Sheffield stage role for TV star Helen George in psychological thriller

The play, on stage in Sheffield from January 20-25, is based on a Daphne Du Maurier novel about an exotic and unconventional woman whose arrival at her late husband’s home in Cornwall arouses both suspicions and desires. Here, Helen talks about the role and her work.

What are you most looking forward to about playing Countess Rachel Sangalletti?

It’s a really different role for me. It feels like a transition in a way. She’s a woman in her mid-30s and in the play she refers to herself as an old lady, which of course she would have been in Victorian times.

She’s a character who really knows herself. There’s a vulnerability because of her life experiences but by and large she’s strong as hell. What’s brilliant about Daphne du Maurier’s novel, which Joseph O’Connor reflects in his script so well, is that Rachel really has at certain points a male emotion to her.

She almost thinks like a man and she knows what she needs out of life and how to get it - and she will, by god, get it. She’s fierce as hell. I can’t wait to play her!

Can you relate to her in any way?

I’m self-employed and there’s something in self-employed that means you just have to keep going, keep going and keep going until you’re OK. I think that’s what you get with Rachel as well. She’s a woman so in that era she can’t have a career, she’s married into money, she was married at a very young age to an elderly man and her way of surviving is through marriage. She likes to spend her money and she’s profligate, so she’s a lot of fun to play.

She’s Anglo-Italian so there’s definitely a challenge there in finding a different physicality and a different way that she holds herself. She’s a feminist, she really understands women, she understands men, and she’s very knowledgeable. There’s a strength to her that I try and emulate but maybe don’t always succeed in doing. [Laughs] But I hope I’m not as scary as her.

Why do you feel theatregoers love a good psychological thriller?

It’s about escapism. The news is pretty diabolical at the moment and it’s always fun to escape from that with a gripping mystery on stage. There’s also a gothic element to this, a gothic romance in the ilk of all those Wilkie Collins novels and stuff. That’s something I think people will always enjoy, watching that lush romantic era on stage. Our set designer is incredible and the costumes are very lush so it’s a feast for the eyes.

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What have been your career highlights to date?

Trixie [in Call The Midwife] has meant so much to me. I’ve played her for nine years now, which is a massively long time to play a character so she’ll always have a strong hold on my heart. I really feel I’m ready to play Rachel and After Miss Julie was a fantastic experience because [laughs] she’s just such a mess and it was such a messy thing to do. I was fresh off the back of Strictly and there was lots going on in my personal life so it sort of encompassed that whole weird chapter of my life - and it is such a weird, strange play. I was massively fond of her but she was also a dangerous character.

Does Sheffield Lyceum have any significance for you?

The only time I’ve spent in Sheffield was when my partner did a play there a couple of years ago, when we’d just had our baby. I was on the road with him and we visited the city, which I loved, but I didn’t play the theatre so now it’s my turn!

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