Kym Marsh’s Hedy clasping Lisa Faulkner’s Allie in Rebecca Reid’s updated Single White Female, playing Grand Opera House, York, from tomorrow. Picture: Chris Bishop
“THIS is my villain era,” proclaims Kym Marsh on the eve of her return to the Grand Opera House, York, in Rebecca Reid’s update of Single White Female for the social-media age.
Last time, the former Hear’Say pop singer and Coronation Street soap star took to the dark side as Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmatians The Musical in November 2024, having earlier played Alex Forrest – the Glenn Close role in the 1987 film – on the UK tour of Fatal Attraction in 2022.
Now, in the world premiere tour of Reid’s London tower-block re-boot of the 1992 New York psychological thriller, Kym cuts a more complex figure as Hedy, where the audience will be less sure whether she is friend or foe.
When recently divorced mum Allie (Lisa Faulkner in her first stage role in 21 years) advertises for a lodger to help make ends meet as she juggles childcare with starting a new tech business, enter Kym’s seemingly delightful Hedy, only for the new friendship to take a sinister turn.
“The last few roles I’ve done have been pretty villainous and I love it,” says Kym, whose back story also takes in 13 years as Michelle Connor in Corrie, partnering Graziano Di Primas on the 2022 series of Strictly Come Dancing, a 2023 to 2025 stint as school canteen worker Nicky Walters on Waterloo Road and presenting BBC One’s Morning Live.
“It’s so easy to play the typical moustache twiddler, but I want to make Hedy a little bit more layered and actually have people be a bit taken aback, unsure if she’s good or bad right up to the last minute and even feeling sorry for her, particularly near the end. So, it is a bit more complex and nuanced than you might imagine.”
After her Fatal Attraction role as obsessed, mentally unstable editor Alex, Kym began discussions over potential further projects. “We came up with the idea of Single White Female because it had never been done before [on stage],” she says.
“It was also within that kind of genre of those epic, classic films that had a real impact on people at that time. So I’ve been attached to it from the start and it’s really exciting: the character of Hedy is so interesting and challenging to play.
“Without giving too much away to anyone who hasn’t seen the film, the character is very complex and, from an acting point of view, it gives me an opportunity to explore so many different places that you don’t necessarily really go to normally.”
Author, journalist and broadcaster Reid’s new stage version of Single White Female is designed to appeal to a new generation, while giving a new perspective to fans of Barbet Schroeder’s original film, refracted once more through the themes of ambition, identity and isolation.
Kym Marsh’s Hedy raises a glass to Jonny McGarrity’s Sam in Single White Female. Picture: Chris Bishop
Reid applies more than a contemporary spin, suggests Kym. “There obviously wasn’t social media back in the ‘90s, but if you know the essence of the plot and what it’s about, it works very well because we see people trying to imitate people’s lives online all the time,” she says.
“We hear about these stories of people ‘catfishing’ and so on, and I think there are elements of that within Single White Female that make it feel up to date, and its themes are even more relevant today than they were then.
“I think the world of social media is a wonderful place, but it’s also to be handled with care, because there is always that element of danger about it. And when you have a character like Hedy, and then you put social media into her hands, it can be tricky to the point of dangerous.”
Will devotees of the Bridget Fonda-Jennifer Jason Leigh screen clash still recognise the Single White Female they know and love – and will they be treated to the iconic stiletto moment – now that Reid has moved the location from a neo-Gothic New York building to a stark apartment tower block near Elephant & Castle in London?
“The essence is very much still the same,” says Kym. “But the story is slightly changed: as well as being more up to date, it’s based in the UK rather than being in America. So there are differences, but the big, important, epic moments are still in there, and it’s very much still a thriller with a real shock factor. We want to have people on the edge of their seats.
Kym Marsh and Single White Female co-star Lisa Faulkner. Picture: Seamus Ryan
“I think people will still very much love the story whether they’ve seen the film or not. As for the iconic stiletto moment, you’ll have to wait and see!”
Her run of stage roles – not least a northern take on tyrannical hostess Beverly Moss in Mike Leigh’s satirical Seventies’ suburban comedy of manners Abigail’s Party in her Royal Exchange Theatre debut in Manchester in April and May – has given Kym a love of the stage while continuing to enjoy her television career.
“I’m so lucky that I am able to enjoy both being in front of the camera and on stage,” she says. “Obviously on stage you get an instant kind of reaction, which is very rewarding. You immediately know how much people are enjoying what you’re doing when you are on stage.
“Television can be very different from that. But there is a real buzz being on stage, you get that atmosphere straight away. And I really like travelling around, seeing different places and some beautiful theatres.
“It’s interesting that everywhere you go, the audience reacts differently to different parts. Then again, in front of a camera you always get to go again.”
Does Kym experience nerves? “Of course I do!” she admits. “Theatre is way more nerve wracking, that’s for sure. My dad passed away last year and I have found myself standing in the wings before I go on stage saying, ‘Come on Dad, come on Dad’.
“I make mistakes and hold my hands up and I think that gives me a girl-next-door feel,” says Kym Marsh. Picture: Nick James
“Because you want to feel that someone is helping you out when you are out there. You really hope that nothing’s going to go wrong, that you give a great performance and people enjoy it.”
Now 49 – she will turn 50 on June 13 – Kym has not stopped working since she auditioned for the TV show Popstars 25 years ago, duly joining the band Hear’Say. “I feel very fortunate and very lucky that I’ve been allowed to have the career that I’ve had and to have been received in the way that I have,” says the Merseyside-born mother of three and grandmother of two.
“I think maybe it’s because I come across as a sincere individual. I’ve never tried to hide anything. I make mistakes and hold my hands up and I think that gives me a girl-next-door feel. Perhaps everyone knows someone a bit like me.
“I was brought up by a family who are very caring and open. My family means everything to me. I absolutely adore my kids and my grandchildren. I think I try to only ever be caring and open, too, when I’m being interviewed or meeting new people, because, to be honest, I don’t know how to be anything else!”
Single White Female, Grand Opera House, York, February 3 to 7, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/single-white-female/grand-opera-house-york/.
The poster for Single White Female, adapted by Rebecca Reid and directed by Gordon Greenberg on its premiere tour