Poppy Gilbert is entering a striking new chapter, one defined by range, risk, and a refusal to be easily pinned down. From scene-stealing screen roles to commanding stage performances, she is building a career around women with edge, intelligence, and emotional depth. Audiences recently saw her take on an antagonist turn in My Oxford Year, while her latest role as Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC’s The Other Bennet Sister places her inside one of literature’s most beloved worlds. Across it all, Gilbert brings a fierce curiosity to the characters she chooses, drawn less to likability than to complexity, contradiction, and the chance to extend empathy to women who might otherwise be misunderstood.
That same appetite for challenge runs through her stage work, too. Fresh from performances in Wedding Band, Othello, and Private Lives, she now leads Flyby at Southwark Playhouse, a role she describes as both terrifying and thrilling, pushing her far beyond her comfort zone and into what she calls her most exciting work as an artist. In conversation, Gilbert is warm, incisive, and gloriously self-aware, speaking openly about ambition, rebellion, love, and the freedom of playing women who do not exist to please others. Beyond acting, she has also launched Hang Up Styling, a fashion venture born from her lifelong love of clothes, self-expression, and helping people feel more fully themselves. Here, Poppy Gilbert reflects on performance, fashion, friendship, and why the most meaningful life might just be one spent falling a little in love with people, projects, and possibilities.
For readers discovering you for the first time, how would you introduce yourself, not just as an actress, but as a woman and creative in this moment of your life?
I would say hello, then panic about how to sum up my whole self in a pithy sentence, and then aim for something like this: I am an actor working in TV, film, and theatre. I care about people very deeply, and I am undeniably overexcitable. I love people who are quick to laugh and people who take their work seriously. I love roles that push me to learn things I didn’t understand before, and to extend empathy to characters who might ostensibly seem unlovable. My other great love is fashion, and becoming a stylist has added such a fantastic new texture to my life.
Your recent work moves so beautifully between screen, stage, and now fashion through Hang Up Styling. Do these different creative outlets feel connected to one another for you?
Thank you. They feel connected in so far as we have been styling fellow actors and pulling pieces for events or shoots connected to the entertainment industry, premieres, awards ceremonies, and so on, but the creativity I employ for styling is a different muscle from the ones I use for acting. I really welcome this variety. I feel richer for it, and it helps with one thing in particular that I think artists often find challenging: not attaching your self-worth to your work. My work can feel so varied that I can celebrate self-worth and creativity little and often, rather than waiting for praise or feedback from large, high-pressure projects.
You were most recently seen in My Oxford Year in such a compelling antagonist role. What interested you about playing someone who brings tension and disruption into the story, rather than simply softness or likability?
I was drawn to Cecelia specifically because to my fault, I think I can be unforgiving of women, especially young women, when they are “cold”. This must come from insecurity within me, probably wanting to like people and be liked by people, but I think society is the same. We want our young women to be pliable, warm, and lovable. This is unfair and leaves no room for diversity of personality, shyness, trauma, or, as in Cecelia’s case, raw grief. In my experience, people who are bringing tension and/or disruption to a situation are rarely doing it because they have evil intent; there is almost always something else going on. Playing these roles and inviting the audience not to judge this person too quickly is a great exercise in empathy.
Villains, or at least women with an edge, are often the most fascinating characters in the room. What do you enjoy most about exploring that darker energy on screen?
I think I am drawn to characters who do not live their lives to please other people. I think this is not specific to women, but possibly more common in them. The freedom you grant yourself when you are living purely to achieve your objective, regardless of others, is electric. I love playing them.
You can now be seen as Elizabeth Bennet in The Other Bennet Sister, a role so tied to literary history and cultural imagination. What did it mean to step into a world that people feel they already know so intimately?
It is an honour and a pleasure. There are already so many iterations of Pride and Prejudice — all superb, in my opinion — that I did not feel tied to any one depiction of Lizzy Bennet. I read P&P when I was 16 and loved it. I have returned to it again and again, and I have known Lizzy for so many years now. The only version of her that I could play is the one that lives in my imagination, and even if it has not matched what other fans might have expected, I hope the care and attention I gave to playing her is clear.
Elizabeth Bennet has long been seen as intelligent, sharp, romantic, and quietly rebellious. Which side of her felt most alive to you?
In The Other Bennet Sister, it was important to me that we see the flawed sides of Lizzy as much as her brilliance. We are seeing her through the eyes of Mary, and it is a fact that Lizzy did not stand up for her younger sister or even realise that she was struggling. So, to me, the most alive moments were when Lizzy was called out for her egocentricity by Mary, and how she then went about rectifying this.
Because this is our Love Issue, I have to ask: what does love mean to you right now, whether in life, art, friendship, or the way you move through the world?
I am learning so much about love at the moment. I am currently playing a young woman who experiences the great love of her life and ends up burning it to the ground. It is painful to go through every night, but the joy comes from the triumph of trying. I have been in love many times with many people, often with my friends or colleagues or characters, and I think, for me, that is really living. With all the knowledge of the pain that accompanies great love and great loss, I am someone who moves through the world seeking out people and projects to fall head over heels in love with. Emily Baker, the character I am currently playing in Flyby, also references Esther Perel and bell hooks, so I have been doing my homework, and the more I read about love, the more I realise how little I know. I love that aspect of getting older.
On stage, you’ve recently taken on roles as powerful and emotionally layered as Desdemona in Othello and your lead performance in Flyby. What does theatre ask of you that screen acting never quite can?
The most practical thing is the demand on your body and voice. It is necessary to get so fit for a performance on stage, especially a musical. I have been off the beers and on the lemon and ginger tea for months now. The rehearsal period also offers you the opportunity to really fail and move through a creative process organically and as a group, whereas screen acting is slightly more solitary. You work on your character alone and then bring her to set.
There’s something very immediate and unguarded about live performance. Do you feel more exposed on stage, or more free?
Absolutely, I feel more exposed on stage, but with that comes great power. I am totally responsible for this performance, for how this audience will meet this character. It is a remarkable feeling. On screen, the editing team and the director get the final say, so you relinquish quite a lot of control, which is a joy in itself, but in a different form.
Flyby has already drawn rave responses, and musicals require such a distinctive blend of emotional precision and performance energy. What drew you to that project, and what has it unlocked in you creatively?
The script is what drew me to the project. It felt like finding a jigsaw piece that fit perfectly with my body and my brain. I read the script 18 months ago and was terrified by how much I loved it. I knew I was not a natural singer, so I had to work hard, and the composer Theo Jamieson and director Adam Lenson have been so patient and encouraging. I am always drawn to roles that push me out of my comfort zone because I think that is where I do my most exciting work and where I grow the most as an artist. More than that, I think the music is extraordinary. I think the piece as a whole is genre-bending and wacky, and I feel so privileged to be part of something that is breaking new ground.
You’ve portrayed women across such different worlds, from contemporary thrillers to literary drama to Shakespeare. What tends to connect the roles you choose, even when the settings are completely different?
I am quite tall and I have a deep voice, plus, despite my best efforts, I am not an introvert. I think these character traits of mine mean that the women I portray have an element of rebellion to them, rebellion against patriarchal desires for women to be malleable, useful, and quiet. I am unable to shrink myself, and it has taken me years to be okay with this; it is something I am perpetually working on. I think characters who are staunch, vibrant, and who really believe in themselves are appealing to me, even if I do not agree with them.
You’ve also appeared in projects like Chloe, Stay Close, Sherwood, and The Catch, all of which have such different tonal worlds. How do you enter a character’s psychology when every story asks for a different emotional language?
When the parts are as full and well-developed as they were in these projects, the journey into their minds is a clear-cut path. I do not think about their emotional language as it relates to the tone of the show, only as it relates to how this human being interacts with the people around them. How does this person show love? Show fear? What are they masking? Where is their joy? I do my work, and then, when the time comes, I collaborate with these fantastic directors who gently steer the performance towards the tone they are crafting for the show as a whole.
Alongside acting, you’ve launched Hang Up Styling, which feels like a very intimate and considered extension of personal expression. What inspired you to create something rooted in style and wardrobe curation?
It absolutely is an extension of personal expression. I have always loved fashion and putting together outfits for myself and my friends. Feeling good in what we are wearing can totally dictate our mood and confidence. I am also quite bossy, and I love a good system, so helping people curate their wardrobe seemed a perfect fit. My business partner, Cara Theobold, and I bonded over our fondness for helping our friends with their clothes and how privileged it makes us feel when people trust us in this way. We also both love acting, but were craving a creative outlet that felt a little more autonomous and hands-on. I have also loved learning how to practically set up a business; it feels powerful.
Fashion can be deeply emotional; it can hold memory, identity, fantasy, even protection. What do clothes mean to you personally?
Clothes are little bits of our personality that we can share with strangers. I understand that it is a luxury to have the time and money to style an outfit each day, but I think it is an act of love to wear clothes that make you feel great. I have been working with an amazing charity called Give Your Best, who help people all over the country living in clothing poverty gain access to free second-hand clothing. The work they are doing is excellent, and I have been working closely with the community using this service, which has been indescribably joyful.
I am also keenly aware of the environmental impact the fashion industry has on pollution worldwide, so I have been buying almost exclusively second-hand and vintage clothing for the last two years. I have also been researching and building my list of sustainable brands and designers, and I try to support their mission and uplift their products where I can.
When you think about this chapter of your career, actress, performer, and now founder, what feels most exciting to step into, and what part of yourself are you most determined to protect?
That is such an exciting and flattering sentence to read, thank you for putting it in front of me. It is so hard to stop and take stock of our achievements because we are so often striving for the next step, especially in freelance work. I am most excited for time with my friends and family this summer. For the last year, work has been so all-consuming, and my friends are endlessly patient, celebratory, and supportive. They are what I am determined to protect. Time with them is everything.
