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Yorkshire Post: Sunday, 27th July 2008 The village of Glaisdale is getting a reputation for its annual theatre productions. Chris Berry meets playwright Debbie McAndrew. Country walkers, railway enthusiasts, farmers, holiday makers looking for somewhere tranquil. The North York Moors village of Glaisdale fits the bill for all of these. It's a part of the county that sometimes doesn't realise how unique it is, from its steep-hilled main street and terraced properties to the love story forever entwined with Beggar's Bridge, built back in the 16th century to straddle Glaisdale Beck. There's a pub, the Arncliffe Arms, a shop and a post office. What you don't expect to find here though is a professional theatre company. Three years ago, Esk Valley Theatre put on its first production. The Robinson Institute, a village hall in all but name, and a throwback to the days when Glaisdale's reputation was based on ironstone mining, is the theatre, which seats a modest 100. It might not seem a lot but when you look at this year's run, which starts on Friday, August 8, and takes in 23 performances until Saturday, August 30, it means there are 2,300 tickets to be sold. Considering that would take up pretty much everyone who lives within five miles of Glaisdale it's a pretty tall order. The choice of play can therefore be quite critical. In 2005, the company's founders, partners Mark Stratton and Sheila Carter, started out with a John Godber play, September in the Rain. A thriller followed in 2006 and last year a new Ayckbourn comedy, (written by son Steven rather than Alan), premiered in the Moors. This year's play is the creation of Huddersfield-born and Leeds-raised ex-Coronation Street star Debbie McAndrew, who played Angie Freeman. Having left the show after a three-year stint in 1993 and returned for a short period a few years later, Debbie has never been short of work, settling in the countryside of the Potteries and appearing regularly in productions at the New Vic in Newcastle under Lyme. Debbie is now fast developing a reputation as one of the UK's hardest- working playwrights and her first success, Vacuum, is the play chosen by Mark and Sheila for this year. "I have always written," says Debbie. "I started out thinking I would probably be a journalist. I loved writing essays and was one of those few strange children who quite enjoyed it when an essay was given as homework. All mine were very long. I think I liked the sound of my own pen." "I went into Corrie for three months initially, following university in Manchester and a teaching course at Bretton Hall. I just thought it would help pay my overdraft. When I'd been in it for a year I was offered another two. But I'd had enough after that. "Angie was an unexpected success in some ways because I think the character was only intended as a fill-in originally." Ironically Angie was about to get her first big storyline just as she handed in her notice. "Angie was about to become pregnant, but the real story was that once she had the baby, it would be adopted. There was lots of mileage still to be had out of her character but I also felt as though she did have a shelf life in the show. "Everything changes when you go into the show, your life changes completely. I think Corrie is great. It's astonishing what they do week-in, week-out but I just needed to leave. I wanted to work in the theatre, not to be famous but to continue to work as an actor." The writing was always there though. After quite a few "near misses" Debbie finally received her first critical acclaim for her own work with Vacuum. So what does it hold for a North York Moors audience this summer? "It's a play about two men who meet in a vacuum repair shop. When I started to write it I wanted to write a play set in real time about two people who have never met before and see how far I could take them. And they go quite a long way. "They go to the Wild West, to the moon, to Germany, all from this vacuum repair shop in this little rainy town in the north of England." Debbie describes the play as being difficult to categorise. "It's a dark comedy, a bit thriller-ish and with a bit of a twist. When it was performed first at the Viaduct Theatre in Halifax, the response was so warm that Mark (Stratton) who had been in the original cast wanted to do it again. That's why it's coming to Glaisdale. So why a vacuum repair shop? "When I have a bit of a block, I clean. The belt broke on my vacuum cleaner one day and I went to one of the bigger hardware stores to buy a new one. "They told me there was a funny little shop at the top of a hill and that the man there would be sure to have it. When I walked in, to this shop on the corner, it had bits of old vacuum cleaners everywhere with an old-fashioned counter and a drawer till that you just don't see anymore. I just thought this is it." Don't tell Debbie but she may just get a shock when she goes up to Glaisdale for the opening night and finds that up in t'Moors drawer tills are actually state of the art! Vacuum opens at the Robinson Institute on Friday, August 8, until Saturday, August 30 (Monday-Saturday 7.30pm; Thursday matinees 2.30pm). Tickets are £9 and concessions £8. Bookings: 01947 897587. Debbie McAndrew Born: Huddersfield Educated: Leeds Known for: Role of Angie Freeman in Coronation Street (Early '90s) Yorkshire Connections: Sang in Leeds-based jazz band Something Else n Recent past: Has played lead roles across most genres from musicals to comedy; panto to drama. Writing Credentials: The Bells (adaptation); Vacuum (own work); Flamingoland (own work); Accidental Death of an Anarchist (adaptation) Family: Married to Conrad Nelson (of Northern Broadsides) one daughter, Elizabeth, seven. Her parents and two sisters all live in Leeds. |