e steps into the role of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which opened at the Theatre Royal last night.
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Made famous by Audrey Hepburn in the film version of Truman Capote’s novella, the part is one Friel wants to make her own.
“One of the scary things at first for me was thinking, ‘Gosh! People will assume they’re coming to see an Audrey Hepburn impression’ and that won’t be happening,” said Friel.
The actress, who sprang to fame in the now defunct TV soap Brookside, points to the fact the film is set in the 1960s, whereas the current stage adaptation harks back, like the source material, to the 1940s.
“The film was set in 1960, so straight away we’re going to look different in terms of clothes and hairstyle,” she said.
As well as sporting a succession of stunning 1940s dresses, Friel gets her kit off entirely in parts of the show and no doubt coincidentally she has received mostly positive reviews for her performance.
The Independent called her a “a bewitching stage presence”, the Telepgraph said she “will capture all but the hardest hearts” and the Daily Mail pronounced Friel “disconcertingly adorable”.
