I don't know, I think it's part of me, I've always been like this. As soon as I was born everyone said I was a clown and I was doing little performances and things like that. It really started like this, and since the age of 10 I was singing in a choir, and then I went to the Lausanne Youth Theatre and I started dancing and then I had my own theatre company when I was 18. It's always been part of my life, and I also think that performers/actors are very free people. I always envied the actors when I saw them on stage and I thought "well you can do whatever you want, you can be whoever you want" and that's really what I loved. There's no-one in my family who's an actor or a singer or anything to do with show business, just me.

• When did you decide on a career in the theatre?

Well, I think I was about 19, that's when I decided to have a go at it, as a long-term profession.

They were, yes. They wanted me to study enough so that I could go to University, and in the meantime, I was always taking dance classes. And after that I said to myself "OK, I've pleased my parents now, I want to become serious about it" which meant basically that I had to have more training. Though I knew that you can become an overnight star, I thought this is not good enough, meaning you can't just base a whole career on luck, you have to have some sort of technique. So when I was 19, I went to New York, to Paris, to London to look for drama schools. After having decided that London is the best place, because in New York there aren't that many good ones, there's Julliard School, but that's very expensive, and Paris hasn't got as big a musical theatre tradition as London. I decided to audition for a drama school here in London, the first one I auditioned for I got into, so I came here. And that was a three year drama school.

Mountview, yes.

In the profession not really, no. I mean I am inspired by people who have got a very big range of skills, like good dancers who are very good singers and actors. I've always admired that. I had a very good teacher at school who was inspiring, a very good math teacher, he in stored in me this need for logic in everything, which is very important for an actor. Then also another person who was extremely inspiring for me, and still is, is an acting teacher called Sam Kogan I had during Mountview, and when I left Mountview I went to have further classes with him at his school called The School of the Science of Acting, in north London. I think it's very important when you're a performer that you don't think that your talent is something that comes from the Heaven or God, or your genes. Talent is just work. There's no miracle, there's no mystics about it at all. It's work.

Acting. I think that acting is on the basis of all the other skills. If you're not a good actor you are not a good singer or dancer, no matter how good technically you might be. And Cats is a perfect example for this, you might be a fantastic dancer or singer, but if you're not a cat you're useless, at least as far as I'm concerned.

I can't say…well, you know there are these films that are a milestone in a career, I would say the latest now would be Titanic. I loved Red Buttler in Gone With the Wind, I would have loved to do that one. It's more when I look at somebody's great career that I am inspired rather than a dream role. There are so many parts I'd like to do.

Cats never entered my mind and then I thought it would be a very interesting show to do, because the range of skills required. I had a private audition, my agent said "Do you want to audition for it?" I said "Yes, what part is it for, and for how long would it be?" and he said "Munkustrap, and a year" and I went "I'll never do a year, you must be joking". And here I am after two years...

Fitting the part I suppose, and that you're up for it, that's very important. I know that I got Munkustrap because I look right, cause I can sing and I can dance, and I'm professional. I mean of course I think that the requirement for getting into any show should be talent. That's it really. And of course you have to fit the part, the character.

It's a five weeks rehearsals, and that's it. So it was five weeks in all. For a part like Munkustrap it is quite a short time cause you're so much on stage and you've got so much to learn. But I have to say to me these five weeks were just the time to learn the steps and the songs and the harmonies and all that, cause after you are on for your first night you go on learning, you go on rehearsing, you go on cleaning, and really it's a non-ending process. It's been going on until now really.

Who is Munkustrap? Well, first of all, Munkustrap is a cat. He's a Silver Tabby, he lives in London and he's part of the tribe called the Jellicle Cats. These are his main characteristic. You could see Munkustrap anywhere in London, he's a normal cat owned by a normal family. The only thing about him is that, he does belong to this tribe, and this tribe is a very regulated and law abiding tribe, and within this tribe, I Munkustrap, am the leader in waiting. My only family member, recognized family member within this tribe is my father Old Deuteronomy.

He's my father, yes.

No, he has lots of sons and grandsons, Deuteronomy, and the Tugger is my half-brother. But there is very hieratic, so I am the first in line when Deuteronomy goes to his last life and then I will become "him", I will become the boss.

I am understudying him, yes, I asked to do that. When I started I didn't, and then I thought "This is getting a bit boring doing the same part constantly, why not try do something else?" I asked our director if there was any part I could understudy? Because I'm on stage so much is a bit silly I'm understudying a part who's less on stage than me, but it's a very interesting and hard part to do, so I started learning that, and I've never been on.

Well, it's a relief as well cause I would have been very nervous.

I don't know, of course I would say mine, but I think we would all say that, everyone who's in the cast would say that. I think it's really very difficult to say, each part has different requirements. I do admire the swings for instance who have to learn six or more different parts, and be constantly on hold for each of them. I would find that extremely hard because of all the things you have to learn, because of the quickness of mind you have to have. And also if you think about the part of Grizabella, everyone says "Oh she's got it easy, she comes three or four times on stage and that's it", still it is very demanding. Being off-stage can be extremely hard as well, because, what do you do all that time? And how do you get back into the show every time you come back on stage after being off for, I don't know, half an hour, or ten minutes, so that's hard too. It's one of these shows where you can't say "Oh there's a lead part, and that's the hardest" because it isn't. It's very much a company show.

Tugger. I have to admit that. I think because he represents everything I would like to be, I don't know who's talking now, if it's me or Munkustrap, I think it's a lot Munkustrap, it's more Munkustrap than me. Munkustrap is strict, and - he doesn't show it, he would never admit it - but there is quite a lot of envy towards Tugger, because Tugger does exactly what he wants. He's a younger brother, he doesn't have all the responsibility, he hasn't got ANY responsibility at all, and he's extremely free. Everyone likes him. Munkustrap, he's respected, but he's not particularly liked. You don't really like your leader, the one who tells you what to do constantly. And I think it's a fantastic part, it's a very good part, so yes, I'd liked to do that.

I suppose the fight is one of these bits where I have to get my head round it. Physically.

Yes, the fight between me and Macavity. I think also, depends on the night, but the ball can be very physically demanding too. Really all the moments in the show which I find hardest are the ones that require a lot of physical strength.

Cardiac arrest?

I don't know if I'm avoiding it actually, a cardiac arrest can be something that you program in a long term way, so I might not be avoiding it. But I avoid injuries, and I avoid getting ill by being extremely dedicated, you have to take care of yourself a lot. The way that I do it, I do yoga, and I take cold baths, I am very regular about that. I take a cold bath before going to bed and in the morning, and cold showers here a the theatre as well. It boosts my immune system, and it's very good for everything basically. You know that being a Scandinavian. And generally healthy thinking is very good. The thing with this show is that if you're mentally a bit down or if you're sort of thinking "Oooh I can't get through this tonight" then you're much more likely to have either a cold or an injury or anything like that. I believe that anything that happens to you in term of illnesses and injury are, for most of them, self inflicted, and you can avoid them. I mean, for the last contract I haven't been off once, yet, for the last five months.

Yes, I have. I've broken my nose. And also little minor things, but I would say I could have avoided them, if I had paid more attention.

It was after the fight when Macavity throws me on the floor, I knocked the side of my nose on a piece of scenery.

It was during the show, I had to go on.

I could have gone off, I suppose, and had my understudy go on, but it was just painful. It wasn't bleeding or anything. I did not have the operation before two weeks afterwards, and still went on until the operation.

Of course, for example in terms of the choreography I would say I am never 100% clean, that would be fantastic. It's more minor things. Each show is an attempt to perfection, but it's very very far from it. I am talking for myself here.

No, never.

Yes

The first time I think it took about two hours...

In drama school we had make-up lessons, and again it's something that you learn as you're doing the show. You're being taught the make-up while you rehearse, you try it yourself at home a few times and then it's really up to you to perfect it. And you can perfect it as much as you want, you can go on and on and on, you can stay three hours and still have more to do. I've decided for myself one hour is the maximum I would spend, and sometimes when I'm late I can still do the same make-up in forty minutes.'

No. You do a little bit. I remember when I first started - you know these very fine lines around the eyes - if I completely messed up I just wiped that little bit and did it again.

Most of it is called Dermapot, it's very thick and greasy.

It stays greasy, but you have to put a lot of powder on top, so it does dry, and I have to powder tons. When it's finished, I could go swimming with this make-up and it still wouldn't move.

That's a lie. You have to buy your own removal stuff. No way would we... you know... fetch all the stuff. All the stuff we have to put ON our faces is provided by the theatre, and it makes sense, if everyone would get their own stuff it would be the wrong color and whatever. But everything we have to use to get our make-up off is something that we have to pay ourselves. That's a lot as well, I use a lot of wool because there's a lot to take off.

I come here usually at the theatre 5.30, and the show starts at 7.45. I'm the first one in the theatre, so this is like a maximum time. You are requested to do a warm-up which really isn't enough to get ready for the show. It's a 20-30 minutes warm-up, physical and vocal warm-up. Between that and the make-up and costume and all that I would say two hours.

I would say the costume about every sixth months. The shoes need replacing more often.

They get thrown out. I would keep one costume and wig for myself. To dress up at party's and stuff!

It feels funny I would say. Because you've done two years of it and it is such a routine. You have to prepare yourself for it and that takes all day long. It's strange because I realise now that basically by Monday I will have a completely free day, which is freaky. So mentally you have to prepare yourself for that. I realised three weeks ago I started to wind myself down but it was far too early. I started to get so tired during the show. So you get ready for something else, but it is weird, it has been such a big part of my life.

Yeah, I do. As far as I'm concerned I've never done anything as hard and as rewarding. It's been very.... both...

Well, you know… it's like the famous last words, but I would really not want to. The principal of an actor is to go from part to part. These kind of musicals are a new phenomenon in the history of musical theatre, you never had shows going on for eighteen years at eight shows a week. This is completely new, and to do the same thing constantly becomes like a nine to five job, so I would like not to come back, but you never know.

Yes.

Let's say it's got it's good and it's bad. I was quite disappointed by the editing, I have to say. It is a very difficult show to understand in terms of the plot, as it is, and as you see in the theatre I think you understand it more than in the film which is a shame, because with the camera you can tell the story easily, more easily. Because of the way that it's been put together you just feel it's one number after the other, without any care of threading everything together which is a big shame. The dancing and the singing are, as I said before, not as important as getting the right mental picture for being a cat. That is what makes Cats magical, nothing else, and I think there was a bit of that missing.

I don't know... this is all politics... I suppose that they wanted to do all of that here, and he (Michael Gruber) was over there. Really, they asked people in the present cast to do the publicity shots because it was easier. We all have our costumes already, we know how to put the make-up. But if any of us, if I had said for example "no I do not want to do it, because the money is appalling" - which it was - , they would have said "fine, we'll get one of the other thousands Munkustraps who have done it before you". And that's it. You see, it is a big machine this Cats business, and a very successful one.

I think this is my favorite so far. I've done a lot of different things, and really, if I enjoyed what I was doing, and if I thought that what I was doing was good, then that's all that matters. And I think this is one of the things I've enjoyed doing so far.

I suppose more established, with a better agent, married and with a kid. I would like to become a father, I'm engaged now. And I suppose with more television and film credits.

I can't say. It's a different technique, you're always tempted to say it's easier to do television but in a sense it isn't. It physically easier, maybe because you're waiting so much, but it's a different reward.

It was a Mozart mass, I can't remember which one... A boy soprano, soloist line.

I would be doing....? I don't know. I suppose my parents would have liked me to do something like a lawyer, or a doctor or something like that, my fathers' a doctor. So I suppose I would have more money. But I can't say. For example if I could not do this, what would I do? Difficult to say. I think I still would do something that had something to do with show business.

Yes, I'm doing "Bless the Bride" at the Kings Head.