My friend Hattie Ladbury, who has died of cancer aged 47, was an actor at ease with any text and on any stage. She created the part of Sophie in Natasha Gordon’s Nine Night at the National Theatre in 2018 and was the first female Duke in Measure for Measure.
Three weeks before her death she was on stage as the Duke at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London, blazing with charisma, driving the show with wit, playfulness and anger. Nothing daunted her, and she had no interest in letting her illness get in the way.
