Gina can not be silenced

Five Kinds Of Silence is set in Lancashire. Billy [played by Tim Pigott-Smith] is the father, and he's an individual who has a huge amount of fear. His fear has been perverted - it brutalises him, and he tries to brutalise the people around him. It is about control - and fear of a lack of control. Lizzy McInnerny and I play his daughters and Linda Bassett his wife, Mary.

It's an incredibly powerful piece. Shelagh Stephenson has done a really good writing job. We're still running it through in rehearsal, and it runs like a steam train. You get to see these people's lives when they are together and a family, and you also get to see each individual, and their private nightmares and desires. It's quite poetic, which is slightly contradictory, because it's about such a dysfunctional family. It was originally a radio play broadcast on Radio 4 in 1996, but Shelagh adapted it for stage. People will get different things from it, judging by various conversations we've had in rehearsals.

When I heard about it and discovered that Linda Bassett was in it I was thrilled. Linda is amazing. Later on I heard Tim Pigott-Smith and Lizzy McInnerny, who are both fantastic, were part of it too. We'll see, but I think everyone is going to do a great job.

Five Kinds Of Silence