Photo credit (image on the right): Mark Douet
Grimsby-born Rochenda Sandall has packed a great deal into the three and a bit years since she graduated from RADA in 2012. With no original plans to be an actress, a star turn in a school production of the musical Sister Act pointed her in the direction of drama school.
Since then her choices have been smart. In 2013, Sandall performed alongside Thor and The Night Manager star Tom Hiddleston in Coriolanus at the Donmar Warehouse. Many of the productions she has performed in have been acclaimed. She was recently nominated for The Offies (The Off West End Theatre Awards) for Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunuchs, while another one of her productions (Pomona) scooped up three awards.
Her Northern roots served her well as a police officer in Coronation Street in 2015, and now she plays a police officer again in Richard Bean’s The Nap at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. Sandall tells Joy Francis why she is keen to do more TV roles, why getting into the audition room is an achievement and that despite actors of colour being “batted off” regularly, things are changing for the better.
You are playing Eleanor in the new comedy thriller The Nap by acclaimed playwright Richard Bean. It’s about a vegetarian snooker player. What’s your role and why did it appeal to you?
My role is Eleanor Sergeant who is a police officer at the NCA, a new strand of the police force; the English FBI. It deals with nationwide crime, such as organised crime, drug warfare and terrorism rather than just local criminality. She is going to the snooker championship to investigate and make sure there isn’t any match fixing. What appeals to me about the character is that Eleanor is a fantastic independent woman who is a strong single female.
How are you finding performing this type of comedy after playing quite thespian roles?
I did a little comedy stint at Southwark Playhouse [Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunuchs], which has been shortlisted for the Offie. My scene was uber dramatic but it was black comedy. This [The Nut] is the first comedy I have done that is quite quippy and light on its feet. The cast and everyone involved are so lovely and relaxed. It doesn’t feel pressured in the wake of the success of One Man, Two Guvnors. I know with some projects it can be chaotic, but this is chilled out.
You graduated from RADA in 2012 and performed in Coriolanus at the Donmar Warehouse with Tom Hiddleston a year later. What was that experience like for you?
It was brilliant. Tom’s a huge film star, but he really wanted it to work. There were four of us in the chorus and we played 38 characters between us, so we were on stage as much as he was. Shakespeare is a completely different game. We all have a similar understanding of the text and we have to make sure it’s relatable to a modern audience, especially because of Tom’s role in Thor. It was crazy. We couldn’t even get tickets for our family. People were camping outside the theatre.
Coronation Street is a TV institution, a national treasure and very different from the stage. What made you decide to go audition for the soap and what surprised you the most about the acting process there?
I had already played a police officer in Doctors [BBC1]. The main difference is that it’s very quick and you have to be ready by yourself. You don’t have time to prepare with other people, and it can be nerve-wracking when they say action as you have one to two takes to get it right. The pros can learn their lines on the spot. They are wonderful and have been going for many years for a reason. It gave me practice with less pressure than a huge dramatic process. Also I grew up in Grimsby. I think it did help that I was Northern. I think you need to have a Northern base with Coronation Street.
What drew you to acting?
I fell into it by accident. Around 16 or 17, I got coerced into doing a school show. It was Sister Act. I played the Whoopi Goldberg’s character. I have a sneaky suspicion that I was given the part as I had brown skin within a largely white population. I got thrown into it at the deep end and then tried for drama school, but I had to promise to do my A levels first.
What do you need to know and do to have a ‘successful’ career?
What I’ve learnt is to always have a good relationship with your agent – if you are lucky enough to have one. That is vital and has been a process. Then there’s the audition room. If you get through an audition door you have achieved something already. Never forget that. They audition 10 people per part, so if you get through those doors they are already considering you. Sometimes I can go in for an audition and then 18 months later they can call me in again. Auditions are key. It’s about being known, getting to know people and them knowing you.
What would you like to do next?
This year I’d like to concentrate on getting more TV gigs. I’m never in a rush. It’s a marathon, not a race.
Any advice for budding actors, particularly of colour?
Keep at it because the world is changing. The issues facing actors of colour are in the news every day, so I think we are at a stage of progress. Keep focused and keep working. I know we get batted off quite a lot, but it’s important to keep fighting the cause. I hope we can get to a stage when you can be cast for a whole range of roles in a casting room rather than you just being cast because you are black, Asian, mixed race.
Rochenda Sandall is starring in The Nap at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.