She's one of eight, playing a mother of nine on stage, so Linda Nolan knows all about the sibling rivalry that makes stage musical Blood Brothers so compelling. She talks to Viv Hardwick about touring for two weeks to Sunderland's Empire.

THEATRE impresario Bill Kenwright must surely have had the Nolan Sisters in mind when he created West End and touring versions of Willy Russell's mind-blowing musical Blood Brothers.

Fourth singing sister Maureen has just followed Bernadette, Linda and Denise into the emotional role of Mrs Johnstone in London, while Linda has taken on the current tour, which closes at Sunderland's Empire in a fortnight's time.

"So there are just Anne and Coleen to go, but I really don't know if they'll be inspired to try for the role. I think Coleen's happy with her family and being a TV presenter," says Linda. Mother-of-two Anne, on the other hand, "might be in danger" of becoming the next Mrs Johnstone.

"Bill has shown faith in us and, hopefully, we've never let him down. So I do take it as a compliment that he does turn to us to fill that role. I think it appeals to him that the Nolans come from a family of eight while Mrs Johnstone ends up as a mother of nine," says Linda, who had an early childhood of hardship in Blackpool very similar to that of the Johnstones.

"We were eight children with six girls and two boys," she explains. "Although we weren't as much on the breadline as Mrs Johnstone, times were hard in the beginning when we first lived in a terraced house in Blackpool... girls in one bedroom and boys in another. I hear Mrs Johnstone saying things which our mum used to say to us and remember seeing her standing at the door knowing you were going to get a clip round the ear for being naughty when we all filed past."

Linda recalls the ceremony of hand-me-down clothes because she was the third youngest, ahead of Coleen and Bernadette. The older Nolan children were Brian, Maureen, Denise, Anne and Tommy.

"We used to borrow clothes from each other as girls and although times were hard, we never wanted for anything. On Christmas mornings it was a toy shop in our house and my mother (also Maureen) always said 'Santa doesn't wrap presents' and I think it was so she didn't have to wrap eight loads of presents, bless her."

Unlike the musical Mr Johnstone, who ran off with his version of Marilyn Monroe, Linda's dad, Tommy senior, ended up doing two jobs to keep his large family fed and clothed. "And we only had one bathroom, but it was indoors, thank God," she laughs.

Linda also remembers her parents taking one of their children out each week for a treat of their choice. "It only came around every eight weeks but it was your special day to be with them and you got their 100 per cent of their attention, so it was a brilliant idea," she says.

What amazed Linda was how hard life became when she and sister Coleen took on looking after eight children at the big London house that Coleen previously shared with ex-husband Shane Richie.

"These were all my nieces and nephews and me and Colleen were like the mothers for two weeks and we had an brilliant time but we were absolutely exhausted at the end of each day. And this is a time when you have washing machines, driers and dishwashers and we used to sit at the dining table and say 'I don't know how mum did it'.

"At lunchtimes our mum ruined us by letting us all have different things to eat and when we were looking after eight it was 'you're having sausage and mash and that's it'."

Linda has been playing mum as Mrs Johnstone for five years now and recalls thinking she was going to die from nerves when she first took on the demanding role at Newcastle's Theatre Royal in 2000.

Linda opted for the tour - after two long stints in the West End - because she hasn't got children and she and husband and manager Brian enjoy the touring life with their pet dog.

"The thing about touring is that the audiences are better because people are paying to see the show because they want to see Blood Brothers. Sometimes in the West End you know you're part of a London visit which includes 'any West End show' or there are a lot of foreigners in the audience who don't understand a word and just laugh at the visual gags," she says.

Linda reveals that sister Maureen is "a Blood Brothers anorak": she'd seen it 15 times before agreeing to take a starring role.

"We used to bring her up on stage and she just adored this musical, so I was thrilled for her when Bill approached her about doing the show herself."

Linda took over from sister Bernie - who was leaving Blood Brothers to join TV's Brookside - and faced her first dramatic stage role after a career of singing and pantos.

"The nice thing is that the producers and directors do let you bring your own stamp to Mrs Johnstone," reveals Linda, who has already signed up for an autumn tour and her first baddie performance as the Wicked Queen in Cinderella in Belfast.

"My nieces and nephews have already teased me about not needing any make-up or anything to do that," she laughs.

* Blood Brothers plays Sunderland's Empire from Monday until July 2. Box Office: 0870 602 1130.

Published: 18/06/2005