Lorelei Reddin talks to Lisa O'Hare, ahead of her Mayflower appearance as My Fair Lady's Eliza Doolittle.

What are you up to Lisa? "I'm out shopping, so I'm taking a break to have some breakfast and a coffee."

How's My Fair Lady going? "It's fantastic. It's going really, really well. We've been doing it for a year now in venues around the UK. We're in Milton Keynes at the moment, there's only Southampton and Cardiff and then we're done."

What's next for you? "I'm doing Leizl in the Sound of Music at the London Palladium. I found out two days ago and I'm really excited."

What do you love about Eliza (her character in My Fair Lady)? "What is there not to love about her?

"Just the journey she makes really. She's raucous and ballsy, but delicate at the same time.

"We've got this massive transformation where she turns into a lady. What is great about her is she remains in the same spirit throughout, even when she speaks properly and is mistaken for a princess.

"Eliza is great fun to play, a joy to play. Every girl, every actress wants to play her.

"This is my first role as I was previously an understudy and it's a dream come true."

What's your dream role? "This is definitely one of them. But I like doing new stuff as well.

"I also did Mary Poppins as understudy and I'd love to go back and play that.

"I try not to plan what's going to happen too much though. I go with the flow. It's more exciting that way."

Who's your hero? "I'm a huge Audrey Hepburn fan. Julie Andrews is fantastic too and I seem to be doing all the roles that she's done at the moment.

"I tend to enjoy doing more old-style musical theatre, It suits me better. I think Audrey Hepburn is fantastic on screen, but Julie Andrews is my theatre icon."

How do you relax away from work? "I'm quite lucky, really, where I'm sharing the role of Eliza with Amy (Nuttall, ex-Emmerdale actress and classical singer) I get quite a lot of time off.

"I get a few days rest between performances. I've just moved house with my boyfriend Howard (Jones) we met when we were playing Mary and Bert in Mary Poppins.

"He's just bought a house in Crystal Palace, so it's all about buying new furniture, painting. We're really enjoying exploring a new area as well."

If you found a tenner what would you buy? "At the moment, it'd probably be something housey. Ordinarily it would probably go towards handbags or shoes."

What do you never go out without? "A lip gloss, my Chanel sunglasses, my phone, a bit of rouge and extra strong mints. An extra strong mint before you sing really clears your pipes."

What's your favourite place in the world? "Probably Paris. We went there last year and we're just deciding whether to go again, although we might go to Italy as we haven't been there. Paris is fantastic in spring, really romantic, I love the sights and the restaurants and I love the way the French live."

If you could be invisible for the day what would you do? "I'd go to a film set and see what happens there, see how the celebrities behave behind the camera and see what everything's like."

Lisa stars in My Fair Lady which comes to the Mayflower from July 4 to 22. Tickets from the box office on 023 8071 1811.