Billie, who is married to actor Laurence Fox, is 15 weeks pregnant. She is due to perform the first preview of Neil LaBute’s play Reasons To Be Pretty at the Almeida Theatre on November 10, with an official first night on November 17.
Michael Attenborough, the Almeida’s artistic chief, who is also directing the production, said the actress was visibly distressed after the first night of My City — the Almeida’s current production.
‘She was upset and told me she was pregnant,’ Attenborough said.
He added she ‘very generously offered to withdraw’ from the show.
‘I told her that I’d love her to do it and she just wept on my shoulder,’ Attenborough told me. ‘She thought that was it. She was thrilled.’
When I saw the play performed in New York, it’s not immediately apparent that Carly, the character Billie will play, is pregnant — though you are made aware of it later. Now that LaBute has re-jigged his text, it will become very clear that Carly is expecting, which is good because by the end of the run in January, the one-time Doctor Who star will be more than six months pregnant.
It’s not unheard of for actresses to continue performing on stage when they are expecting — witness Amanda Holden in the musical Shrek recently — but it’s rare that a playwright, particularly one as renowned as LaBute, would amend a published script.
The playwright attended rehearsals and was impressed by Billie’s acting, as he was with her fellow cast members Sian Brooke, Kieran Bew and Tom Burke.
Billie and husband Laurence already have a son, Winston, who is three. She has not missed any rehearsals — and even managed to fit in a scan two weeks ago around her Almeida schedule. Reasons To Be Pretty is about the notion of beauty and how it has the power to bring joy or to destroy.
Billie’s role is that of a security guard whose partner has a bit of a wandering eye, though I’m not now sure if being a guard will still be the character’s profession.
The play is part of the Almeida’s new season. Following the LaBute drama will be The House Of Bernarda Alba with Shohreh Aghdashloo and Sarah Solemani — who stars with Russell Tovey in BBC3’s comedy success Him & Her.
Samantha Spiro follows that with Filumena, and later next year Jonathan Pryce will give us his King Lear, directed by Attenborough.
