Ellie Bamber has admitted it takes her hours to get to sleep each night after starring in new West End musical High Society.

The 18-year-old actress plays teenage tomboy Dinah in the fun-filled show, based on the hit 1956 film starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra, which has just opened at the Old Vic Theatre in London.

The story follows a night of wild and lavish partying before her older sister Tracy’s wedding, and Ellie spends almost three hours six evenings a week, plus two matinees, dancing, singing and cartwheeling around the stage with the rest of the cast.

Ellie Bamber as Dinah in High Society (Johan Persson/Old Vic)
Ellie Bamber as Dinah in High Society (Johan Persson/Old Vic)

She confessed: “It takes me about two hours to get to sleep. I’m texting people for hours, because you have so much adrenaline inside you, the last thing you can think about is sleeping, but it’s great.”

The Falling star admits taking on a role made so famous on screen is a little daunting.

Ellie confessed: “High Society was an old family favourite of ours. I love the story, it’s an incredible story.

“I think there’s always that pressure with big films or musicals and plays that people have done, before there’s always pressure to perform and get something great across. But I think you’ve just got to take it in your stride and portray it as you like to.”

Ellie Bamber with Jamie Parker in High Society (Ellie Bamber as Dinah in High Society (Johan Persson/Old Vic)
Ellie Bamber with Jamie Parker in High Society (Ellie Bamber as Dinah in High Society (Johan Persson/Old Vic)

Dinah has a love-hate relationship with Tracy’s ex-husband Dexter, played by Merlin star Rupert Young, as she wants him to marry her sister again.

Despite being 18, Ellie manages to come across as a cocky child on stage, with no hint of sexual tension between Dinah and Dexter.

Ellie revealed: “I can think back to when I was about 14 and I had no interest in boys at all and I just ran around having a lot of fun, and I draw on that.”

Ellie will be playing a much more coquettish character when she appears as Lydia Bennet in Pride And Prejudice And Zombies in February next year.

High Society also stars Kate Fleetwood, Barbara Flynn, Jamie Parker, Annabel Scholey and Richard Grieve and runs until August 22, 2015.