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Even as we catch up by telephone mid-week, the Olivier Awardwinning actress is about to open alongside numerous other household names in a season of Pinter’s work in London, as well as putting together her show, playing Leicester on Sunday, November 18.

Of course, she had the privilege of working with the late Harold Pinter as part of Sir Peter Hall’s company.

“He lived around the corner so I got to know him quite well, an amazing man. Anyone who met him wanted to be in his company and in his works, because it’s only by meeting a writer that you really understand that their writing comes from a very special place, and all his writing and politics were profound and informed by his great intelligence.

“So it’s exciting to know that you’re being guided by this crystalclear thinking.”

It’s stories like the one which follows which show just how much Janie potentially has to tell in her cabaret. “There is a story that Harold rang Peter to say ‘I’ve finished the play’, and it arrived with Peter and it was immaculate, as always. Then Peter received a called from Harold to say something needed changing. This never happened. Peter asked what it was and Harold told him ‘page 36, two paragraphs down. Take the pause out’.”

We both guffaw. “It’s that kind of precision that Pinter worked to, and I love it,” she laughs. “But doing that means I won’t have a lot of time to get ready for the cabaret, although there may be some people in Leicester I may call on to help, which will be a nice surprise for the audience.