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Sonia has been 'on stage' from a very early age : her first role was, like many members, at school, where at the age of five she took the part of a fairy in Toyland. A tall girl in an all-girls school, she found herself pressed into male roles in her early teens, thus being able to claim the unusual distinction of having played both Beatrice and Benedict. Her most embarrassing part was at age 16, when her school mistress had written a panto, and cast Sonia as 'Gallant Dick' - to the delight of the teenage audience. She won her first drama award at the age of 14 at a Gateshead Youth drama festival held at the Little Theatre, where she won 'best actress'. Her early experience at taking male roles led to one of her oddest characterisations: that of an 11-year old crippled boy - played whilst she was pregnant. By 1979, Sonia was a member of the Gateshead Metropolitan Operatic Society, who in that year rented the Little Theatre during the summer to stage one of their productions. Reminded of the place, and lured by the smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd (add your own joke here), she joined the Progressive Players along with husband Gordon (a talented and prolific stage manager). |
