How did your involvement in Talking Heads come about?

I got an email from Marianne Elliott (we collaborated very joyfully at the RSC on Much Ado About Nothing so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with her again) who was already on board as one of the directors, asking if I’d like to be involved. I didn’t have to think about it and said yes instantly!

Tell us about your character, Rosemary?

Rosemary Horrocks is an ordinary middle-class lady from Yorkshire, married to Henry, and is a keen gardener. On her way to Sainsbury’s one morning, a neighbour, Mrs McCorquodale, asks Rosemary for help, as something seems to be wrong with her husband. The monologue is the story of what happens between these two quietly suburban, almost invisible women.

How familiar with Talking Heads were you beforehand?

I’m a huge Alan Bennett fan and had seen many of the monologues back in the 80s. I’m very glad I hadn’t seen Penelope Wilton playing Rosemary in the original monologue as I simply wouldn’t have been able to summon up the courage to follow in her wake.

Can you tell us about the preparations for filming you had to do remotely, due to lockdown?

Marianne and I rehearsed together remotely via zoom for three weeks before filming, which was very strange and challenging. But it also gave a new dimension to the nature of communication - all these monologues are spoken TO somebody, and so the need to connect over such a tenuous technological thread made the words more vivid, the connection more necessary.

I spoke and emailed a good deal with the costume designer, Jacqueline Durran, and the hair and make-up designer, Naomi Donne, to build a picture together of who Rosemary seemed to be. We ordered clothes from the internet (and my own wardrobe!) which I then tried on and sent through photos to Jacqueline and Marianne. I had to wash and iron all the ones we chose for the character, which was probably the most nerve-wracking part of the job!

Naomi sent through some brown hair dye spray and I experimented with colouring my hair. Then on the day of filming, my 15 year-old daughter got up at 5.30am to be my make-up artist at home before I drove to the studio! She did a fantastic job, and I think is the youngest person to ever make me up for a professional role.

How did you find the unique ways of filming?

It was really strange, not coming into contact with anyone on set. Costume and hair/makeup is such an intimate collaboration, that to maintain distance from these artists was odd and a little isolating. And then to have the entire crew give you such a wide berth felt very weird! But I suppose all that perfectly mirrors what so many of us are experiencing at the moment, but also reflects the nature of the monologues themselves - people in situations of extreme loneliness longing to be heard and to connect.

What do you think it is about Talking Heads that resonates with viewers?

All of the characters are drawn with such compassion, the language so delicately chosen, the situations are so heartbreaking and oddly intriguing, the peculiar idiosyncrasies of each character so funny and detailed, that audiences get drawn into privacy. It’s like accidentally overhearing hearts that are too full to keep any more secrets.