Legally Blonde is the next challenge for CAOS Musical Productions in Chichester

The show famously tells the story of Elle Woods – Reese Witherspoon in the film – a sorority girl who enrols at Harvard Law School to win back her ex-boyfriend Warner. Along the way she discovers how her knowledge of the law can help others… which is pretty much what lies ahead for Lauren Foord who is taking on the role. Lauren is currently working as a paralegal and is a part-time law student.

“I joined CAOS fairly recently,” Lauren says. “It was November last year. Friends had been involved in a production and I went to see it and I loved it. I was encouraged to audition and I did. I joined for a concert at Christmas time and I've been involved ever since. I was involved in Night At The Movies 2 in June and now Legally Blonde.

“I did do a couple of shows while I was still at school and then when I went off to university and did my undergraduate degree, I got involved there as well in a number of shows and I haven't stopped since. I think what I really enjoy is getting to work on a show with a group of people when you are all invested in the outcome. I find it really rewarding to work on a piece and just to see how it comes together and then if you know that you've done a good performance, the audience’s reaction at the end is really really rewarding, seeing people celebrate what you have done.”

Now the challenge is Elle: “I think she's a character that people underestimate. I'm really enjoying unpicking that. She goes on a really big journey. The person that she is at the end of the show is quite different to the person that she was at the start. I think that that person has always been there but she's never really believed in herself. She hasn't allowed herself to believe that she has got the strengths and abilities that she has. She was always focused on appearance and so on and I think that's just because she grew up in that kind of world and she's very confident in that environment but during the journey that she goes on she realises that she has a lot of traits that she hasn't allowed herself to show before. She is very intelligent and she has a passion and a strength for helping people. She can recognise when other people need help and she really does help them.

“Reese Witherspoon in the film was obviously one portrayal and there's also been the musical version. I think what I'm trying to do is just to see what feels natural for me rather than trying to replicate an image that so many people know.” It's also inevitably a big singing role: “There are some really great songs. At the end of Act I she sings So Much Better and that’s a really rewarding song. It's quite a marathon. And I also really, really love the title song Legally Blon de in Act 2 when Elle is at a very different point in her journey and we see a lot more vulnerability from her. It’s another very big sing.”