Life after LIPA: Acting graduate Sian Polhill-Thomas

Actor Sian Polhill-Thomas graduated from LIPA in 2004 and is currently taking a sabbatical from her work as a continuity announcer and writer with the BBC to play Ms Sutcliffe in Boys from the Blackstuff. 

James Graham’s adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s TV show is touring the UK and features two other LIPA grads, Jurell Carter (Acting, 2016) and Jamie Peacock (Acting, 2022). 

Sian talks about her personal connection to Boys from the Blackstuff, her father and a shared LIPA approach to acting. 

Boys from the Blackstuff is my dad’s story. He wasn’t a road layer but worked at Camell-Laird Docks and I grew up in the 80s, under the Thatcher government, when he was constantly being laid off. We had an electric meter which took 50ps and we’d have days in darkness with no power. My mum’s been really helpful with the research and has been reminding me of all the inventive things we had to do just to put food on the table and keep heat in the house. It’s a story I lived and an interesting one for me to tell.  

My dad died when I was 19. It was really tough and dominated my experience at LIPA both bad and good – everybody there was incredibly supportive. The last show I saw with my dad was at the Liverpool Empire and this will be the first time I’ve performed there, which I’m exceptionally excited about. I will buy dad a ticket so there will be an empty seat there for him because I think he would have loved this show.  

This production is a great reminder that I am a Liverpudlian actress. I moved to London because I found it easier to penetrate the acting scene there, but I’m from this city and it’s great to be back in a room with 15 other people from the same place, with the same sense of humour. To be working together with them on a production that’s so important to me is very special. 

It’s been really fascinating watching Jurell Carter, who’s also a LIPA grad, in rehearsal and hearing about the research he’s done. Jurell is mixed-race like his character Loggo. Loggo talks about his heritage and what it’s like to be a mixed-race man in Liverpool in the early 80s and how their stories and experiences have been erased from history. Jurell delivers these monologues beautifully. It’s a very moving and poignant part of the show. 

Image: Jurell Carter as Loggo with George Caple as Chrissie. Photography: Alistair Muir

Jamie Peacock and I call ourselves the ‘LIPA twins’.  It’s been fascinating working with Jamie, who I do most of my scenes with. It’s like we’ve got a kind of LIPA-telepathy. He seems to have absorbed the training in the same way I did. The most important thing I learnt was, ‘listen and respond accordingly.’ And Jamie is the same, he’s open to change and prepared to go with you on stage if you’re trying new things. He loves to play and is totally alive on stage. 

Something LIPA has always been good at is choosing the right people, people who are really willing to be open and talk and practice. Jamie and I stayed behind in rehearsals mapping out our scenes and even now once we’ve done a scene, we will analyse it. Working with Jamie is like being back at LIPA and working with people I’ve learnt to trust over three years, but it happened so quickly with him.  

LIPA produces efficient performers. ‘Say your lines and get off stage, don’t drag it out.’ Jamie’s the same, he’s a very effective actor. 

I work as a continuity announcer for the BBC despite concern when I was starting out that I was vocally a bit weak. My voice is naturally low and husky. But then when I was doing a TV job, the sound man told me I had a really lovely speaking voice that recorded well and that I should get a voice reel together. From there I managed to get some narration work and was then auditioned by Kip Katesmark at the BBC, but didn’t get the job because I didn’t have the experience. Kip taught me how to use the microphone and how to write for continuity, there’s a lot of writing involved – and this was when I was doing a creative writing course at the Liverpool Everyman – and it all came together from there. 

If you’re an actor I think having a day job, if possible, is really important. Something that allows you to continue to do what you love. I’m very lucky that my work at the BBC is very flexible and I’m currently on a six-month sabbatical while I do this play.  

Top image: Sian as Ms Sutcliffe and Jamie Peacock as Moss. Photography: Alistair Muir 

Boys from the Blackstuff UK tour dates

16 LIPA grads help Boys from the Blackstuff make its West End debut