April Singley is an actor who hails from Boston, Massachusetts and has lived in Southsea since 2021.
She’s appeared on both TV and stage in the UK. Her first TV credit was in Britain’s Most Evil Killers, she starred in a BBC short film Body Without a Face, and has played theatre roles as diverse as Hamlet in Birmingham, several characters with Shitfaced Shakespeare in Boston and Atlanta, and in a range of local plays in Portsmouth including, most recently, Daisy in Gatsby.
April is also a co-founder of local creative groups The Crowbait Club UK and Mary Rose Productions, a new local theatre company that aims to ‘smash glass ceilings’.
I recently caught up with her to find out what it’s like being an American actor living in Southsea, and to chat about an exciting new production coming to the stage in Portsmouth this month…
How did you end up in Southsea and how do you like it?
Well, I’ve always been interested in theatre, but it was the recommendation of a friend that first prompted me to apply for drama school at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2017. I’m glad I did – so much so that I decided to make England home and shortly afterwards moved down here with my (now) husband who’s a film-maker.
England has more than lived up to my expectations, and Portsmouth is just great. I’ve found a really strong community of like-minded creative people in our city and, while London is amazing, it’s so full of noise and people. Here I can walk the seafront reciting my lines in tune with the waves and it’s magical!
I also think Portsmouth has a great feel to it as a place to live – it has a kind of small-town atmosphere despite being a city with lots going on. It’s the perfect balance for me. As an American from Boston, I also find great delight in your customs and manners that we don’t have – from the politeness of acknowledging each other in the street to the friendly conservations you encounter every day…
Is it glamorous being an actor?
No, not at all! It’s very hard work – it requires an enormous amount of discipline. It’s hard to find work that provides theatre-makers with a living wage, and it’s also hard to convince agents and casting directors to come down to Portsmouth to see the work that is being done here.
It’s a challenge living as cheaply as possible while you see your friends around you with more conventional careers buying houses! To supplement my income, I have to wear other ‘hats’ too, but this can also be great fun. For example, I teach acting in Chichester and honestly the kids are just fabulous.
I do wish there were more opportunities for professional creatives locally. But I figure that if I’m feeling that way other people probably are too, and if we collaborate together we can make change.
What change would you like to see?
I feel there’s a glass ceiling in theatre everywhere you go. So I want to create opportunities that help people to achieve their dreams right here in Portsmouth. It’s a big leap of faith but I want to at least give it a go. Why not? It’s better than waiting for my agent to call or for the Royal Shakespeare Company to ring me up and say ‘where have you been all our lives, come audition for us!’
The good news is that there’s an awesome pool of talent here. We just need to nurture it and support the arts more, and I’ve been able to play a small part in this too. For example, I founded the Crowbait Club UK here with my husband in 2021. Crowbait encourages local people to take a leap of faith and try out scripts they’ve written in front of their peers at regular monthly get-togethers. Many participants speak of how it has boosted their confidence, and of the support they receive from their peers that helps them to develop. It has also opened up new opportunities, with several people invited to take their work to local theatres!
How would you describe yourself as an actor?
I’d say I was most passionate about classical acting, but my experience spans from sketch comedy, improv, and even work as a historical interpreter as well.
I love Shakespeare, in part because he doesn’t do two-dimensional characters. I’ve played Hamlet himself and would love to do that again – he’s such a complex character and I can really identify with him. My first role in Hampshire was actually playing Lady Macbeth at Portchester Castle which was great fun!
More generally, I love playing strong and vulnerable characters and exploring their complexities, and I like to ‘go to the character’ rather than pull the character to me.
Tell us more about your upcoming September production, Amy’s View!
Amy’s View will run at the Guildhall LENS studio from 19 to 22 September and is produced by Mary Rose Productions – the local theatre company I helped to start.
The play is written by the legendary British playwright and director Sir David Hare who, in addition to two Academy Award nominations, has received several Golden Globe and Tony nominations and won a BAFTA Award. He’s been really supportive of us and even generously gave his time for a live Q&A with us here in Portsmouth earlier this summer!
Amy’s View is a play about art, and about an actress, but it’s also a very human story about a mother and a daughter and how their relationship develops over a number of years.
Audiences will be able to respond to this play on different levels. There’s a human story, told with lots of humour as well as pathos. There’s a socio-political element too as decisions about the economy, made by the government and rooted in greed, result in financial disaster for the central character.
We’re also thrilled that the production is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Portsmouth Creates, as well as the Portsmouth Guildhall Trust – which is also a big vote of confidence for us!
How is Amy’s View relevant for us?
It’s a very relevant play. Essentially, at its heart, it is a play about people, families and relationships – something we can all identify with. And it’s all handled in a highly entertaining way of course – there are plenty of laughs!
But it’s also relevant because it was written about a period of time when England was under Tory rule in the 1980s and early 90s, and the way people’s lives are affected by the social and economic climate. We’ve only just come out of a long period of Conservative government ourselves so, whatever your political leanings, you’ll be able to relate to this play.
At Mary Rose Productions, we want to offer something different to Portsmouth audiences. Some venues tell us that ‘drama doesn’t sell’ here, but we want to use this production to challenge – why would you assume that a relevant and multi-layered comedy-drama is over local people’s heads? As much as Portsmouth has a brilliant and well-established panto/musical scene – and I love that –there’s a space and a need for drama, too.
Ticket information
Amy’s View runs Thursday and Friday 19 and 20 September at 7.30pm, Saturday 21 September at 5.30pm and Sunday 22 September at 2.30pm at Portsmouth Guildhall’s Lens Studio. Adult tickets cost £23.40, and concessions are available. To book your tickets, follow this link!
