AN ADVERT led to the start of a career that will bring actor Angharad Mortimer home for two performances with Heartbreak Productions.

"When I was about eight," says Angharad, "there was an ad in the Ludlow Advertiser saying they were casting for the Shakespeare production at Ludlow Castle, and I got the role of changeling child in A Midsummer Night's Dream."

"It was just incredible," she says. "I had always liked doing drama in primary school but doing it in such an amazing location and seeing what happened behind the scenes I learned a lot. And I also learned that it was a job – until then I'd thought of acting as something fun. Something clicked in my head that I could do that at some point in my life.

Do you have a Ludlow or Tenbury story you would like us to include? We would love to hear from you!

Send us your news by emailing news@ludlowadvertiser.co.uk or by clicking here.

"I don't remember wanting to do anything else, and I didn't have a back-up plan!"

This summer will see Angharad, a former Wigmore School pupil, return to Herefordshire with Heartbreak Productions, starring as Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, which can be seen locally at Burton Court and Croft Castle, following a performance at Eastnor Castle in early June. "Lots of people I haven't seen for a long time – people from school and from Sixth Form, have said they are coming along. It will be nice for them to see how far I have come because they haven't seen me perform since school."

At Sixth Form College in Hereford Angharad studied dance, drama, musical theatre ... and maths. "I had some incredible teachers there who had worked in the industry and knew what they were talking about. The whole time was really about preparing to audition for drama school – I got into the foundation course at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts which was amazing and really solidified that I could do this and that it was the only thing I wanted to do."

Angharad then went on to do a BA at Drama Studio London, working five jobs to pay her way, and graduating in 2022, landing her first professional job that year touring UK schools with a production of How to Be Happy, about teenage mental health.

As the tour of Sense and Sensibility continues, Angharad is "absolutely adoring it. The audiences have been incredible."

Sense and Sensibility comes to Croft Castle on Monday, July 19 and Burton Court on Monday, July 26. To book, visit heartbreakproductions.co.uk