White wedding for Clune

A Wedding Story is a macabre comedy about the nature of love and marriage, commitment and families - and what happens when commitment is put to the test.

My character, Sally, narrates her parents' marriage in the context of her mother's declining mental abilities due to Alzheimer's. At the same time my character is going through a parallel process.

Her parents' marriage is being tested under the strain of Alzheimer's, while my character is a lesbian and starts having an affair with a woman she shags in the toilet at a wedding reception. The play charts their growing relationship and my character's fear of intimacy and commitment. So it is meaty, but very funny as well - there is a moment when my character has to chase her nappy-wearing mother around, which is French farce, but terrifying too.

Bryony Lavery is a wonderful 'new' writer. It's quite extraordinary the way she manages to write sparse, naturalistic dialogue but with great gags, and also a chilling minimalism. We've been laughing about it because she's 52 and everyone is like "What's it like to be discovered at 52?"

I am probably best known for cabaret but I started out doing fringe theatre and ran my own theatre company called Red Rag with a group of friends. After that I did a one-woman show in the West End called Showstopper - but this is the first play I've done with other real people in about six years.

The first week of rehearsals was quite nerve-racking. I'd bowl in five minutes before rehearsals with a hangover whereas all the others would be there 45 minutes early doing bloody yoga! But we've had great fun. I remorselessly took the piss out of them. And they had a big joke that I'm just a cabaret turn and wouldn't know real emotion unless it hit me over the head with an Olivier award!