Stacey Dooley reveals why method acting worked for stage debut

What did you miss?

Stacey Dooley has joked that she turned to method acting to play an exhausted new mum in 2:22 A Ghost Story.

The documentary-maker and former Strictly Come Dancing star is making her acting stage debut in the supernatural West End show. She plays Jenny, a mum who is convinced her house is haunted by a spooky presence that walks the halls every morning at 2:22am.

Appearing on The One Show, Dooley admitted she was a bit anxious about making her stage debut as it was "unknown territory". But as she became a mum herself in 2023 when she and partner Kevin Clifton welcomed a baby girl, she figured it wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

What, how and why?

Dooley was on the sofa talking about the part on Thursday night (June 27), when host Roman Kemp asked: "Am I right in thinking, the character Jenny that you play, it's quite useful for you at the minute, it's almost like method acting right?"

"Mate," replied Dooley as she nodded. "I tell you, it's like, they said to me... I had seen the play in 2022. I won't give anything away but it all plays out in a living room. There are four characters. The girl I am playing, she is sort of on the edge of an existential crisis. She's just had a baby, the baby is still on the boob, she's knackered, it's all going on."

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She laughed: "And I thought, 'Do you know what? If I can try anything I can try this!'"

The star said of taking the part: "So when they called me I was really apprehensive but then I sort of, I was desperate to give it a go. And I thought, 'What is the worst that can happen?' Do you know what I mean?"

The star, whose role was previously played by the likes of Cheryl and Lily Allen, went on: "And I think, as well, without sounding too cheesy or whatever, this play particularly, they have always cast in quite unexpected ways and I think what that does, is it brings a different audience to the theatre."

She added: "I am just loving it, I am completely loving it."

Dooley then headed out of the studio, revealing she was due to be on stage just 40 minutes later and would be rushed there on a motorbike. A crew member then handed her a helmet and she shot off, giggling: "How showbiz!"

When did Stacey Dooley have her baby?

Dooley met former Strictly pro Clifton when they were paired up on the BBC ballroom contest in 2018. They went on to win the competition and later became an item.

They welcomed daughter Minnie — their first child together — in January 2023.