Evening Standard
13 October 1995

DREAM OF A DEBUT FOR VICTORIA

FRIDAY PEOPLE

JUST a year out of drama school 24-year-old Victoria Hamilton (right) makes
her West End debut tonight still half afraid she is going to wake and find
her moment of discovery is all a dream. She was spotted by casting director
Gillian Diamond playing a two-hander with Tim Pigott-Smith at Richmond's
tiny Orange Tree Theatre, then director Sir Peter Hall and Alan Bates
arrived to check her out for the role of Hilde Wangel, the young
girl-turned-nemesis in The Master Builder.

The daughter of a Guildford advertising agent, she was refused entry to RADA
and spent a year waitressing before finding her way towards acting again via
the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

'I keep thinking that things like this don't happen but now it's all too
real. I didn't think for a moment I had a chance of this part because of my
lack of experience so I didn't worry while all these people came to see me.
Now I'm trying not to be daunted by the play, the intricacies of the part
and talent of the people I'm working with.'

(Submitted by Tara)