Welcome back to our weekly interviews with cast and crew! Check back every week for another behind-the-scenes look at Romeo and Juliet and Mercutio and his Brother Valentine (RJMV)

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Who are you? – My name’s Hilary; I’m a student at Queen’s. I study drama and psychology, and do theatre things and choir things. I’m playing the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet.

What’s your theatre background? – I was in a play in grade 6 and got a big role, and was completely thrilled – that was my first taste of things. It was super small – in a church basement – but that was how things started. I took drama in high school and loved it, and then ended up taking it in first year university and loved that, and ended up majoring in it – now medial.

How and why did you get involved with Impromptu? – I got involved with Impromptu last year through Renata Colwell. We were having drinks with our choir, and she mentioned to me that they needed a stage manager for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, so I said “I’ll apply, but I’ve never stage-managed before,” and I got it! It was crazy, and I had no idea what I was doing, but it went well.

What has been the best part of RJMV for you so far? – Yesterday’s rehearsal was the first time I was there with the whole cast. We were doing the party scene from Romeo and Juliet, and it was really great to see the chemistry between all the cast members. Working with director Matt Davis is awesome – I’ve worked with him on backstage stuff before, but I’ve never actually been able to have him direct me as an actor, so that’s going to be a really great challenge for me. Doing my scenes with Ryan [Armstrong, playing Romeo] is also going to be great – he’s got so much energy that it’s going to be fun playing off that.

What is the best idea you’ve had for the Nurse so far? Any ‘aha!’ moments? – Well, I’m sort of new to the cast, so the Nurse is in the beginning stages for me. My first ‘aha’, which was something that came from Matt, is that she has possibly had a little thing with Capulet, because he’s a bit of a ladies’ man. I’ve also been thinking about her past and how she lost a child and a husband pretty tragically, and how that makes her connection to Juliet that much stronger, because Juliet is almost the only family that she has left.

What is something that most people don’t know about you? – I used to take diving lessons when I was in elementary school – that’s one random fact. I’m Finnish – I’ve got a Finnish last name. And my great-great-great-great-grandfather was the mayor of Toronto.

If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?  – My aunt. She died years ago, and she was awesome.

What is your favourite Shakespearean play? – Richard III and Romeo and Juliet. Richard III was my first spark into Shakespeare, because I had a really great teacher in grade 10 who explained it to me, and I’ve had a fondness for that play ever since. It was the first one I really understood. And Romeo and Juliet is just a gorgeous classic with so much passion and tragedy and all the stuff that’s great in theatre.

What does your future hold? – The plan is to finish my undergraduate degree, and then I’m probably going to pursue a Masters in counseling or social work, and hopefully work with kids. Other than that, it’s a mystery!

Why should people come and see RJMV? –  Impromptu is a wonderful new theatre company that has been doing great things, we’ve got an incredible cast, and having two shows in rotation is really interesting, so if people can get out to see both, they’ll really play off each other in interesting ways. Everyone involved is really fantastic, and that should make for a great pair of shows!