Hannah Dodd is adept at an artistic baton pass. First, she slips seamlessly into season three of one of the biggest period dramas of the decade (Bridgerton, in case you couldn’t guess). And now, she steps into the West End’s heady, epicurean Kit Kat Club as protagonist Fraulein Sally Bowles in Cabaret. “It’s pretty scary,” she says as I fangirl about her performance.
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club has been running since December 2021 with a star-studded cast including Eddie Redmayne, Aimee Lou Wood, Jessie Buckley, Fra Fee, and even model Cara Delevingne. Dodd dons vibrant wigs and drab lingerie for the puppet-cum-punk spectacle where she is centre stage for a 16-week run. Phones are banned, the theatre is almost unrecognisable from its historical Mousetrap days, and it’s set in the round so everyone can devour the performances from all angles. Dodd is not only flamboyant and fantastic but she brings a doe-eyed vulnerability to Bowles and some palatable sweetness to a character who can quite easily become sickly.
To the untrained musical eye, Cabaret could pass for Moulin Rouge or Chicago but this is no cheesy ‘tits and teeth’ show. Yes, there are tits, and there are teeth; but the costumes are fabulously demure, the make-up gives evil clown, and the character arcs as deep and dingy as the staircase taking you into the theatre. There is no big love medley, there are very few feathers, and only a small smattering of jazz hands. There is, however, a performer hanging from the balustrades before you’ve even taken your seat, a revolving stage set in a Cabaret club I wish I had a time machine to transport myself to, and a raunchy dance sequence featuring some deviant placement of French baguettes. I’d say it’s worth going to watch for that alone.
Yet the real magic of this show lies in the fact it’s not all hedonism and humour – there’s a hearty dose of darkness woven through the production’s plot, which circulates around confronting historical commentary. Set at a nightclub in progressive 1930s Berlin, Cabaret illustrates an oscillating contradiction between expressive freedom, sexual liberation, and the ominous incoming Nazi reign.
Jumpsuit: Richard Quinn Earrings, rings: Tasaki
Dodd’s character of Bowles is a performer at the club, a British runaway seeking escape. A post-modern femme fatale; a damsel in distress who won’t let herself be saved. I think my therapist would deem Sally Bowles’s attachment style ‘intensely avoidant’. In fact, Dodd reckons Sally would be one to leave someone on read: “I think people like Sally tend to be the ghosters; they disappear when things get hard.” She references certain heartbreaking scenes in the show (no spoilers) and shares her opinion that a real-life Bowles would result in many scenes never taking place at all: “She’d be too busy running away.”
I ask her about how she gets into Sally’s head, given her emotional complexity: “I think characters can be ideas and they can represent establishments, but I really wanted to make Sally a human; I definitely pulled on a few Sallys in my life,” she tells me. “I do think that a lot of the time those magnetic magic people are often in quite a lot of pain. There’s normally something that has happened in their life that has created this kind of persona.”
Playing a role like Sally is taxing; she’s high-energy, chaotic, and the staging means she rarely has any time in the wings. It’s all-in. “There are days when you do feel the pressure to go and be huge. It can be quite difficult.” Unlike Sally Bowles, she’s very candid about how she doesn’t have everything figured out yet. One of the biggest challenges has been keeping her body going. “I’m clueless to a lot of it; I’m working it out as I go. There’s been a lot of support. I was in physio from week two!”
The rest of the cast keep her going. In fact, they are her inspiration. They warm up collectively; it helps them connect. “We’re all in it together. As a cast, they are incredible. And the energy that they bring!” she says, eyes wide in amazement. “The ability to adapt all the time; it’s incredible. With many of them playing multi-roles every single night. I don’t know how their brains do it. I literally am in awe of them all.”
Shorts, jacket and shoes: Giambattista Valli; earrings and ring: David Morris; tights: Calzedonia
Dodd grew up with Broadway pumping through her veins. “When I was at college, it was always Legally Blonde. Singin’ in the Rain is my favourite film. And I like Chicago, also White Christmas, and of course, Hamilton is amazing.” Getting back into a musical is a dream come true; she never envisaged she’d be playing a role like Sally Bowles, so you can understand why she feels like she has to rise to the stage – it’s not just the audience expectation but hers also.
Despite training in dance and musical theatre at The London Studio Centre, recent screen roles hadn’t required her to use her voice much. Bridgerton’s dancing? Well, it’s more a coordinated walking. “I hadn’t sung in years. Also not just to be singing… but belting…” She raises her eyebrows, taking a deep breath. Bowles’s range is challenging, and the role requires a vocal tour de force. Yet with her doe-eyed vulnerability she manages to deliver a raw, truthful performance of the title numbers, too.
What of the rituals? “I’ve tried not to get too superstitious about things.” The one constant she does have for each performance is a dressing room interval sit-down with the show’s other outlandish and high-energy lead, the Emcee, played spectacularly by Rob Madge. They’re hilarious yet haunting; Dodd and Madge pass like ships in the night on stage. From their hug I witness during the curtain call, I can tell their bond is wound tighter than the jack-in-a-box Emcee costume.
Their midway moment is integral to keeping them both calm amid the madness on stage: “I think I would now be quite distressed if we didn’t do that together. We always have a little check-in then because we don’t interact until the end of the show. We have tiny little moments before entrances and exits, and there’s a lot of them – holding onto each other and just passing it on. It’s kind of like a relay race.”
Dress and shoes: Gucci
Necklace, earrings, ring: Mouawad
Cabaret walks a tightrope every night; inherently joyous yet deeply uncomfortable, the cast and audience work symbiotically to create the energy of the show. “There are certain scenes, without giving away spoilers, where some audiences find it hilarious, and other nights you can hear a pin drop; it changes every time.” It’s demanding of the cast who have to be reactive and deliver regularly.
Dodd sometimes struggles with the undulating energy and the emotional intensity of her character. “I get this guilty feeling that the audience on week one might have missed out on something I discover in week four.” It’s clear this stuff really matters to her.
How did Sally Bowles come to be? A good old-fashioned email, apparently. “I got an audition in my inbox and naturally had a massive freakout, which is what normally happens. I say I can’t do it, and then send it in anyway.” The opportunity nearly passed her by on diaries alone. “I was filming when they were doing in-person auditions. I was devastated.”
A little while later she was invited in to meet Rebecca Frecknall and Stuart Burt, the director and casting director. Dodd thought she tanked it. “I came out and said that’s not going to happen. And in that time, we found out that Bridgerton wasn’t going to be filming.” Things suddenly started happening very quickly. She barely had a minute to think about it.
Dress: Luisa Spagnoli | Shoes: Aquazzurra | Earrings, bracelets and rings: Cartier
We discuss how the quick-moving decisions can be a good thing; I notice an overthinking trait in Dodd from the first ten minutes of our conversation (takes one to know one). “Are you a psyche-outer?” She nods frantically and smiles back. “Yes, yes. The brain is very busy,” she laughs. “I always think of a million different endings and what’s going to happen.”
She’s not just thinking hard but working hard too and clearly puts in due diligence for every role; not necessarily method, but definitely methodical. Her well-organised bookshelf is evidence of that. She tells me about its organisational system. The TV adaptations sit together on a shelf, organised by series. And the others? Colour-coded, of course. It isn’t surprising to me that she fills her downtime with very wholesome, replenishing, and utterly normal activities like reading, long walks in nature, and some time horizontal. “I love a good binge of a TV show.”
Bridgerton was one of these shows she binged before she was in it. Joining at season three was intimidating, especially as she was a recast of an existing character. “I loved the show, I watched the show; it was such a success. Stepping into that is quite something. I mean, I say Cabaret is scary, but joining that cast was really scary.”
She was honoured to step up but a little daunted: “I wanted to give the original stars the respect; they were the ones who made the show what it was.” The word scary crops up again as she talks fondly of Ruby Stokes, who played the introverted Francesca Bridgerton before she had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict. “I always say that we share Francesca.”
Full look: Chanel
You’d think with a big show, a big cast, and a huge audience that there could be a bunch of ego battles on set, but Dodd’s experience is that it’s “pretty chill” and “so lovely.” She tells me how everyone sits on set drinking tea together in their robes. “It’s weird that while filming it’s all so normal.” It seems the only real drama happens when this show gets passed over to the audience.
Aside from dunking a digestive in her dressing gown with the nation’s sweetheart Jonathan Bailey et al, there’s very little about acting in Bridgerton that could make me envious (ignore the fact that I cannot act for a second). The chance you’ll be turned into a viral meme? No thanks. Wearing corsets? Ugh. Not to mention the unrelenting stream of high-fashion photoshoots that come with the job. All of the above would be enough to send me into a small mental breakdown.
Dodd lets me in on the pressure of being part of one of the biggest ensembles on TV. She was rapidly sucked into the universally adored show and hurled into fashion events, global press tours, and quickfire video interviews. “Yes, your brain is just constantly going round and round.”
We chat about the noise that accompanies press and premieres. “Even in situations like this, when I’m being interviewed, I get so anxious because I do the research, I love my characters and I want to be able to articulate it all properly.”
She enjoys the fashion side of things and feels incredibly grateful to experience the repercussions of the show’s success. “I’m very grateful for a lot of those opportunities and situations. I’ve got to travel with my friends, see the world, work with incredible brands.” But having to face the world as herself? As Hannah? That’s unnerving. Scary, even. In fact, to Dodd it’s maybe more terrifying than either of her two big recent roles put together.
Full look: Valentino
“Will I be enough for what people’s idea of me is?” Dodd wonders. She has a loveable charm that makes me want to answer in nothing but gushing compliments, even though I know the question is rhetorical. “People watch you on a show and they have this idea of you and then it’s about whether or not you match up to it. I know it’s not my job to match up to somebody’s idea of me, but I don’t like letting people down.”
Dodd tells me a funny story of not knowing if she should get out of the car on season three because it felt arrogant to wave to fans, then seesawing in thought to the opinion that by not waving she could come across as mean. Clearly, she’s an overthinker – in the best way. I find her incredibly endearing. A fellow people-pleaser. (Again, takes one to know one.) “It’s a weird side of me,” she replies.
In terms of the million different endings that she often imagines, when it comes to her career the story is only beginning. I ask her to cast her mind forward to when her time on Cabaret ends. “Oh my god,” she says with a big swallow. She’s not the first to admit it’s a challenging mantle to be handed. White Lotus and Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood was quoted as saying it almost killed her. This is a role, and a show, whose significance can only be truly appreciated by the select few who have played it.
“I think I’m an absolutely broken human for Sally,” says Dodd. “I really hope that I walk away proud. I hope it’s going to make me a better actor.” I don’t think she knows quite how talented she is already. If she does, she’s an incredibly good actor. Either way, it’s a good sign.
What’s next for Dodd, I wonder? “I’ve always said I’d love to do a musical film,” she buzzes excitedly. “I always kind of talk about the golden age, like old-school Hollywood movies. I grew up watching them. I absolutely love them, but also I don’t want any of them to be remade because they’re all gorgeous. Something in that kind of realm I would absolutely love to do.” Were I a Hollywood producer, I’d pencil down Dodd for the next La La Land.
I sense the S-word (scary) might jump up again if she were cast. She may appear worried about how things will play out but she shouldn’t be. Having seen Hannah Dodd perform on stage, screen, and now after chatting to her for a brief period, I’m certainly not fearful for what her future might hold. The show will go on. After all, life is a cabaret, old chum.
View on Instagram
Hannah Dodd stars in Cabaret until 20 September 2025. Bridgerton returns in 2026.
