FROM HEAVEN
Two soap stars are among the women hoping to clean up with a new production of the classic comedy set in a laundry
GOLDIE Hawn observed that there are three ages for women in Hollywood – babe, district attorney and Driving Miss Daisy. In Scottish theatre, make that Doreen, Magrit, Dolly and Mrs Culfeathers. Tony Roper’s play The Steamie is so popular that a Scottish actress could spend her whole career moving from the impressionable new bride to the veteran mince-buyer. Now in its 30th year, the show is on the road again. Demand for tickets is so great that theatres keep sneaking in extra matinees. The cast – including 73-year-old Mary McCusker and Carmen Pieraccini, who has a one-yearold daughter – face the physical challenge of 66 shows in eight venues. Carmen, 38, plays the putupon-yet-still-gallus Magrit. The former River City star is bringing baby Jasmine with her to Inverness and Aberdeen. When she is not learning her lines, she is writing mental lists of essential blankets and mustpack books. The juggling is stressful but the relief of having a proper job with colleagues and coffee breaks is a joy that all working mothers will recognise. Carmen said: “It is nice leaving her and coming in and doing my things. She had her jag when I wasn’t there and I felt dreadful – but apart from that it’s been fine. “I stopped breastfeeding to do the tour when I realised it was not going to work. I was kind of reluctant but now that’s done, my boobs are my own again.” Another River City escapee – Libby McArthur, 56 – is sweet, gullible Dolly. The actress, best known as cafe owner Gina, has had acupuncture, cut out wheat and dairy and drunk so much tea she is never out of the toilet. She said: “It’s bloody hard work. My Dolly voice is fine when I’m just talking but there’s harmonies, there’s movements. I’ve never worked so hard.” After long stints on the BBC soap, both actresses are delighted to be out on the road, taking a Scottish show right across the country.
Libby said: “When I was Fiona Wood’s age [she plays Doreen] there were so many young theatre companies touring. Now we’re strapped for it.”
While Fiona and Mary are veterans of The Steamie, it’s Carmen and Libby’s first stint at the stone sink. Carmen did some of Magrit’s speeches for her drama Higher but has not looked at the script since.
Libby was in the audience at the show’s birth in 1987. She recalled: “I was at the very first reading at the Tron Victorian Bar. I loved it then and I love it now. I really get The Steamie.
“It’s all about my working-class roots – my dad was in the Gorbals, my mum was an orphan, I was brought up with all of that. The hard-working poverty and making do and cameraderie that comes out of that is in The Steamie.”
Set in the 50s, The Steamie has been described as nostalgic and affectionate – but Libby doesn’t see it that way. “The Steamie is in no way a sentimental piece of work. It’s a salute to when people found joy in the darkest of times, a testament to human nature.
“I’m sure if you went to Auschwitz on a Tuesday night you’d find a Jewish family having a singsong. Not because they didn’t know what was happening but because human nature is incredible in terms of looking for the joy, the connection, the love and that’s what the Steamie’s all about. In all that arduous toil, there are moments that are really moving.”
Making The Steamie look effortless is immensely hard work. Mary and Fiona only needed a refresher course but Carmen and Libby have had to start from scratch.
Libby said: “It’s a great bit of writing but it’s a bugger to learn. Tony writes things upside down and backsides forwards. There is so much comedy in the lines, never mind in the gags.
“All the humour comes out of the characters and the dynamics, out of misunderstandings and differences between them. When the audience are laughing, they are laughing with us. It’s that recognition humour – that’s you today but it’ll be me tomorrow. It’s taking a poke at us all.”
Not only do the cast have to get their comic timing and harmonies perfect, they need to do it all while wearing big boots, pinnies and woolly jumpers. Carmen explained: “We get changed into our wellies and jumpers when we’re in the steamie. It’s set at Christmas, so it would be freezing. These women went there to work. It’s get the shopping in, get the washing done, get up the road.”
Libby thinks The Steamie is so funny that some of her pals might do themselves a mischief.
“Tony is a master on what’s funny and why. I’ve a few friends who might end up hysterical. If we get this right, it’s going to be bloody great.” ● The Steamie is at the Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, until tomorrow, then on tour. See www.thesteamie play.com
It’s a salute to when people found joy in the darkest times
LIBBY McARTHUR