UNTIL NOVEMBER 22, BATH: Sarah Hadland's most embarrassing claim to fame is starring in a cat litter advert. But she will be appearing Bath next week in a more serious role.

Sarah, 32, from London, plays Joan Helford in JB Priestley's Time and The Conways.

Set in 1919, the play introduces us to the Conways an affluent family who seem to have it all. Joan is a well-heeled lady, who ends up marrying Robin Conway.

The play then leaps 19 years into the future, revealing a far bleaker picture.

Sarah said: "It is very compelling. I start off a bright, young thing. Then you see me as a poor single mum."

It is a far cry from her career sideline as a voiceover for TV and radio.

She said: "In the Catsan advert I am the white kitten, squeaking: 'I can't find my litter tray.' It's good fun and easy money."

One of her more glamorous jobs involved being the surfer girl in a VO5 shampoo advert, who enthuses: 'It's great for my body' in an American accent.

Sarah said: "I saw it in the gym once and wanted to yell out: 'That's me, that is . . . sort of.'"

Her passion for performance began at the age of three when she danced non-stop. Combining her fancy footwork with acting, Sarah became involved in youth theatre. And at 19 she was already performing in West End musicals like Cats and Grease.

Sarah soon broke into TV, albeit as a servant scrubbing floors. She said: "I was the maid in A Dark Adapted Eye, starring Helen Bonham Carter."

Moving on to meatier roles, she recently played a drug addict in the drama Bad Girls.

Sarah said: "I was called Spike and one of the inmates stole my baby. It was pretty grim stuff."

Equally at home in theatre, she has done anything from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream to Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

And the Theatre Royal Bath is one of her favourite venues.

She said: "I've been there twice before and it's absolutely gorgeous. It's going to be like a working holiday and we can't wait to have a cream tea in the Pump Rooms."

Sarah is also squeezing in filming for an episode of Casualty in Bristol. She said: "I play someone who has problems from plastic surgery. That's all I can let on."

As for hobbies, Sarah likes renovating homes and hopes to have her house in London finished for Christmas.

She lives with her partner, Christian, 31, who is a solicitor. Sarah said: "It is an ideal mixture. One normal job and one mad one."

Her future career ambitions involve breaking into the comedy industry. A fan of The Office and Phoenix Nights, she has already started writing her own material.

She said: "I get five weeks off at Christmas to decorate and catch up with family. But then I'll be knuckling down to some observational comedy."

Time and The Conways runs from Monday until Saturday November 22. For bookings call (01225) 448844.