London’s new Mrs Lovett, Imelda Staunton, on loneliness

Imelda Staunton has returned to the musical stage as Mrs Lovett in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. She talked to The Telegraph:

“I read somewhere that, if you want to be different, you have to be prepared to be lonely. That's how I feel. At school, I wasn't particularly different, but I went off on a completely different path to other children.

“Though I had a lovely childhood, there was a loneliness as an only child. And I think that fuels my ability to empathise with sadness and loneliness. It just feeds everything I do.” She gives a shy smile. “I will always look for the sadness or the pain in something because I have it there and always have it.”

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.