Nina Toussaint-White: ‘You can’t always do passion projects when you need to put food on the table’

What production made you fall in love with theatre?

It was probably a panto. I remember seeing Peter Pan somewhere when I was a kid. The crocodile came out and sang Elton John’s Crocodile Rock and ran around the theatre. That idea of being free and running around and pretending to be somebody else just captured me.

What are you finding inspiring at the moment?

When I get home from work, I shut off and watch absolute trash. What I am finding inspiring, though, is my fellow cast members and their creative processes. Ella Hunt is playing Alice, who is a stripper, so she has been doing pole-dancing lessons for three months and can now hang upside down just by her legs. I find that inspiring.

What do you wish you could change about the performing arts?

I would like to see more diversity in positions of power. I think that is changing, slowly, but more could be done.

What role do you really want to play?

There’s nothing specific, really. I was typecast when I was younger. I always played young mums in council estates. Then I got older and I started playing detectives. Now I’m getting more mature, it’s mumsy roles. I’d like to do something really physical, involving martial arts or something.

What is the worst thing that has happened to you on stage?

I was in David Mamet’s Race at Hampstead Theatre with Jasper Britton in 2013. In the middle of one scene, he picked up a telephone prop and it went flying out into the auditorium. He took it in his stride, but I completely froze. I’m like that. If someone messes up on stage with me, I wish them luck because I won’t help them out.

What is the best thing that has happened to you on stage?

It is not on stage, but in 2019 I made a short film called Ambition with Simon Russell Beale, writer Matt Redd and director Ryan Andrew Hooper. It only took two days to film and it wasn’t a big project, but there was so much heart in it and that made it a really lovely experience to be involved with.

What projects are you involved in at the moment?

I’m playing Anna in Closer at the Lyric Hammersmith until mid-August, alongside Jack Farthing, Ella Hunt and Sam Troughton. The director, Clare Lizzimore, wrote to me and asked me to audition. I found that so humbling because I’ve always had a bit of imposter syndrome. They sent through a script, but I’d lost my glasses, so I watched the film version with Jude Law, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman and Julia Roberts. What a cast – but ours is better. I then read the play and realised I would be a fool not to do it. 

It is an actor’s dream. The dialogue is so punchy and clever and there is so much to mine in it. Some people have suggested that the sexual politics in it are quite dated, but I don’t think they are. Everyone can identify with that animalistic urge to be loved. It is ultimately a play about relationships and that means it is still relevant today. 

Closer is at the Lyric Hammersmith until August 13. For more: lyric.co.uk