Josie Lawrence on her role in Amédée - arriving at Birmingham REP tonight

"The stage door isn't here," she told him, remembering her time at The REP in Chekov's magnificent the Cherry Orchard. "Yes it is, duck," he told her.

See a trailer for the play here:

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Lawrence suddenly realised how long she's been away. She thought the Cherry Orchard had been just three years ago. It had, in fact, been seven and since then The REP has been completely revamped.

See Trevor Fox and Josie Lawrence talk about the play here:

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"It's lovely to be back, but when I arrived I didn't know where I was. The stage door has moved. Cherry Orchard was the very last play to rehearse in the old rehearsal rooms. So now everything is the same, but everything is different. It's lovely working with Roxanna Silbert, the director. It's my first time with her."

Lawrence is starring in the brilliant Amedee, by Eugene Ionesco. It was adapted by Sean Foley and tells the story of a frustrated playwright, his wife, their very big secret and what happens when they try to get rid of it.

Lawrence says: "I've never done anything like it. It's nice to get something this unusual.

"Ionesco wrote this just after the war. It hits the ground running.

"Basically, Amadee is my husband and it's set in a dystopian world.

"We live in a one-bedroom flat, but we've had to move out of one room because there's a body in there and it keeps growing and we have to get rid of it.

"It's about a problem that builds up and you don't know what it is. The audience might relate it to a bad relationship, an issue, a political story or something similar.

"The theatre of the absurd isn't surreal. I'm not coming on saying 'I'm a blue orange'.

"The couple's relationship is very real and the play has got everything in it, humour and pathos. It's vocal and physical gymnastics. Once you start that's it. It scares me and excites me at the same time," she said.

Lawrence, who was born in Old Hill, has a starry record at The REP. She featured in the Cherry Orchard, Hapgood, Frozen and more.

"The Alchemist was the first thing," she said. "Hapgood was enjoyable. I met Tom Stoppard the other day at the Writer's Guild Awards and he was reminiscing. He said he was always very pleased with it.

"I love the variety of my work. To tell you the truth, I can't believe it's been so long since I did the Cherry Orchard or any theatre. I did some readings of war plays, Women in War, in London. I did a one-woman try out of a play, but apart from that I haven't done theatre for so long. There was a period of looking after loved ones and doing telly and the time soon goes.

"But much as I love my improv and TV and doing films, my heart is where it all began, which is theatre. I love the process of rehearsals, putting on my costume and the audience coming in. I love it like I did when I first started," she said.

Amedee has given Lawrence the opportunity to get her teeth into something special. It opens at The REP tonight and runs until March 11. After that, she will be hopping in and out of the world of comedy before returning to the stage.

"The comedy is doing very, very well. I'm having to have time off from the Comedy Store though, for this. Our all-female group is doing very well. We've done shows in London and are going up to Edinburgh with it.

"And then there's another play in London in September. It's a classic piece and it's a character that I've always wanted to do. It's a year of theatre," she said.

And, with Amedee being staged at The REP, it's also a time of home sweet home.

By Andy Richardson