When Mia Molloy took on the role of Disco Diva in the comedy Mam I’m ’Ere! at the Royal Court in Liverpool, she thought she knew what she was signing up for. But when the actress playing the lead role, Hayley Sheen, fell ill earlier this week, she got a lot more than she bargained for.
Mia moved from dancing and singing harmonies to take on the part of Sally, learning the lines and moves just hours before curtain-up.
Luckily, it wasn’t her first time on stage at the Court, having played Amy Chandler in Willy Russell’s Our Day Out as a child actress in 2009 and 2010.
Stephen Fletcher, the show’s co-producer, writer and director was delighted that she was able to step in: “without complaint or fuss she said yes and delivered one of the most impressive and confident first performances of any role I’ve seen.”
Hayley Sheen is now fully recovered and returned to the role.