JENN GRIFFIN chats about Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia! the Musical opens its UK tour at Mayflower Theatre on 24th October 2025

Interviewer: PatHayward 13th October 2025

Hello Jenn, thankyou for taking the time out to chat about Mamma Mia! the Musical and the new UK touring production which opens shortly in Southampton

Yes, we open on the 24th of October it’s getting closer and closer isn’t It? Oh I can’t wait, it’s so exciting, the rehearsals are ramping up now and we’re getting closer. It’s been a big old jigsaw of doing parts of each scene and all the individual bits, but now we’re running everything together and it’s just amazing. When all the cast are together that’s when the work starts in seriousness, it’s when all the pieces come together and the show starts to appear.

Jenn tell me how did you get involved with Mama Mia in the first place?

With Mama Mia the Musical, I auditioned for the West End production in 2022 and I got the job as alternate Donna at the Novello Theatre and it was my first sort of big job. It was just a whirlwind, an amazing experience in this crazy sparkly, wonderful, world where I worked for 16 months. I was in as a maternity cover for the wonderful lady who was the ultimate Donna. When she returned after she’d had her baby I joined the touring production and went out for the final leg of the tour. Not long after that tour finished I got a call asking if I might be interested in recreating Donna in a brand new touring production. I was absolutely thrilled, it was amazing.

How do you sleep when you get home at night, how do you get rid of all of those Abba songs in your head?

Who says I gotta get rid of them Pat, I love them. I’m a true Abba fan, aren’t you? It’s a party and you can’t really leave. Every time I’ve done the show you can’t part feeling anything but very, very elated because the energy of the audience and the cast behind you, the band and the crew when we do that megamix. it’s, I can’t really describe it, incredible. I get so excited, so the songs stay with me and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Have you performed in Southampton before?

I’ve never played Mayflower Theatre, I do know it’s a huge theatre and the bigger the audience the better. I mean it’s just amazing because the energy when you’re on stage is reflected back by the energy you get from the audience. It is like nothing I’ve ever felt before and so I’m so excited to open in Southampton in front of so many people. It’s gonna be incredible and as Southampton is where we open the tour it will be the first time that we, as a company, will feel the magic for real. My finity is with my hometown theatre in Newcastle, Theatre Royal and that’s the first theatre I ever went to and it was from there that my fixation with performing grew.

The tour is currently booking for 15 months ahead, so how long are you going to be with the tour?

As a cast, we’re typically contracted for a year, so I think that takes us to Eastbourne. Most performers’ theatre contracts for shows that kind of keep running, rather than ones for 3 or 4 months, tend to be a year long and then you go through a renewals process and that sort of depends on whether or not you’re going to do anything else or whether or not you want a break and of course whether the producers want to go in a different direction.

So what’s it like going into a new production of the show that you’re familiar with, although probably with a very different cast?

A great question, because obviously it’s a show that I’ve done hundreds of times in one guise or another but actually getting to do this rehearsal process as Donna from the outset and working really in depth on the songs and the scenes with all of the incredible creatives gives a different perspective. You pick up subtleties that might have been missed when stepping into an on-going production. We have an amazing team at Mama Mia and working closely with the creative team, it’s really exciting as we are constantly discovering new things in scenes that you think you know. Having done something hundreds of times you sort of think it would get a little bit boring, get a bit tired, but with these fabulous actors that I’m working with and the music and creative teams we’re constantly finding different things. It is really exciting how much of myself I’m able to bring to the role of Donna.

Do you find you adapt a little bit as the as the performances go on?

That’s a great question as well, obviously as actors we have to take a step away from our own ego in order to really get into the into the mind of the character, because at the end of the day we’re portraying someone else, however there is certain universal feelings of emotions, situations that happen and actually it’s really helpful to find authenticity in how you would react to them. So yes, I think there’s certain things in the character of Donna Sheridan that I really try and bring out that I want to relate to. She’s very brave, she’s gone and raised a daughter on her own and she upped and left home to live on this Greek island to start their own business. Yes she’s also quite vulnerable but we don’t see much of that vulnerability so there are small moments when it can come out and those are the moments when it’s quite helpful to draw on your own experiences in order to know how to feel it and portray it properly. It must work well for the other actors as well, knowing that it’s a living part. Particularly important is the chemistry between myself and my two closest friends Sarah and Rosie, we are referred to as the 3 Dynamos. In rehearsals is the first time that the three of us have met up and the chemistry just worked from our first meet and each of us could feel the energy. Offstage they’re they’re brilliant, they’re mischievous, wonderful actors and humans and so we have a bit of a giggle and that actually really lends itself to many of the scenes. The whole show is about relationships, not anyone’s, not just romantic, but but family relationships and those with friends. The sort of relationships where you can give someone a bit a stick if they’re taking themselves a bit too seriously.

Like Donna, have you been brave enough to take yourself off to a Greek island?

Do you know I’ve never been to Greece and I think I need to do some research for this show. So maybe Pat you could just let the company know that it’s something I really should do to get a better feeling for the role.

You’ve only got 10 or 11 days now before you open the musical, so I guess the pressure is on and where are you conducting the final stages of rehearsals?

We can’t wait to open and our final rehearsal space is in Belsize Park at Wac Arts Academy, a lovely space – the old Town Hall, it’s beautiful it’s a really big rehearsal space, it’s got lots of rooms, but the main hall where we rehearse is like one of those classical turn off the century spaces. It is beautiful, fantastic, and the acoustics are incredible. We have everything we need to ensure that we are totlly ready for opening the tour in Southampton .

Now Jenn, from a personal perspective if Sophie was your real daughter what is the one piece of advice that you would give her?

I think it would be ‘Don’t grow up too fast’ or ‘Don’t listen to people when they give you advice it’s always about them first’.

That’s very good and finally in Mamma Mia who, in terms of a relationship would you, Jenn actually choose, Sam, Harry or Bill?

That’s a fab question because when I first saw the show it was after I’d auditioned in town, I got the job and I’d seen the film but never the show and I remember I was completely foxed, I’d forgotten what happened in the film and so the wedding scene for me was a complete mystery and a complete surprise in that bit at the end with Sam; it was a shock to me but I do think it’s hard. I’m really sorry Pat it’s difficult to distance myself from the character in this perspective because I only know those three potential dads through the lens of Donna and you know she was in love with them. But I guess Sam was her true love, he was the one that was first and the other 2 boys, lovely as they were, came after the event. I think of Sam as the one that got away. It’s a bit like, you know, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin the love story between Pelagia and Captain Corelli, without a war in between.

Thank you so much for your time this afternoon Jenn, I am so looking forward to joining with you for a great party experience in Southampton shortly. Good luck with your final rehearsals.