Interview: 5 minutes with...Sian Pohill-Thomas, Actress, Lawnmower Short Film

When I wrote Lawnmower I had an actress in mind, lucky me, I got her when she's available. And I really was lucky, only last month Sian was spinning three plates working three jobs; at the National Theatre on Ugly Lies the Bone, as a continuity announcer at the BBC and running her (rather gorgeous) shop, St David's Coffee House in Forest Hill. The final curtain has gone down on Ugly Lies the Bone, so I've caught her when she's down to just the two jobs and has time to commit to playing Jackie in our upcoming short film, Lawnmower.

Sian Pohill-Thomas will be playing JACKIE in Lawnmower.

I caught up with her on the phone...

Kate Sawyer: Tell us a bit about yourself Sian…

Sian Pohill-Thomas: My name is Sian I'm playing Jackie in Lawnmower & I live in Catford, Saaaaaf East London.

KS:Where are you right now? It sounds, erm, populated?

SPT: I'm stood at Canada Water after a 12 hour shift at the BBC that began at 3am

KS: Oh wow! You are probably quite eager to get home to bed. Luckily this should only take a few minutes. 5 to be exact! Okay, so Lawnmower, as the title might suggest, if largely set in a garden. Do you have a garden?

SPT: No garden. We have a rump of hill which they call a 'communal garden' no one uses it but my cat. However my two mates have a massive garden, I'm often found there in a swim cook cooking like a little pig in this beautiful sun.

KS: Communal garden? Does that mean you get on with your neighbours?

SPT: I don't really know my london neighbours. I met them once, they were locked out and I drilled off their lock and got them in the house. I waited for that thank you bottle of wine, I’m still waiting…

KS: In Lawnmower, Jackie needs to borrow a lawnmower from her neighbour. Have you ever borrowed anything from a neighbour?

SPT: I borrowed a bottle opener from the Thai restaurant next to my coffee shop, St David’s Coffee House in Forest Hill. But I forgot to take it back and when I went in about a month later to ask to borrow some till-roll they said they hated me. So that was nice.

Sian outside her shop, St David's Coffee House in Forest Hill, SE London.

KS: Your character in the film, Jackie, overthinks asking a simple favour. Do you ask for help? Or do you like to struggle on your own?

SPT: No. I’m quite like Jackie in that respect, I like to solider on. Which means, every quarter I have a big emotional breakdown because I've been shouldering way too much responsibility!

KS: So has your inability to ask for help ever resulted in failure?

SPT: I. Never. Fail

KS: Ha, ha! That’s what a director wants to hear from her leading actress! Okay time for a bit of a quick fire round…

SPT: Shoot.

KS: Lawn or Paving?

SPT: Lawn...gotta love the feeling of grass in between your toes

KS: Allotment or Garden?

SPT: Well, I'm on 3 lists for allotments - currently number 66! Any day now!

KS: Yes, allotments are really in. I’ve heard of quite stringent vetting and ‘probation periods’ for people that finally make their way to the top…hmm, I think I’ve just had an idea for my next film! Right, 20 second left. Final, question: What are you most looking forward to about your role in making lawnmower?

SPT: The drinking afterwards.

Follow Sian on Twitter to find out more about her work (she's also hilarious and posts great pics of her cat Rudy)