
In the run up before the 25th anniversary of the hit musical MAMMA MIA! Stevie Doc and Tobias Turley took over the roles of Sophie and Sky on the 29th January at London’s Novello Theatre. They secured these roles by winning ITV’s MAMMA MIA! I Have a Dream competition, where they out performed other contestants to get the chance to play these iconic roles in the West End.
Glasgow born Stevie Doc started performing aged 15 when she auditioned for the Musical Theatre course at the Dance School of Scotland. Over the Shoulder sat down with Stevie while she was preparing for opening night to discuss her career so far, her experience on the hit ITV talent show and her hopes for the future.

How are rehearsals going? You must be very excited for opening night?
They’re going really well. There’s been a lot to learn. There’s a lot more in the show than I expected there to be for Sophie even though I’ve watched it many times. I didn’t really take into account how much and how often she’s on the stage.
In act one, starting from the scene with Sky on the beach she doesn’t leave until the end of the show. I didn’t know this, and I was thinking when do I get water? What if I need to pee? So that’s been a bit of a surprise for me.
I am really excited and hopefully everything goes well on opening night.
You went to Arts Ed college in Chiswick, which Is really close to me. How did you find moving to London and what did you learn at the performance arts school.

I moved here three years ago to go to drama school. I could have stayed in Glasgow and that would have been fine, but I think for this sort of career London is where the opportunities are. The drama school that I wanted to go to was ArtsEd and I was fortunate to get in.
I found moving to London more exciting than anything else. I’m definitely a city gal but I do really love going home to Scotland as that will always be my home. I don’t see myself moving back to Scotland anytime soon though.
I love London and how busy it is. I think a lot of people do struggle moving to London but I’m just loving it all.
How did you hear about MAMMA MIA? I Have a Dream and how did you secure a spot on the show?
I saw an advert for it on Facebook and then my cousin also sent me the link for it and was saying you need to apply for this! I assumed that they were looking for people who hadn’t trained and that it was more for the general public, giving people the opportunity to show off talent that they wouldn’t get to otherwise. Which the show definitely did but then I found out that people who were training had been auditioning for it.
I sent off self-tapes I did at ArtsEd and I hated all of them, so I ended up just sending another one that I’d already had in my camera roll somewhere.
The show had been going around the UK because they did auditions in London already and I thought I had missed it. Then they came back to London again and at that point they’d gone around the UK and I thought I’d missed it.
I sent it anyway but I probably won’t hear back. I didn’t for weeks and I left it in the back of my head. I was like okay; I didn’t get it.
It was cool. I’ve not even left drama school yet and it was a shot in the dark anyway. I thought if I did hear back from them and then there was still eight rounds to the selection process.
Then I heard back. I had an in-person audition, phone interview and then another phone interview with the threat of being cut and then I managed to get through the final 50, final 35, final 25, final 15 then to the final 4.
Did you ever feel confident that you were fine for any of the rounds?
Not at all. Especially at the start because the interview stages were about you as a person because it is a reality TV show as well as a competition, and I think as much as they wanted people who were talented, they also wanted people that were going to be Interesting and could talk to a camera. So, every round I thought that performance is finished, let’s see what happens tomorrow.
The show routine would be breakfast with Zoe Ball, then a workshop and then the day after would be filming an opener and then the day after that would be the performance.
Those three-day situations I just thought let’s wake up, see what the workshop or performance is and see what happens tomorrow. I lived that way for the whole month, thinking I could be getting to the end of it and there would be no more days on the show. It was bizarre.
When you prepared for the role of Sophie how much of yourself did you put into her, or is she purely a character creation?

I think we had such short time to do everything that it was put on your best performance. For me it was very much a collaborative process and I let the director tell me how he wants this Sophie to be. Use that, and then also add your own thing on top of that so that it is also my Sophie.
I would say that Sophie and me have very similar characteristics. Sophie is absolutely chaotic and she loves it, it’s one my favourite things about playing her although I am not chaotic myself.
Which part of the production so far has been the hardest in rehearsals?
Under Attack. It’s been really hard. I didn’t realise how much stamina you need for that song and you would think that it wouldn’t be that much because she just sits on a bed. Then Sophie gets up and does some movement, gets lifted a few times and I realized it’s hard because of the act and intention of the performance.
The song gets bigger and bigger and you start to lose your breath a little bit. Once Under Attack is really secure, I think it’ll be one of my favourite things to do.
Also, all the quick changes, she has so many!
The quickest one is from Lay All Your Love into Super Trooper. That is literally an on-stage quick change!

You’d literally take your clothes off and then blink and do it all over again?
Pretty much. I’ve never timed it, but it must be less than 10 seconds. Another quick change is at the end when Skye and Sophie run from the wedding and then they come back on in their leaving outfit, which again is about 12 seconds.
I’ve got people to help with the changes who have been doing the show for years. All of my quick changes have gone well so far. I’ve just jinxed that haven’t!
Which is your favourite song or acting scene so far?
It would be the scene where Sophie meets the dads for the first time and they sing Thank You for the Music. That’s my favourite, It’s just so wholesome.
She’s thinking everything’s fine guys, you’re all gonna come and stay here. My mom has no idea that you’re here, but it’s a really good idea, I promise. This is going to be great.
Underneath she’s thinking Oh my God! any of these people could be my dad. What the heck’s going on? There’s so much going on in that scene.
Then it goes into a lovely little song and I get to play the guitar too which is fun.

Tobias Turley won the role of sky? What is he like to work with? You must have become quite close?
Honestly, it’s been so nice having Toby in rehearsals and having someone that’s in the same position as you. It has been amazing.
He’s been so supportive and we are very close friends and it’s really nice to have a friendly face with you.
How long will your run in the show be?
We open on the 29th of January and we are contracted until the 5th of October.
Do you see your future in theatre or would you like to do TV and Film too?
I really do love musical theatre and it’s what I’ve trained in. I love singing, acting and dancing. However, since doing Mamma Mia, I Have a Dream I’ve realised how much I really do love being on a film set. I would love to do film or TV; I think my ultimate dream is to do a movie musical.
Disney princess live action vibes, like Tangled! If you want to give me Merida, from Brave I will take it!
Are there any performers who inspire you?

Samantha Barks always has, always will. She was really nice on the show as well. I’ve always admired her and her career, I think she’s an incredible performer.
On film and TV Emma Watson and Emma Stone. Anna Kendrick because she played Cinderella in the Into the Woods film musical which is a role I would love to play.
The theatre is famously superstitious. Do you have any rituals that you go through before you step onto the stage?
I’ve never done a show before. This is my first show so I am yet to come up with these things! One thing that I do and I did when we were in Corfu filming is using my Mum’s perfume.
If performing by myself I would spray it on me or somewhere that I would be able to smell it. I would always have it on a costume or spray it on my performing partner because it calms me down.
Over The Shoulder thanks Stevie Doc for spending time to talk about MAMMA MIA! I Have a Dream and MAMMIA MIA! The West End show. We hope Stevie can come back in the future to tell us about other projects she is doing. We are sure that she is going to wow audiences during her run. Break a Leg!
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