'I set up a performing arts school to future-proof my career'

From the age of 11, Rosanna Harris was determined to follow her love of theatre - and has since risen up the ranks on the big stage.

Playing parts in Grease The Musical and The War of the Worlds, the now 34-year-old is starring in Legally Blonde, which will be on stage at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre in Buckinghamshire - close to where she perfected her skills at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.

But in a profession that is notoriously hard to break into and sustain, she said her decision to set up a performing arts academy early in her career had taken away some of the stress of "how I'm going to pay my mortgage".

She told the BBC it meant she could successfully "do the two things that I'm passionate about, which is performing and also inspiring future performers".

Harris plays the role of Serena - one of Elle Woods' best friends - in Legally Blonde, which is a musical adaptation of the 2001 film starring Reese Witherspoon.

It has toured across the country since February in places such as Milton Keynes, Southend, Birmingham and Norwich.

In March, the production will transfer to the London Coliseum in the West End for nine weeks.

She said her homecoming in Aylesbury this month offered an "extra layer of buzz and excitement" to the tour.

"It's the most local venue for all my friends and family and they're all coming, almost everyone I know - my old school teachers are all coming, and all of my students that I've taught before I was on tour," she said.

Harris is also the second cover for the lead, Elle, currently being performed by Strictly Come Dancing finalist Amber Davies and first cover Hannah Lowther.

It is a role she has yet to play during the tour.

"I love being Serena. I love her confidence, she's fun and sassy and she's a girl's girl, so if it happens, it happens - but I would love to give it a go [playing Elle] maybe once," she said.

As well as being able to sing, dance and act, another skill that Harris, from Radlett in Hertfordshire, has had to perfect is "delegation".

This is so she can run her performing arts school in Elstree and charity, The Birthday Dreams Foundation.

"I trust my team to be running things whilst I'm away on tour," she said.

"It's a lot to juggle, I just find admin hours and time whenever I can.

"I set up my performing arts academy when I was in my third year of training [at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 2014] so I had something else - it helps financially. I don't need to be worrying about how I'm going to pay my mortgage.

"[It means] I love the performing jobs more - because I'm not doing it because I need to pay the bills, I'm doing it because I love performing.

"It's the best of both worlds."

Legally Blonde is on stage at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre from 6-10 October.

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