Triumph on stage for former X factor star in Willy Russell smash

Niki Colwell-Evans as Mrs Johnstone with the Blood Brothers cast (photo: Bill Kenwright Productions Ltd)

Few stage shows have received quite such acclaim as the multi-award-winning Blood Brothers by Willy Russell. Having experienced the bumpy ride that is X Factor, Niki Colwell-Evans embarked on the emotional rollercoaster of starring in Blood Brothers. She tells Steve Cain about the thrills and spills of life.

Niki Colwell-Evans is the first to admit that she has a lot in common with her on stage alter-ego, Mrs Johnstone.

Both of them are working-class mothers who hail from council estates, both have worked as cleaners to make financial ends meet and both of them have an indomitable strength of character.

“I don’t actually play Mrs Johnstone,” she said. “I am just being myself with a different accent.”

Niki Colwell-Evans as Mrs Johnstone and Craig Price as the narrator (photo: Bill Kenwright Productions Ltd)

Niki has a great deal of sympathy and a great deal of understanding for the character that she has played in the West End, to great acclaim, and performed on and off in national tours since 2008.

“She’s a Catholic lady who got married when she was very young, in the late 1950s, and ends up having to bring up nine children as a single mother after her husband leaves her.

“Through a mixture of superstition and religion she is bamboozled into giving one of her new-born twins away, but she is a very down-to-earth, loving, strong woman.”

Before Niki auditioned for the role of Mrs Johnstone, she knew very little about it.

“Once I got the role I kind of researched it because I’d never seen a stage musical before and I didn’t know what Blood Brothers was all about,” she admitted.

“When I first saw Lyn Paul play the part I was just absolutely speechless, her performance broke my heart and tore me to shreds.

"She was absolutely brilliant.”

She has since seen another half-dozen actresses play Mrs Johnstone and is convinced that Blood Brothers is not only a fantastic piece of musical theatre, but a part of the cultural fabric of Britain.

Niki Colwell-Evans as Mrs Johnstone (photo: Jack Merriman for Bill Kenwright Productions Ltd)

“Willy Russell writes from his heart and from his own personal experience.

"It really does reflect real life,” said Niki.

During the past fifteen years, Niki has reprised the role of Mrs Johnstone many times, having taken breaks to appear in pantomime and other musicals including Legally Blonde, Shout, and Kinky Boots.

“The thing is you have to take breaks when you’re playing such a big, emotionally-draining role,” she explained.

“It’s not fair on the public if I’m just a robot saying lines and not feeling anything.