A Few of my Favourite Things: Frances Ruffelle

Tony Award winning actress Frances Ruffelle brings her critically acclaimed solo show Paris Original to the St James Studio next week, with support from guests including daughter Eliza Doolittle.

We caught up with Frances to find out a few of her favourite things…

What/who is your favourite…

Film?

Well I guess I’ve watched Singin’ In The Rain the most! I know all the words and it takes me back to being a teen and hoping to do well in Showbiz, I used to watch it through the night with my stagey mates. We’d all dance on the sofa!

Place to hangout in London?

Primrose Hill Park with my dog Hogan and a quick coffee, a flat white sitting outside at the Ripe Kitchen on Regent’s Park Road. It’s my ritual, I do this every day with my friend Sheila. Creature of habit!

Restaurant?

The Greenberry Café also on Regent’s Park Road again. I don’t stray far! I mostly order a chicken and avocado salad to be healthy, it’s delicious and avocado is the best food in the world, it’s so good for you. I eat it every day. I will often add a glass of organic red wine to that too. Life is a balance.

Holiday destination?

India. I go to Goa, it’s so chilled there and the internet is bad which is good! I do yoga and eat healthy cheap food, it’s unpretentious, there are lovely people and lots of sunshine.

Play/Musical that you have seen?

Too many! In the past, West Side Story to me is one of the best classics and recently I very much enjoyed Dogfight at the Southwark Playhouse; great young talent.

Actress/Actor?

Ooh so many, I love Janie Dee, Clare Burt and Frances de la Tour…I could go on. I saw Frances de la Tour play Hamlet and since then I have been hooked.

Theatre to visit?

St James is really quite up there these days! Good food too! And I love a theatre where a good view of the stage can be seen from every seat.

Theatre to work in?

I have to say the Adelphi, apart from loving playing Roxie in Chicago there, it was the first ever West End theatre that I ever performed in, as an 8 year old in The King and I. It was quite a treat to return there many years later and have the number one dressing room, which was really like having a West End apartment, it even had a bath in it!

Song to sing?

"If You Love Me" (Hymn d’Amour). I love it, it’s challenging and beautiful. I sang it for my Les Mis interview and it works with a big orchestra or just a guitar. I sing it in Paris Original.