It’s not just Sheridan Smith’s own trials that are in the spotlight - it’s the odd, far too secretive practices of theatre itself

Smith has pulled out of the Funny Girl musical for up to a month with 'stress and exhaustion'

Sheridan Smith in the lead role as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl (Marc Brenner)

Sheridan Smith is currently starring in Funny Girl on the West End stage. She plays the real life Ziegfeld Follies star, Fanny Brice, a marvellously talented singer, actress and comedienne, whose talents are nearly derailed by a messy private life.

It’s not, one hopes, a devotion to method acting that makes the present difficulties Miss Smith is experiencing mirror her character rather too closely. What is indisputable is that here is one of Britain’s most gifted comic actresses putting a none too flattering spotlight not just on her own trials, but on the odd and far too secretive practices of theatre itself.

This week she was absent again (twice) from her lead role in ‘Funny Girl’, a real blow to ticket holders as, let’s be frank, it is Smith that they have paid large sums to see. And she is truly mesmerising in the role. This latest incident follows a curious one a couple of weeks ago when she had to abandon the performance 20 minutes in, and some in the audience were reported in the press as saying she seemed to be swaying, changing accents and acting in a drunken fashion.

The theatre management afterwards said the show was actually abandoned because of ‘technical difficulties’, a ludicrous and highly insulting excuse to the disappointed ticket holders. What technical difficulties exactly? They didn’t have the courtesy to say.

And then a few weeks earlier she refused to go on at all, for the totally justifiable reason that she had learned her father was suffering from cancer. But bizarrely she then took to Twitter to complain that the producers were harassing her about this and she might be seeing them in court.

That’s quite a little drama to play out on Twitter. But then those of us who follow the 34-year-old star on Twitter weren’t that surprised at drama on her Twitter feed. It has been a roller coaster of emotions, detailing the disappointments in her love life, her thrills at her numerous awards, and once when her purse was snatched in the street her no- holds- barred philosophising about the sort of people who would do that. One suspects that the last incident provoked some acerbic responses about why deprived people and affluent actresses, as she was so hurt by the comments that she left Twitter, a hardship for her that she didn’t continue for very long. And that is possibly because she needs what she honestly refers to as her “Twitter family”. The daily mutual affection and honesty between her and her followers is clearly a source of considerable sustenance to her. And this perky, open and seemingly transparent personality excites great affection in her fans.

But before considering this complex character, let’s pay tribute to her talent. We championed Sheridan Smith early in her career here on The Independent, giving her her first cover feature interview, because she showed from her early days astonishing comic ability. One notable example was a show-stealing cameo as James Corden’s mischievous, mouthy sister in Gavin and Stacey. She and Corden later, briefly, became an item. She made an impact in other television shows, but her real breakthrough came as the ditzy lead in Legally Blonde on the West End stage. Here she could showcase not just that unsurpassable comic timing but also her singing, which was a startling eye-opener to many. The thinking then was that Britain might have found a new musical comedy star. But some of the country’s best directors saw a lot more in her than that. Sir Trevor Nunn cast her in Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path as a woman whose husband had gone missing in the Second World War. Her performance was subtle and poignant. Michael Grandage made her a memorable hippy Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She was by now the critics’ darling, and perhaps sometimes they were too kind. For me, she was cast too early in her career as Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler at the Old Vic, lacking yet the aching desperation needed for that part. But elsewhere she continued to surprise. On television she was astonishingly affecting in the three part Cilla Black biopic. And now she has gone where few would dare, playing the part made famous in a definitive portrayal in the sixties by Barbra Streisand. No, Smith doesn’t have Streisand’s voice (who does?) but her singing is more than assured and her comic performance outdoes even Streisand.

And yet…speak to people in the industry and they are not always so flattering about Sheridan Smith. They will say that perhaps she likes to be out on the town too much, is occasionally seen the worse for wear, and could do with amending her lifestyle. Her defenders would no doubt reply that her prolific track record, work rate, awards and rave reviews, are answer enough. But it is as an admirer rather than detractor of hers that one wishes she would take a long, hard look in the mirror and resolve never to put her enormous talent at risk.

Certainly there have been missed performances. The public does not always know about them because all actors and actresses ensure they are fit and healthy on press nights. But it would be interesting to see the exact number of performances of, say, A Midsummer Night’s Dream which had the full advertised cast. And one of the country’s leading directors said to me when I brought up the name of Sheridan Smith that he was concerned about how many performances she might miss if he were to cast her. Even he, though, was in no doubt about her enormous talent and crowd-pulling ability.

It’s almost fatuous to say that a successful, much-loved actress has had a difficult life. But we should acknowledge that Smith, whose father has now been diagnosed with cancer, lost her own older brother to cancer when he was 18 and she was eight. When she played train robber Ronnie Biggs’s wife Charmian on TV and learned how they had lost a son at the age of 10, she told an interviewer: “From a personal point of view, too, the whole business of the little boy’s death was almost unbearable for me. It hit an awful raw nerve. It made me look at feelings which I thought I’d pushed away a long time ago, but which I realise now were just there, beneath the surface.”

Smith has also in her private life failed to find a secure and loving relationship, and has the strain of enormous expectations and one of the most prolific work rates in the business.

There is, too quite a sensitive soul here. When she complains, as she has this week that she is being bullied on social media, we should listen. She takes such things extremely seriously.

The answers? Well first of all, theatres must be honest with their audiences. Stop the nonsense about ‘technical difficulties’ and give audiences (and not least the performer involved) the respect of telling them the truth, always offer full refunds if a star is off — cash not just an alternative performance – and be honest about how many performances a star misses.

As for this particular star, I do not know if she is prone to any addictions, but I do sense that here is someone clearly struggling with problems who needs wise counsel. And I say what I said about Amy Winehouse and numerous others over the years: why don’t they receive the proper care and attention from those people benefitting financially from their talents? Someone should be looking after this massively gifted but somewhat troubled, young woman. Someone should be nurturing her stunning talent properly.