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Gertrude's Secret, Mold Clwyd Theatr Cymru,
WHEN it comes to secrecy, there is none better at keeping mum than the actress Prunella Scales, who became a sitcom icon thanks to playing the hideous Sybil in Fawlty Towers.
The 76-year-old leads eight actors performing nine monologues at Mold's Clwyd Theatr Cymru, next week with her own, Gertrude's Secret, as the dramatic finale and titlepiece.
Asked what the production is about she teases by saying: "As it is a secret, of course I can't tell you too much." But Prunella does reveal her role concerns an abused wife and mother who is awaiting a phone call on her birthday.
Other monologues, she added, are less poignant and more comical but all deal with a confession and a twist in the tale. The cast changes constantly but Prunella has appeared regularly since 2006, perhaps because the show has been written by Benedick West, who is related to her actor husband Timothy.
She said: "Gertrude's Secret is highly entertaining. Some of the monologues are very funny, some very surprising and some painful. They are all very different. I'm working with a number of very gifted and mostly young actors, and the director, Andrew Loudon, is highly intelligent and very sensitive.
"Benedick's writing truly amazed me. I have known Ben since he was a babe in arms, but that wouldn't make me do his play if I didn't think it was well written. He has a remarkable psychological sense for speech and character. It's great fun to do.
"We've been performing Gertrude's Secret for a long time now, all over the place, and I think one of the tests of good writing is when you find out more about it as you perform in front of different audiences."
Prunella's acting career spans six decades, includes both comic and serious roles for television, film and radio.
"I love live theatre, it's always thrilling and exciting," says the actress, born Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingsworth.
Her first television break was the BBC Sixties sitcom, Marriage Lines, where she played the on-screen wife of Richard Briers.
Later this year she takes the part of Mrs Gotobed in Carrie's War, Nina Bawden's semi-autobiographical story of children evacuated to Wales in World War II. It will be her first West End role for five years.
"Its a lovely play and I'm looking forward to it very much." I remember the wartime evacuee's very well. My family lived near London and on the outbreak of war sold up and moved to Devon. Then soon after the evacuees arrived and we all learned the alphabet in Cockney. It helped my acting career no end I can tell you," she said.
She has no intention of slowing down from acting and teaching the craft at the Actors' Centre in London. For relaxation, she gardens at the house in Wandsworth Common she and her husband have lived in for 40 years, and the couple travel Britain in their narrow boat.
My final ambition is to die on the eighth curtain call," she says, wryly.
Gertrude's Secret, Mold Clwyd Theatr Cymru, March 31 & April 1, 0845 330 3565
