![\"Cabaret](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Sam-Buttery-at-The-Lowry.jpg\")
Cabaret star, singer, and actress Sam Buttery will lead The Lowry’s big Christmas production of Unfortunate(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n‘When I\u2019m on the stage, I come alive and just feel so much power’Cabaret star, singer, and actress Sam Buttery will lead The Lowry’s big Christmas production of Unfortunate(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n
One of Sam Buttery\u2019s very first acting roles was portraying the late, great club kid legend Leigh Bowery on Broadway. In terms of early gigs, it doesn\u2019t tend to get much greater than that.<\/p>\n
In the years following, Sam, originally from Tamworth in the West Midlands, has starred alongside the likes of Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman, shimmied across the London Palladium as Uncle Fester in The Addams Family, taken on Audrey II in The Little Shop of Horrors and played the Greek fate Atropos in Netflix\u2019s Kaos. The list, quite frankly, goes on.<\/p>\n
But for Sam\u2019s next big performance, she\u2019s taking on the role-of-all-roles in the form of the villainous sea witch Ursula. In fact, it\u2019s a character she says she\u2019s been waiting to play for a long time now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually applied for this role a few years ago,\u201d Sam tells the M.E.N. as she sits in the auditorium of The Lowry<\/a> where Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch will play this December and January (tickets here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Stay connected with our City Life newsletter <\/strong>here<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t go my way the first time round but when they announced they were bringing it back, I felt like they just had to give it to me this time and that\u2019s what I basically told them. And it’s worked out quite well for me!\u201d<\/p>\n The critically-acclaimed parody musical, which is very much not suitable for children, delves into the backstory of Ursula as she explains exactly what went on with Ariel, the Little Mermaid. It\u2019s been described as \u2018wickedly camp\u2019 and \u2018hilariously naughty\u2019, which sounds about right.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just such an iconic role,\u201d Sam beams. \u201cCome on, it\u2019s Ursula. I feel like, for me, she is very Divine. I have her tattooed on my leg, so it can\u2019t be any more perfect for me. I\u2019ve always loved Divine. She’s been a big inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s said that Disney\u2019s interpretation of the sea witch, in its 1989 film, took inspiration from American drag queen Divine. The performer, who made a name for herself thanks to appearances in John Walters movies like Pink Flamingos, was also portrayed by Sam in the work-in-progress A Divine Comedy, which she wrote and performed in Manchester last year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole aesthetic and look of Ursula is quite drag, really,\u201d Sam explains. \u201cI also just think there\u2019s nothing better than playing a villain. And Ursula is basically the ultimate villain. No one cares about Ariel, it\u2019s all about Ursula.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m aiming to bring some of the rebellion and grotesqueness of Divine into the role, to keep that inspiration going. Ursula was very queer-coded, really. It\u2019s all very much about what I like.\u201d<\/p>\n Sam now lives in Greater Manchester and is a frequent name on any cabaret night worth its salt – including at venues like The Fitzgerald, Albert\u2019s Schloss, Via and New Union. With a big, booming voice (and a previous appearance on The Voice UK) and oozing with character and charisma, there\u2019s no denying that she doesn\u2019t have the scope to give the villain diva the stage presence she is worthy of. In fact, it’s inspired casting.<\/p>\n The show is leading The Lowry\u2019s very varied line-up this festive season alongside more family-friendly performances of the likes of Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile, Little Bear and the Christmas<\/a> Lights, and classic Narnia show The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s actually quite weird because the last time I was performing at The Lowry, it was for the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe,\u201d Sam says. \u201cNow, I\u2019m doing Ursula and they\u2019re both on at the same time. It\u2019s like a flip-through of four years of being here.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking about the roles that Sam finds herself attracted to, she says she loves anything that feels powerful, or represents power. It\u2019s something she admits she has often found herself lacking in the past, and the stage was where she was able to possess such strength.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes in my life, I personally haven\u2019t felt like I\u2019ve been able to harness that power in myself,\u201d she admits. \u201cSo, when I\u2019m on the stage, I come alive and just feel so much power. It\u2019s escapism, and I just go to a different place where I feel like how things could have been.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing on stage is the best feeling ever. You forget about everything. I suppose my whole adult journey has been about trying to forget, to forget the ego part of who I am. When I\u2019m on stage, I feel present, and I thrive off it. It\u2019s a break from reality.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people say that being an actor is not life or death, it\u2019s not like I\u2019m performing open-heart surgery. And I know what they mean when they say that. But, it doesn\u2019t mean that there isn\u2019t a magnitude of things just because you\u2019re singing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was 14, I came to see a musical and it was very serious to me. I was a queer child growing up in the Midlands, in a place that didn\u2019t really accept me for who I was, and I was given a lifeline in terms of what I saw on stage. It\u2019s always been more than just a musical to me. And I hope it is for other people too.<\/p>\n \u201cI love the thought that whenever I do a show, it might be the first time someone has ever been in the theatre. It could go on to have this seismic impact on their lives. That\u2019s something that is very special and I try to bring that power to every show I do.\u201d<\/p>\n And as for why people should see Unfortunate at The Lowry at the end of the year, Sam\u2019s reasoning is actually quite simple: \u201cIf you like camp, brash, big musical theatre numbers with heart, then you\u2019ll like this. If you don\u2019t, then who even are you anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch is at The Lowry from December 5 to January 11 (suitable for 16+). Tickets can be bought here.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762679534_419_0_Sam-Buttery-at-The-Lowry.jpg\")
Sam described Ursula as the ‘ultimate villain'(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n![\"American](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Divine-singer-actor-drag-artist.jpg\")
American drag artist Divine has been cited as an inspiration for Disney’s portrayal of Ursula, and is also a big role model for Sam(Image: Daily Record)<\/p>\n![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1_Sam-Buttery-at-The-Lowry.jpg\")
Sam says that ‘Ursula was very queer-coded’ and hopes to bring that to the stage(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/548395108_1361431412656045_36565.jpg\")
Sam Buttery will play Ursula in Unfortunate at The Lowry from December 5 to January 11(Image: Unfortunate)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762679539_690_0_Sam-Buttery-at-The-Lowry.jpg\")
(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n