Preview: If I Were You, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, October 12 to November 11

11:47am Friday 6th October 2006

ACTRESS Liza Goddard and playwright Alan Ayckbourn have been friends for years, so it is surprising to learn his 70th play, If I Were You, will be her Scarborough debut.

"I've never done one of his new plays - just a revival two years ago - and I've never worked in the round, but when you're offered the part you think, 'how fantastic', a new Ayckbourn play, what an honour. I felt enormously privileged to be asked, " says Liza, now settled into her seaside theatre digs for the autumn run at the Stephen Joseph Theatre.

"Then you think, 'why did he ask me?', and I have no idea, I think he must be mad!" Far from mad, Alan has cast Liza in the role of Jill, worried wife and mother, in his study of the differences between men and women.

He knows of her facility for comic suffering from her performance as Belinda, the wife and mother who feels she is taken for granted in Season's Greetings.

"I did his first revival of that play on tour for eight weeks with Matthew Kelly, Terence Booth, Alexandra Mathie, Bill Champion, who's been so amazing in the Intimate Exchanges plays at Scarborough this summer. I've seen them all, " she says.

"It was a big number one theatre tour around the country the Christmas before last, playing proscenium arch theatres and it sold out everywhere. But that's the only Ayckbourn play I've done until this new one? and luckily he has directed both of them, when so many people mess up Alan's plays because they treat them as just a comedy."

Explain further, Liza, please.

"His characters all have such a rich life to them, and the actor knows the character better than anyone, " she says. "The test of a good playwright - and I put Alan up there with Alan Bennett, Oscar Wilde and of course Shakespeare - is that each night you find new depths."

In If I Were You, husband and wife Mal and Jill have secret concerns that they hide carefully from each other, sometimes to avoid hurt, often to avoid confrontation.

Mal (Scarborough regular John Branwell) has problems at work and finds son Sam a disappointment. The boy, however, can do no wrong in Jill's eyes; she is more worried by older daughter Chrissie's marriage, but Mal won't have a word said against his daughter.

Without giving too much away - but the clue lies in the play's title - Ayckbourn comes up with a solution that will change their views and their lives for ever. As usual with Ayckbourn, this will be the stuff of comedy but with darkness at the core.

"These people are very sad and depressed and you find yourself thinking, 'this is kitchensink real life; is it funny?', " says Liza.

"They're very real, super-real, because they're muddling through, even when they should be seeking help - and as an actor you can play it without laughs at all."

Take Jill, for example. "She doesn't do confrontation. She just takes it all inside and gets more and more depressed? but the joy of it for me is not putting on any make-up; I'll be taking it off rather than applying it."

Extra attention will accompany this world premiere as it marks Alan Ayckbourn's return to the artistic director's post following his recuperation from his stroke in late February.

"It does add to the anticipation; I think it will be a special occasion, " says Liza, who holds Alan in such high regard.

"As an actor, you feel you can totally and utterly trust him in rehearsal. Like when there'd been a suggestion that I should make my hair darker for the role and he said, 'go darker still'. I don't recognise myself now - and I have to say the hairdressers in Scarborough are very good at putting dark colours in your hair - but the important thing is that it helps you get into character."

She is full of admiration for his writing skills, too. "You always draw on your own experiences, but when you do one of Alan's plays, it's all there in the script.

You just have to learn it perfectly; it looks easy and natural but unless you learn it perfectly, including the punctuation, the rhythm can go - and each character has their own rhythm, " Liza says.

"I once asked him what went on in that great brain of his when he was writing, and he said he could flip over from one side to the other, from male thinking to female thinking; maybe from one side of the brain to the other."

Liza is delighted to see Alan back at the helm.

"He swims, he bicycles, and if anyone can recover, it's Alan; he has this huge will to recover and he just loves being in the rehearsal room with his actors, " she says. "There's something wonderful about a rehearsal room; it's the camaraderie of all joining together to go over the top."

If I Were You, Alan Ayckbourn's 70th play, runs at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from October 12 to November 11. Box office: 01723 370541.