INTRODUCING... Caroline Williamson, performing solo in Limbo at York Theatre Royal

2:40pm Friday 5th October 2007

Real Circumstance is a groundbreaking theatre company from the east of England, dedicated to exploring new ways of playmaking that put young, emergent performers and writers at the heart of the often improvised creative process.

In Limbo, Irishman Declan Feenan's tender story of a Newry factory girl and her relationship with a man twice her age, 23year-old Cambridge graduate Caroline Williamson plays the confessional Catholic teenager.

CHARLES HUTCHINSON puts her in the spotlight.

How did you land this role, Caroline?

"It all goes back to university days when I was reading English Literature at Fitzwilliam College, the one up the only hill in Cambridge. I'd arrived and Dan Sherer Limbo's director had just graduated and he wanted to direct, so he auditioned a group of actors to find three to work with him for a year to develop his ideas, and I was one of the three.

"That was in 2003, and when I then directed a piece of Northern Irish writing, Ismene, a new play by Stacey Gregg with 18 actors, and I asked Dan to help, as we were both interested in Irish writing.

"So when he came across the script for Limbo, he got in touch with me during my finals to say would I be interested in doing a reading - four days after I graduated! - at a new writing festival at The Junction in Cambridge?

"Dan then decided he wanted to set up a company, and Limbo is the first production."

When did York Theatre Royal and its artistic director, Damian Cruden, become involved?

"Damian has been a fan of Dan's work, and he's kept his beady eye on his career development. Dan and Damian and I met up in London at Christmastime, when I did the play in the style I'd done it in Cambridge. Damian really liked it and it was Damian's idea for us to take it to the Edinburgh Fringe for its premiere."

What time of day did you Limbo in the notoriously-crammed festival?

"It was 2.20 in the afternoon. It's become such a comedy festival and lots of people want to see comedy in the evening, but are happy to see drama in the afternoon. We'd originally been given a 7.30pm slot, but we were advised to move to the afternoon, which was a good move.

"I went to one drama in the evening when all you could hear was the sound of laugher from next door drowning it out."

That would have off-putting in a solo show like yours.

"What's so great about how Dan Sherer works as a director is that you learn the script from semidevised processes, so you always feel safe. Even if you forget a detailed line of dialogue, you have the character to fall back on.

"So I think it's actually an advantage to be on my own on stage, as this is a solo show where you want a sense of loneliness."

How did you create the performance with Dan Sherer?

"Dan is the real deal in terms of the actor's process. He's been a staff director at the National Theatre, working with Mike Leigh on Two Thousand Years, and Leigh is one the directors who has most influenced him.

"For Limbo, we've mapped out the character of the young girl from the day she was born to the eve of her 17th birthday, and that's very much Mike Leigh's style too."

Your own speaking voice is classically English. How did you learn a Newry accent?

"In a very lucky way! Stacey Gregg, who wrote the Ismene play that I directed, is from Belfast, so it was a question of her going through sounds with me and showing me some incredible Irish sitcoms. We then went to Newry to stay with the writer, Declan, and I did a lot of recording into a Dictaphone and sitting in corners learning the intonations, as it's a very different accent from Belfast."

One last puzzle: your production photos are all very dark. Why the murkiness?

"As the play takes place beside a dark lake, in real time and it's set at night, there's no natural light, and the lighting is minimalist - though it's more complicated than that!

"It's a very intimate piece, with the idea of the girl being in limbo, in an eerie place. I'm lit from the light hitting the water and reflecting ripples across my face."

• Real Circumstance presents Limbo, The Studio, York Theatre Royal, next Friday to November 3, 7.45pm plus 2.30pm matinees, October 20, 27 and November 3.

Suitable for 13-plus, the show is 55 minutes long. Tickets: £10, concessions £5, on 01904 623568 or www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk