A high-flying barrister who quit to follow her dream of becoming an actor is making her West End debut — playing a judge.
Verna Vyas, who specialised as a defence barrister in cases of human trafficking, drug dealing and fraud, has taken the role of Mrs Justice Steyn as part of a new cast in Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial at the Ambassadors Theatre.
She told the Standard she did not disclose her legal background when she applied for the part because she wanted to get it on merit. “I want people to take me as an actor and not think I was like some know-it-all legal consultant telling people what was right and wrong.
“But I was able to bring a lot, not just to my character but to the rehearsal room, and say ‘look these things happen and this is less likely’. It has been really interesting and fascinating to bring that experience to this.”
The show, which has a UK tour after its West End run, first opened last year and is based on High Court transcripts from the case involving the two feuding footballers’ wives.
It came after Coleen Rooney posted online accusing Rebekah Vardy of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the press — a move that saw Rooney dubbed Wagatha Christie. Vardy took Rooney to the High Court in a libel case only for the judge to rule the post was “substantially true”.
Vyas, who spent eight years in law before deciding to go to drama school, admitted the new role had made her “nostalgic” for her old life. She added: “There is an element of the law that I miss and that is more than anything else the camaraderie, not that you don’t also find that in the arts.”
She said the two careers were not that “dissimilar” adding “you are both self-employed — barristers have clerks and we have agents.“
One difference is having the rehearsal room and time and space to go through things where as what happens in the court room is completely and utterly unpredictable, but I’m really happy with my career choice and this feels like this is what I was meant to do.”
