Shipshape role built to fit its star
BY FLEUR COGLE
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Timaru actor Elizabeth Grubb has a good reason to be proud of the latest play in which she stars – it was written specially for her.
The Sinking of Immaculate O'Shea, which opened at the Playhouse last night, was written by Mrs Grubb's sister, linguist and writer Jennifer Kewley Draskau.
It was inspired by the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania, and by research she had done on the Isle of Man, where she lives.
Mrs Grubb was delighted with the result and said the play was vivacious.
"She's done a wonderful job. It's full of life and it's colourful. The language is beautiful.
"I'm neurotic about trying to get it right."
The play tells the story of three women in a Liverpool family at the time of the sinking of the Lusitania during World War I.
Mrs Grubb, who plays "Nana", a feisty "terrible old woman", has a huge role.
"My role is enormous and it's got so many words."
Although the play centres on fictional characters, some of the language has struck a familiar chord.
"An awful lot of the things I say are Liverpool expressions my father used.
"I found it quite disconcerting saying the things that father would have said."
Although the story is centred on one of the most traumatic events in the war, the play is not without humour.
"The first half is quite funny in terms of the characters. The second half is actually quite philosophical and heart-wrenching." The play is on tonight, Saturday and Sunday, and from Wednesday to Saturday next week at the Playhouse.
- © Fairfax NZ News
