she says.
Lisa George in the poster for her role as Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, when she was announced as the first signing for the Grand Opera House pantomime for 2025-2026
As ever with commercial panto, rehearsals crack on apace. “We had ‘blocked’ the whole of the show by day three, and we’d had costume fittings, dance rehearsals and vocal rehearsals on top of that,” says Lisa.
“The very first pantomime I did we had only a week’s rehearsals. That one was with Jimmy Cricket, Linda Nolan, a young Suranne Jones and Paul Crone, ‘the roving reporter’ from Granada TV. That was at the Tameside Hippodrome [in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester], a theatre that doesn’t exit anymore. I was Dandini, the old-fashioned thigh-slapping Dandini in fishnet tights.
“We’re getting pushed out now, with the Prince Charming and Dandini roles going to men, on top of men already playing the dame. What’s left for the women?
“Dandini wasn’t my favourite role, to be fair. I have more fun as the fairy. I love playing Fairy, whether Petunia Pumpkin in Cinderella or Fairy Bowbells in Dick Whittington, both at the Oldham Coliseum, or Fairy Godmother last year at the Wyvern Theatre, in Swindon, or now Fairy Godmother in York, where it’s my first time working with UK Productions.”
“I’ve brought my steamer, my big straw, my Vitamin C tablets – and I’ll try to get plenty of sleep too,” says Lisa George of her routine for the pantomime season ahead
Producer Martin Dodd enthuses: “We are thrilled to welcome Lisa to the cast of Cinderella. She brings a huge amount of talent, warmth and star power to the stage, and we know that the audience will fall in love with her Fairy Godmother.”
Performing in pantomime, with the challenge of cold weather, loud audiences and multiple shows, is arguably theatre’s most demanding season, requiring care of body and voice. “It’s a tough call doing panto,” says Lisa. “I’ve got a nebuliser that someone told me to get last year, where you put on a mask to hydrate your throat.
“Then there’s a wide straw, a singing tube, that you blow bubbles with to help the voice. Opera singers use it. I learned about that last year as well, so I’ve brought my steamer, my straw, my Vitamin C tablets – and I’ll try to get plenty of sleep too.”
“Absolutely buzzing” about singing two key numbers in Cinderella, one in the transformation scene, the other in Act Two, Lisa is looking forward to her York debut. “Of all the tours I’ve done, I don’t think I’ve done York before,” she says. “It’s been brilliant; it’s a really lovely cast , everyone’s so talented. We’ve bonded already; everyone is just dead nice and supportive.”
UK Productions presents Cinderella, Grand Opera House, York, December 6 to January 4 2026. For tickets, go to atgtickets.com/york.
Actress Lisa George
