Natalie Casey loathes big days but said 'I do' to Wedding Singer

May 11 2008 By Laura Davidson

Most women go ga-ga at weddings - but actress Natalie Casey insists she would rather chow down on a bag of confetti than suffer the sight of a bride and groom saying "I do".

So you would think the Two Pints Of Lager star was signing up for the job from hell as leading lady in a new stage version of hit movie The Wedding Singer.

But instead of choking on tulle, Natalie claims she is looking on the role as "wedding therapy".

She laughed: "It's an awful thing to say but I don't like weddings. I always find them so boring.

"You have to get there at 12, you don't eat until seven, everyone's plastered and I always find myself in the corner muttering, 'Whatever'.

"I have to say though, being in this show is restoring my faith a bit.

"If I ever have a wedding of my own, I'm hoping I might like it because of this show.

"It can't help but make you warm to weddings. It's like wedding therapy."

Natalie plays waitress Julia Sullivan - played by Drew Barrymore in the hit 80s-set film - while Robbie Williams' mate Jonathan Wilkes fills Adam Sandler's shoes as wedding singer Robbie Hart.

The show's national tour features three Scottish runs - the first of which kicks off in Edinburgh later this month followed by Glasgow and Aberdeen in June and July.

Former Hollyoaks star Natalie reckons fans of the movie will love the stage version, although she and Wilkes are being careful not to do impressions of Barrymore and Sandler.

She said: "I'm a massive Adam Sandler fan and I love Drew Barrymore but Jonathan and I are both doing our own adaptations.

"I've got huge respect for Drew Barrymore - she's the queen of rom-com and knows where her strengths lie, which is very important.

"Comedy is my biggest strength. I've been doing it a long time and I love it, so this is a brilliant show for me.

"I've got plenty of time to do serious roles. I've always liked attempting to make people laugh, so that's what I tend to go for."

It's not all laughs though - there are a few scenes where Natalie has to turn on the waterworks. She reckons the experiences from her own love life make it easier to do.

She and fellow actor Paul Kemp have been an item for the past 18 months and share a house in Greenwich but before that she had a painful split with long-term boyfriend Jason Kavanagh, who played Luke Musgrove in Brookside. They had been together for eight years.

Natalie said: "Because it's a show about love, about being with the right person, it's very close to my life. I was with someone for a very long time but I knew it wasn't working out and I wasn't very sure what to do.

"Then I met someone else who I'm now madly in love with. So every day when I go into work, it's like my life. That sounds like the cheesiest thing ever but the old saying that 'when you know, you know' is so true and that's what the show is about. It just struck a chord with me.

"It was the classic actor's story with me - I went away to do a job and met someone else.

"Everything happens for a reason. Not that Jason was horrible - we had a great time and it was all lovely - but you do realise as you get older that you can't waste time.

"Nice isn't good enough. I wanted more than that. This musical is for people who feel like that. "I have to do a couple of scenes where I cry and get upset and I find it easy to do because I understand the feelings Julia is going through.

"I probably wouldn't have been able to bring that to the role had I not been through it. It's all fate." There is a 16-year age gap between 28-year-old Natalie and stage actor Paul, 44, and Natalie reckons it's a huge factor in what makes them so compatible.

She said: "I think the age gap is the best thing. You get very bored hanging around with 30-year-old men who still find it hysterical to fart in public. We women are more mature.

"I keep telling my friends the only way to go is older. I've got the last good one - Paul is definitely a keeper.

"It's going really well and for me it's important to be with another actor who understands I won't be home all the time. In saying that, Paul and I are different - he's very much a serious actor and I'm all jazz hands. We're a great combo."

Natalie's big break was in 1995 when she landed the role of kooky Carol Groves in Hollyoaks, before starring as Donna Henshaw in BBC3's hit comedy Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet of Crisps.

But she was attracted to the limelight long before those first big telly roles.

The Lancashire lass had her small screen debut aged three on BBC Saturday morning kids' show Saturday Superstore.

She was asked on when her version of Chick Chick Chicken reached No.72 in the charts in 1984, making her the youngest person ever to have a recording in the UK chart.

Natalie laughed: "Yes, it's all true. And I'll have you know I still hold the Guinness record for that, so show some respect please.

"My mum still has all the old videos of that, it's hilarious. Boy George was on the show at the same time as me and I asked him to take me to the toilet because I thought he was a lady.

"He took me as well, bless him. I was three - what the hell did I know?"

Another series of Two Pints could be on the cards and there is talk of a West End run for The Wedding Singer after its national tour.

Natalie said: "I get up in the morning and just think, 'How lucky am I?' I get to go to work every day, do something I love and have a brilliant laugh. You can't get much better than that."

The Wedding Singer is at Edinburgh's Playhouse from May 19-24 (call 0844 847 1661 for tickets), the King's Theatre, Glasgow, from June 9-14 (0870 060 6648 for tickets) and His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen, from June 30-July 5 (01224 641122 for tickets).

"On Saturday Superstore at age three I asked Boy George to take me to the loo..I thought he was a lady"