Andrea Riseborough

Published Thursday 17 November 2005 at 11:10

Andrea Riseborough is surrounded by drilling sounds in Tunbridge Wells - work is being done on the set of A Brief History of Helen of Troy by Mark Schultz.

“It has a remarkable set - quite simple, dark carpeted, with a very steep rake,” she explains. “And I’m in love with this play - it’s gritty and brilliant. It’s the story of Charlotte, 15, who’s lost her mother and has this thing for Helen of Troy. She’s discovered her from TV and books. There are four parts and we use the four Trojan monologues. The five actors in the cast only appear with me - I never leave the stage. They range from her best friend to her dad.”

Andrea graduated from RADA last summer - “a fine course, they are so supportive there” - to take her first agent, ICM, who within a month got her this role. Opening at the Soho Theatre after the tour, it runs until the end of the month.

It is her first tour and first professional role. Rehearsals have been followed by dates at Plymouth, Birmingham, Frome, and Edinburgh before London.

“It has been a tough schedule but so exciting. My family came to see it. This is its second outing - it had a different name in New York, where it won the Oppenheimer award. I can’t wait to do it in London.”