She didn’t really know the musical Sister Act, says Kate Normington when she was auditioning and was rewarded with the part of Mother Superior. But now she is raving loudly because it’s such a fun one to do.
“I thought it was just this piece of fluff,” she notes, but was quickly persuaded to view it as much more weighty. “It’s such a hopeful piece,” she adds. And that she feels strongly is what we all need now in abundance. “It will bring cheer to people’s lives,” she feels.
Think of Mother Superiors of the ages, and Meryl Streep sprang to mind for her in Doubt, and this one is, if nothing else, tenacious.
She also loves the ’70s feel of the music, the soulful voices of the cast and the fact that the show is just such fun. “It’s loads and loads of hard work, of course,” she says. But just watching her in rehearsal, this is what she lives for. Finding yet another musical role that suits her like a glove has been glorious. And a lead, nogal!
“I wasn’t familiar with the musical, but have heard the music,” she says. But she had been going through a few lean years, and this role, like the message of the play, has given her huge hope. That’s life when you’re working in the arts, and Normington more than most will know it.
But she also gives a nod to the industry that keeps everyone young. As soon as you think there’s no hope, something great comes along and you’re again up and running.
And like now, sometimes good luck comes in bundles, which it did for her. She’s also part of an ensemble cast in an SABC3 series (26 episodes) titled Those Who Can’t. It’s about a group of teachers who can’t, she explains. Not teach, not anything much.
She describes it as funny, but has obviously fallen in love with the series. It has a few writers but was the brainchild of Alan Committie and Tom Eaton and with fellow actors Robyn Scott, who is the school’s secretary, but has illusions of grandeur, Grant Swanby, who is simply good, and Normington, who has been “typecast”, she giggles, “as a narcissist” who tries to pretend that she’s teaching to change the lives of the children, but she’s not. “She bunks school to get her nails done and is only about her own needs,” she adds.
But it was huge fun to do and with education as an underlying theme, she hopes people will tune in on Mondays at 8pm.
“It’s just a lovely little piece.”
But for now, perhaps you should rather catch her live as Mother Superior in a musical they hope spreads the joy.