Birds of a Feather star Lesley Joseph returns to Northampton to give talk about her acting career

​​​​Actress Lesley Joseph may be associated with Chigwell from her role as Dorien Green in Birds of a Feather, but having grown up in Northampton, she returned to her home town on Thursday evening to give a talk at the University about the acting industry.

In conversation with Dr Ross Prior, Lesley talked about how she got started in her career and how she feels that Northampton has a huge amount to offer the arts, particularly with the Royal and Derngate Theatre. She also touched on how much she loves pantomimes, despite how they are sometimes looked down on in the industry. She said: “Pantomimes give me my fix of singing, dancing and magic!”
When talking about getting back together with Linda Robson and Pauline Quirke for Birds of a Feather, she said it didn’t feel as though 15 years had passed between the old and new series and that all three of them still had the chemistry they have always had. She also told the audience about the time she was asked to open the North Terminal of Gatwick Airport as Dorien Green, which she did!

Lesley had lots of advice to give to the acting students. She said: “The important thing in this day and age is to learn everything. It’s essential to learn voice production as it is one of the most vital things in acting.

“If you want to act, do it because it’s a passion and not just because you want fame and fortune. Be prepared when you go for auditions or they will choose someone else who is.”

Subject Futures Week took place at Avenue Campus from 27 to 31 January and hosted a number of high profile name from the arts and creative sectors.