"I never dared to write a comedy before. If nobody laughs you're stuffed, aren't you?": Lisa Evans in Conversation — Page 2:
JK: I was wondering whether the doubling was something you wrote into the script? In both productions the same actor plays the role of Tajib and the teacher, as well as the doctor, constantly switching between them throughout the play.
LE: Most of the doctors at the time these children were young were male. In fact, the actor playing Tajib, the doctor, and the teacher wasn't meant to appear in Act Two, but the director, Ellie Jones made the decision to bring him back. I am very happy with Finn Hanlon's performance, but I think having him appear in even more roles in Act 2 just looks like we haven't got enough money to pay more male actors. So I think this is kind of a political mistake. People will always ask why are there so many women in the play and so few men. It is something particularly key to all male reviewers.
JK: The programme indicates that one of the plot strands — centring on Ali and Flora's story — is set in Richmond. In the printed text there is no reference to this, the only information provided is that it is located in a contemporary setting. Was this an attempt to bring the play closer to the local community here?[2]Evans, Lisa. <em>Once We Were Mothers: Programme, Orange Tree Theatre</em>. Richmond, 2007.
LE: There was not really any reference in the play to anywhere. This time it was a matter of marketing; however, some of the actresses live in the Richmond area, so the programme was accurate in this sense!
JK: What was the reception of the piece?
LE: Amazingly good. It is quite an emotional experience and it is quite different I think from things that normally happen at the Orange Tree. Not that they don't have emotional plays, but the content and the way it's done is quite novel here for this audience. They are dealing with the play all right!
JK: As it happens, both the New Vic and the Orange Tree are theatres in the round. Did you intend the play for such a space? If so why?
LE: Well it was initially written for a theatre in the round, but I wonder if it would work as well using a pros arch space. You could do it in the traverse, or use a thrust or something, but the distance of a pros arch would be slightly problematic. The closer you are to the audience, the better for direct address.
JK: Could you talk about the artistic and dramatic choices you are opting to make in your work?
LE: This is a generalisation, but I tend to write about whatever someone is paying me to do at the time. This is what happened when Gwenda Hughes initially asked me to write Once We Were Mothers. It was also a reflection on her experience, because she was trying very hard to become a mother herself at the time. But then, if you read the preface you'll know she eventually adopted a little boy just before we did the play. Bizarrely every actor in the play with the exception of one — the grandmother in this and the last production — is childless and not necessarily by choice. It is part of being an actress though; it is hard to have family and be on the road. Motherhood is a common theme in my plays, so are daughters. There is the common theme of women. I guess my politics informs what and who I write about. Adaptations have been of stories that interested me and of ideas that people have thought to commission. I did a version of East Lynne, which is a horrible punitive story by the 19th century author Mrs Henry Wood about what would happen to women if they dared to have an affair: "You'll be punished horribly, shame on you!" It was written for Birmingham Rep, directed by Gwenda. We decided to have the heroine fight back and the play was written from the heroine's point of view — commenting on "why was I punished so badly for what I did." So there was a feminist slant on this topic. Similarly, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was a play about the abuse of a woman kept prisoner by a drunken husband who refused her freedom, and about how she finally breaks free and comes to a new place in her life.