SARAH Higgins loves numbers. She loves algebra. She loves counting large sums.

But her eight year career in banking, somehow, just didn’t add up.

Sarah decided she wanted to be an actor, saved up all her pennies – and applied to drama school.

And now she’s counting her blessings.

Luckily, the Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow reckoned Sarah, now 33, had far more to her range than a comprehension of calculus.

And just a year after leaving drama college the lady from Stirling is appearing tonight at the Theatre Royal.

Sarah stars as The Nurse in the prestigious Globe Theatre production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

It’s all a far cry away from a world of calculators and profit and loss accounts.

“I sort of always wanted to be an actor, but I studied in Dublin and went down the banking route,” she says, rewinding.

“But one day I felt I had to try acting and so I auditioned in Glasgow.

“I was nearly twenty eight when I finally went to drama school.”

What took her so long?

“There was a part of me didn’t know that was the career I wanted. And I fancied Business when I was a teenager so I went to university to study Maths.”

An actor who loves Maths? That’s the oddest thing. Those with thespian tendencies don’t tend to use the part of the brain that calls for numeracy.

“I know,” says Sarah laughing. “And the funny thing is algebra and arithmetic does it for me.

“The rest of the cast know this and you know, every time the cast go out for a meal, I get the receipt. Every time someone has to sort out tax, they ask me.

“But I’m happy with numbers and VAT.

“And even when I went to drama school, the bank took me on during the holidays to work as an analyst. So that was a chance to save some money.”

Yet, she’s more than happy to be an actor, appearing in Shakespeare’s classic tale of star-crossed lovers, which is performed on an Elizabethan-style stage.

“I’ve come to the business late but the love for acting was always with me.

“My mum was in am-dram and I joined am-dram as a kid, then re-joined before going to drama school.

“It was just a question of realising I could do.”

Sarah’s husband was supportive. “But he did say to me; ‘You may want to sell your car though,” she says, grinning.

Has the world of acting been all she expected?

“No, it’s actually been better,” Sarah offers in excited voice.

“I got my first job when I was at drama college, in The James Plays, (by Rona Munro and produced by the National Theatre of Scotland.)

“That was a long job, which took me to the National Theatre in London and I landed an agent.

“From there, I landed this job at the Globe, and it’s been fantastic.”

Romeo and Juliet has been touring the country and Sarah has been enjoying great audience reaction in the likes of Richmond and Dundee.

“It’s been so well received. And we’ve appeared in outdoor and indoor theatres, to very different audiences.

“The Americans, for example, seem to enjoy the cleverness of the language rather than the moments of slapstick comedy.

“But it’s great to come home. It will be great to see the reception in Glasgow.”

Sarah loves playing the Nurse, the surrogate mother of Juliet.

“I was so happy the producers were happy for her to be young and to be Scottish. It’s great to play her in my own accent, rather than do RP.”

The Nurse, says Sarah, ‘can be a bit of everything, like most Scottish mammies.’

“She’s lovable, excitable, warm and a bit daft. She’s a little bit selfish and mean. But everything she does is for the love of Juliet.

“I always enjoy playing her.”

The Nurse is in her early thirties. She and Lady Capulet had babies at the same time but the Nurse lost her child and devotes her time to Juliet.

“We probably had the babies aged fifteen,” she says of the characters. “So it’s all possible.”

Sarah however didn’t quite hit the right note when it came to rehearsing her character.

“I performed this monologue in which she rants on about being so excited about the prospect of Juliet being married, and I went in there trying to be really animated.

“But the director took me aside and said ‘Listen, she’s not interesting. She’s like your auntie who turns up at the party and keeps talking and bores everybody rigid. And that’s what makes her funny.’

“So I had to bore people.”

She could have begun with a few algebraic formulae - that would have done the trick?

“Yes, or spreadsheets or talk about HMRC,” she says, laughing.

“In fact, maybe the director heard me talk about spreadsheets in the audition and that’s how I landed the role.”

• Romeo and Juliet, the Theatre Royal Glasgow, August 4-8.