Kay Mellor On…A Passionate Woman
With a new stage performance of A Passionate Woman and a commission for a BBC drama series, there’s no sign of Writer/Actress Kay Mellor slowing any time soon. The play, which opens next week at the Oldham Coliseum, sees Mellor in the leading role alongside Stuart Manning (Hollyoaks) and Anthony Lewis (Emmerdale). We caught up with Kay during rehearsals.
A Passionate Woman seems like a very personal project. Can you tell us why?
My mum told me a story. I was in my 30’s and she just came out with it. Before I was born, she’d had an affair. He was called Craze and he lived in a flat in her terrace in the poor quarters of Leeds. She’s telling me this story as I’m drying the pots and I suddenly become aware that she’s crying. I’d never seen my mum cry in my entire life. She said, ‘I really, really loved him’. She said he was killed in a fairground brawl, murdered. She hadn’t told a soul in thirty years; grieved on her own for this man that she loved. And I was absolutely spellbound. I could see she was ashamed of it.
Then, ten years later, my younger brother’s gets married and I can see my mother’s bereft. She didn’t like her new daughter-in-law. Then, the play started happening in my head. I saw that my brother getting married and this event that happened all those years ago were intrinsically linked. I couldn’t think about anything else. Then Jude Kelly (the then Artistic Director) at West Yorkshire Playhouse asked if I wanted to write a play and I said yes. This was the product of that.
Why did you choose to star in it? Is it cathartic playing your mother?
It’s a change for me after spending so long writing. Acting’s where I originally came from. I wanted to do this one in particular because it’s my mother’s story. I’ve watched various actresses play the part (of Betty) – Stephanie Cole, Gwen Taylor, and the lovely, glorious Anne Reid and I’ve just loved it. It’s a lot to live up to. My mother passed away four years ago so it’s extra special to me. It’s definitely a cathartic experience. Sometimes I can feel my mother inside me. I’ve naturally got quite a low voice but I find myself on stage speaking with my mother’s high pitched squeak.
Did your mother get to see a version of it?
She saw a dress run and figured out it was about her but I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone. Fast forward to press night, everybody’s excited including my mum who’s in the audience and we’re having a press Q & A after the show and this one journalist kept asking who the play was based on. So, eventually, I just said it was based on someone real but I wasn’t at liberty to say and my mother from the auditorium shouts, it was me! Thirty years of shame just dropped away and the press weren’t interested in me after that.
How does it feel acting again?
It’s lovely to be on stage with people. There’s a little bit of me that yearns to act now and again. To have responsibility for just one character and not the whole concept and shape and characters that come with writing. Just to be able to luxuriate in the character is wonderful. A bit of me is scared because I’m not a jobbing actor and don’t have the practice that other actors have. It’s a hard-working holiday.
Does writing get easier over time?
You learn skills as a writer but I think if you’re a known writer, people become guarded around you. Gossip and chit-chat, which is a writer’s life blood is denied you so I’ve found myself in cafes eavesdropping to refresh and remind myself how people talk. They certainly don’t talk in full sentences.
Why should audiences see A Passionate Woman?
It’s got huge themes in it; love, marriage, mother and son relationships, father and son relationships. It’s about family life. Themes that are absolutely relevant now. It’s entertaining and fascinating. It’s about a woman that crawls up into a loft but there are a few surprises along the way. It’s tender and funny and I hope I do it justice. It’s a great night out. Women, bring your men with you because they’re going to learn a lot!
A Passionate Woman runs at the Oldham Coliseum from 18 May – 4 June.
– By Lucia Cox
