10 questions for 10 years – Rebecca Felgate

Social media queen Rebecca Felgate puts down her gin-in-a-tin for long enough to answer some questions about the world of theatre

Before she upped sticks for Toronto, the indefatigable Rebecca Felgate was responsible for many things, including kickstarting the #ldntheatrebloggers movement, an espresso martini-related hangover which was one of the worst of my life, and nailing an iconic head tilt for pretty much every single photo she’s in. And since moving to Canada, naturally she now entertains millions of subscribers on YouTube’s Most Amazing Top 10.

  • Where were you 10 years ago?

    Finishing up my second year of a drama degree at Goldsmiths, rolling around the black box studio floor a lot (me, and the cockroaches!) and on weekends hounding the box office staff at TKTS in Leicester Square for a good deal. I think the best I got was 18 quid for The Woman in Black. Pretty good!

  • Best show you’ve seen in the last 10 years?

    WHAT A QUESTION IAN! Do you expect me to just say one? I can narrow it down to three: Mr. Burns at the Almeida (if I remember correctly you gave me some chocolate as I was STARVING!), The Nether at …ooh…was it the Duke of York and Gypsy at Chichester Festival Theatre (and the Savoy… but Chich was the best!)

  • What has been your professional highlight of the last 10 years?

    Fucking hell… well the first was writing the review that Once the Musical based their marketing on, the second was getting a shit load of bloggers together to drink gin and talk theatre, and I guess the third is this weird journey I have found myself on over the past three years as the host of Most Amazing Top 10 on YouTube.

  • Top flavour of interval ice-cream?

    Honey and Ginger is where it is AT. Super bougie, super delish. I’d wash it down with a prosecco I smuggled in while an usher wasn’t looking and popped open before the start of Act Two with a faux sneeze!

  • What show do you wish theatres would give a rest for a few years?

    Get Thriller Live! OUT OUT OUT. Vom. Jukebox musicals are my least favourite genre, but Thriller isn’t even really a jukebox! It’s just…. like…a weird staged live episode of The X Factor finals or something. Also, I think we need to retire our coverage of Michael Jackson for the time being.

  • Name someone who you think is a really underappreciated talent (in the world of theatre)?

    Mark Shenton. HAHAHA. Jks. Urrrmmmm… I honestly can’t think of a current answer to this, it has been a while since I was in the game. Anyone who stuck out I Can’t Sing?!

  • Elphaba or Glinda?

    GAAAHHHLINDAAAHHH!

  • What is one thing that you think would help theatre survive and/or thrive the next ten years?

    Reduced pricing for Under 40s, reduced pricing in general, family tickets, more Pay What You Can performances and…SHOCK….season tickets! I know that would be hard in the West End but not impossible! Also a finer appreciation and understanding of the new media landscape. Not everyone reads the bloody Stage anymore (although, of course, it is a great and trusted publication) – a lot of people like reading blogs, watching ITGV and youtube videos etc.

  • Which is your favourite theatre?

    Menier Chocolate Factory for Off West, The London Palladium for West End (I used to work there, it has a special place in my cold dead heart!)

  • Can you say anything about what’s to come for you, (in the next ten years or otherwise)?

    I am writing a bloody book! It will be a retrospective look at how I woke up the day after graduation, drunk with my shoes still on, to being employed as an Estate Agent by the gatekeepers to the underworld (Foxtons), to crying in a cupboard and quitting after my second day, to (in the eleventh hour before potentially having to leave London to go live with my mum again) finding a job in theatre, rallying bloggers, moving to Canada and becoming a Z List internet celeb. Will include anecdotes about how I once had my dress tucked into my knickers for an hour and no one told me. 10/10 must read.

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