KATE Millner is an actor and storyteller originally from the Midlands but now based in Maldon.

She is about to launch Tales on the River, special storytelling boat trips on the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation near Heybridge.

For more details go on-line at www.talesontheriver.co.uk

What or who got you interested theatre? Did you take part in any productions at school?

I was always singing and performing, doing shows in the front room and dressing up in my nan's net curtains. I still have my Snow White script from when I was 12 and I still remember the first speech I spoke as Snow White. As I got older, my passion in performing developed. I saw Kenneth Brannagh, Richard Briers, Emma Thompson and Company perform A Midsummer Night's Dream and King Lear at Birmingham Rep, then Derek Jacobi on stage a few years later and I was hooked. While I was at Cambridge doing my postgrad in teaching, I kept sneaking off to do productions with the other students in town. I performed at the ADC Theatre, mainly, where I worked with the likes of David Mitchell (of Mitchell and Webb) and composer Adam Cork.

Are or were any members of your immediate family involved in the theatre?

Nope. Not one. Even though we went to see many a production when I was young, a career as a professional actress wasn't exactly encouraged. My own daughter shows her creative streak in different ways, mainly in film and photography and my nieces (who live in the West Midlands) love going to theatre school at a weekend.

Who is the most inspiring person you've worked with and why?

Many. Too many to name. In amateur, semi-pro and pro-theatre. I do remember, however, sitting waiting to audition at The Connaught Theatre Worthing for the part of Beauty in the Christmas production of Beauty and The Beast, picking up a flyer and realising that one of my heroines, Gemma Craven from the film The Slipper and The Rose (a film I had watched over and over from childhood) was going to be the Fairy Godmother in it. I was adamant I'd work my socks off to get the part and I did! I remember she told me off for still having the sticker on the bottom of my sparkly diamond shoes after the wedding walk down at the end of one of the dress rehearsals. Funny how things stick in your mind. I worked a lot with director Laurence Sach at The Playhouse Harlow. Now, he is a director I'd like to work with again. Such drive and vision. He directs in the north of England, now. Oh, and Kelly Hunter of Flute Theatre recently. She was electrifying at a recent Shakespeare workshop I attended as a part of The Mercury's Early Career Development Programme - awe-inspiring,

What formal training have you done?

Aberystwyth University, joint Hons degree in drama with art history. After getting my teacher qualification at Cambridge, I landed a six month teaching in education tour, so I never went back to my parent's home after Uni. One job led to another and soon I was living in a flat share with some other actresses in London with a good agent, an Equity card and steady work.

Do you have any specialist skills - anything from stilt walking to dress-making - which you work into your repertoire?

I am a singer and I'm learning the violin to accompany myself, and I use puppetry all the time.

Which experience/role do you regard as the highlight of your career to date?

Playing Electra at The Playhouse Theatre, Harlow, and Hedda Gabler, both directed by Laurence Sach. A few years previous to that, touring nationally as Company and understudying all female parts in Rupert Goold's Greenwich Theatre production of Romeo and Juliet. That was a gift of a job.

What has been your most embarrassing moment on stage?

Not so much embarrassing, more scary, slipping on stage as Castiza in The Revenger's Tragedy. I remember speaking my speech, going down, a loud collective gasp from the audience, then I was on my feet again continuing the text. As soon as I got into the wings I collapsed with the pain. I was taken to hospital after the curtain call. They said my wrist wasn't broken. I did the last couple of performances in a simple bandage. Turned out it was broken and I was recalled to get a cast.

What role would you most like to play and why?

I always wanted to play Abigail Williams in The Crucible. Now I am older it would have to be Goodwife Proctor. I think I would welcome any role that provokes thought and an intensity of being.

Ever corpsed on stage? What happened?

In Beauty and The Beast, when Beauty is sat at her dressing table reading her book. All the back stage crew had stuck very inappropriate images all over the pages of it and were standing in the wings just waiting to see what I did. Or when I went on to the stage as Cinderella after the ball in Into the Woods, singing about how she had lost her shoe. It wasn't until I got on stage and started singing that I realised I had forgotten to take one off. Luckily it was a very long gown and I faked the hobbling.

Any big plans for the future?

There's never a day when I don't reflect and add more to my list. Life is an adventure, full of twists and turns and changes. My career has been forever evolving and I enjoy that so very much.There are always new creative avenues to explore, whether you invent them yourself or are given them as a gift. I am not one to sit and wait for them to come my way.

Any tricks for remembering your lines or other useful tips to pass on to other actors/directors?

I find learning a section before bed is a fantastic tool. Then go over them again in the morning. Tips? Just be respectful to the sensitivities of others. But then that applies to life in general too.