FORMER EastEnders actress Scarlett Alice Johnson, best known as Vicki Fowler in the BBC soap, is phenomenally busy rehearsing for the newly-commissioned Nuffield Theatre play The Saints, which opens on Friday.

This exciting and innovative work explores the highs and lows of being a Saints fan and is the eagerly anticipated curtain-raiser to a series of events celebrating Southampton’s 50th anniversary as a city.

When I caught up with Scarlett yesterday during a frantic ten minute costume change/break from rehearsals she appeared to be in training for a leading role with the England squad itself.

Hampshire Chronicle:

The theatre is taking shape in Southampton's Guildhall Square

Swiftly changing her Saints strip for something slightly warmer the breathless actress said the role was physically exhausting: “It’s going really well but it’s mental: it’s like nothing I have ever done before! It’s a huge show; it’s epic!” she gasped.

“We are all playing more than one role with lots of costume changes and we are only a cast of eight. The space is like a festival theatre so there is lots of running around.

“It’s a really big space because it is suppose to replicate a football stadium – and that’s how it feels! I don’t know about it keeping me fit – I thought I’d be fitter!” she laughed.

“I play the character of Emily, primarily, from the age of ten years to 29 years. Playing a ten year old is VERY challenging!”

“Emily is the love interest of the lead character Kenny Glynn (Cary Crankson). Both are seen from the age of ten growing up in Southampton and they have an on-off friendship.

“They are both Saints fans and we follow their life together, their life with the city and their relationship with the football club. There are parallels between the football club’s life and their life.”

Kenny is the ‘biggest Saints fan in the world’ whilst Emily is a pretty big fan, too!

Scarlett, who is now in the fifth week of rehearsals, added: “I don’t think there was ever a play like this: it’s more like a dance. Everything is choreographed. It’s very complicated because you are running about and the staging is very unusual in terms of its shape and size. And then there are lots of tricky, technical bits, too – which I cannot reveal!”

Now aged 29 the actress – who spent eight years with EastEnders – said she never tires of people referring to her former role – even though it was from 1986 to 2004.

In more recent times she has won a whole new TV audience in her leading role as Laura in the BBC Three Comedy Pramface.

Scarlett has appeared in various theatre productions and she has TV appearances coming soon in Babylon and an episode of Playhouse Presents (called Night Shift) on Sky Arts.

  • The Saints opens at the specially constructed theatre at Guildhall Square, Southampton, on Friday with daily performances until August 17. For tickets call 023 8067 1771 or visit nuffieldtheatre.co.uk.