As one half of our fabulous directing duo pointed out, this play we’re doing is like an onion. It is made up of layer upon layer. And so are the leading female characters, Teresa, Mary and Catherine.

As an actor, I always start with what’s on the page. And Teresa comes across as a particular type: middle-aged vegetarian woman, who runs a healthfood business with her second husband. She is a catholic at heart who plays the family martyr well, but who is also the keeper of many family secrets. See her yet? Meet Teresa. She is the eldest of the three sisters, the one who took care of their dying mother as she slipped into dementia. The responsible one, in a way. But there are other layers. The text contains so many little clues as to her past, the life outside the time and place of the play. It’s almost as if this point in time, where the play is set, is an anomaly in Teresa’s life. She has suffered a bereavement, is now brought together with her two sisters to bury their mother, and suddenly old issues resurface and secrets spill out. She is, in fact, out of character. But perhaps more herself than she has been for a long time.

Putting together a character’s clothes is a big part of the process of bringing them to life. With Teresa it was always going to be comfy clothes, knits, textures, ethnic details… A rummage through my own wardrobe (thanks mum for the knitting) and a couple of trips to UFF produced the right mix. Frumpy, but colourful, well-meaning but a bit off – you get the picture.

I like Teresa. I’ve grown to like her. She is honest and earnest, if a little blind to herself sometimes. But she is done with pleasing people. The greatest strength of the play, and maybe the greatest strength of Teresa as well, is the desire to face the truth. Lay it out like a corpse for a final viewing! And the beautiful thing about truth – and this play – is that it’s both sad and funny. Usually at the same time. I’m just not sure Teresa gets the joke…

At the end of last year, I felt a certain lack of power. A yearning for looking at the big picture. A need for bossing people around (though I think my boyfriend would probably say it's not like that need hasn't been fulfilled pretty much everyday anyway). A craving for taking a handful of people and trying to match their schedules so that we can meet at least once a week. I decided it was about time I'd direct again.

This is only my third time doing this, and my second time co-directing (this time with the lovely bad cop, Anna). As we have been going through the rehearsals, I have noticed that some things don't seem to have changed from the last times. My handwriting still needs some decoding when I write without looking at the paper. I still love making lists. I still feel incredibly excited when the actors do something that looks and feels exactly how I had envisioned it. And it still is just really, really fun to tell people what to do. ☺

The most important difference to the other two times I've directed is that this time I had no part in writing the play. This difference actually is quite an important one, because this time I don't know all the intentions of the author. So, I am there with the cast, peeling away the layers of this onion of a play. We are figuring out the connections and motivations behind each line, behind each action, together. It is a lot more challenging, but in a way, also more rewarding.

We still have over a month before the first show. I can't wait to find out what the end result will be – hopefully you can't either!

Putting a scene to bed...Yes - after all these years with the Players, I have dared, for the first time, to try out the director's chair. It's different being on the other side of the table, that much is clear. Obviously, I'm having an easy(ish!) ride of it, given I'm co-directing with Pauliina, who's an old hand in that chair, so to speak, and the fact that the cast is both talented and committed as well as hard-working (although don't tell them I said that, as it may make them big-headed). Many are off-script with some scenes already (well done guys! The drinks I promised as books-down carrots need to materialise) and all have put much thought into who they are. Onstage, I mean. 

To prove this point… herewith a photo from the first blocking rehearsal, and Mike has already got a hard-on. It's alright, no need to get worried – it's in the script.