Behind the Curtain: An Interview with The Mad Ones star Dora Gee

Harry Brogan
May 20
3 min read

In this behind the curtain interview we speak to Dora Gee star of the new musical The Mad Ones currently playing at The Other Palace theatre.

Firstly could you introduce yourself and could you tell us what The Mad Ones is about?

I’m Dora Gee, playing Samantha Brown in The Mad Ones at The Other Palace Studio! The show is an exploration of Sam’s senior year at high school and her relationships with her mother, Beverly, her sweet boyfriend, Adam, and her best friend, Kelly.

You play Samantha Brown, could you tell us a little about your character and what attracted you to the role?

Samantha is an 18 year old choosing which path she’s going to take. She’s being pulled in three different directions by the people closest to her, but is also grappling with the grief of losing her best friend, Kelly. She’s a really complex character who’s having to navigate figuring out who she is.

The main thing that attracted me to the role is the score and the challenge it presents. It’s almost sung through, so requires a huge amount of stamina, but I’ve always enjoyed taking on a bit of a challenge.

The show is making its London debut, how was the process in bringing this new musical to the stage?

Intense. We had a pretty short rehearsal period to get this up on its feet - I was lucky to have done the run in Birmingham last year, so I didn’t have to worry about learning the material, but it was still a very intense process. It’s a very emotionally driven show, and all the characters have incredibly vulnerable moments, so we had to get very comfortable as a company very quickly. Luckily, everyone in the room is dream to work with, so I’d say we managed it well.

What was your first reaction to when you first read the script and heard the music for the show?

I was in awe when I first listened to the whole soundtrack. I’ve known of a few of the songs (Run Away With Me and Say The Word) for YEARS, but the whole score is just so beautiful and moving so when I heard it for the first time, I knew it was going to be something special.

Could you tell us your journey into the industry?

I discovered musical theatre in 2006 doing The Sound of Music in London as Gretl, then Marta in 2008. As a teenager I did a lot of MT summer camps like BritYMT and NYT, and then when I was around 16, I decided that I wanted to pursue it as a career. I trained at The MTA, a drama school that was fully vocational, on a 2 year accelerated course, then graduated in the second half of 2020 to an almost non-existent industry, which was a bit daunting. I was very lucky to come out of drama school with a fantastic agent, (Al Mehdizadeh of Avenue Agents) who I’m still with, who really believes in me and has supported me every step of the way.

When you look back now at when you started your journey, what would you tell yourself? And what is the one thing that you didn’t know then that you know now?

I would tell myself not to rush. And to grab any opportunity that comes my way, because you never know what will come of it. Well, I was six, so there’s a lot more than one thing that I didn’t know!