Lesley Joseph is just about to start rehearsals of the bittersweet comedy The Gingerbread Lady - in which she plays Evelyn Meara, a recovering alcoholic who is welcomed home by her daughter and some old friends. It's a big role with both comic and tragic moments for Lesley in the Neil Simon classic - and she's looking forward to getting her teeth into it. "The thing is that I'm actually playing an alcoholic in this production so I don't need to do that much research," she joked. "But obviously I've been observing friends and seeing how they react after a drink - it's actually quite difficult to play a convincing drunk.  It's really very meaty. It's quite a strong storyline and all signs are that it's going to be excellent..  | Lesley on The Gingerbread Lady |
"Some people just need one drink to set them off while others you can't notice that they're drunk at all." Lesley said there would be a month of rehearsals before the play opens in Cambridge on 8 June and tours for eight weeks, including a week at Milton Keynes from 19 July. "The rehearsals start and for the first two weeks you don't know what you're doing," she explained. "You feel like you want to run a mile as nothing is hanging together then things get even worse than you could imagine and you don't know how you're going to get through things. "Then the day before the production opens something happens to make it work and when it opens, it's just the best feeling in the world and you don't believe that you ever thought it wasn't going to work." Dark underbelly Evelyn is a former lounge singer who's just returned to her New York apartment after a 10 week stay in rehab. With the help of her lovingly anxious daughter, Polly, and two best friends, she faces sobriety's challenges with laughter and tears. Lesley said the play had depth to it: "It is a comedy, but unlike many of Neil Simon's plays it's got a very dark underbelly. His plays are usually very upbeat and funny, but this one is very dark in some places. It's quite sad and tragic.  | | Lesley as herself |
"It's really very meaty. It's quite a strong storyline and all signs are that it's going to be excellent. There's some great characters and a really good cast." Lesley has a massive list of stage credits to her name including The Vagina Monologues (West End and tour) and Miss Hannigan in Annie (West End and tour). But she says the role of Evelyn will be a challenge: "It's a cracking big lead and quite scary. I've not done such a big part before and if it works - it will be fantastic. "It's a powerful part. Evelyn is quite a mentally fragile character." It's a far cry from the role that made her a household name - Dorien in Birds of A Feather. The gossipy, sex-obsessed Dorien was a snobbish Jewess ostensibly happily married to accountant Marcus but actually indulging in a flurry of flings with muscular toy boys. Alongside Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson, Lesley played Dorien for nearly 10 years with about 100 episodes. Dorien legacy She says people still remember her for the role - and she doesn't mind as she loved the part: "Dorien was a great character and I'm very happy that playing her gave me the opportunity to do things like The Gingerbread Lady. "I'm very grateful to Dorien as through her, I showed that I could put bums on seats in theatres and so I can work." But she doubts whether Birds Of A Feather will fly again. "I would love to do one more episode, five years down the line to see what would have happened to all the characters. But I don't think it will happen. "It was almost a soap opera. People liked it like EastEnders - it was more than just a sitcom."
Now Lesley feels people know her for more than just Dorien - and for her roles on the stage, which she feels is her forte.  | | Birds Of A Feather team |
"I love the stage. I think it's more an actor's medium while television is more a director's medium.
"The camera looks at what it wants to look at while with stage you can't get away with much - it's more immediate and slightly more dangerous - the ball's far more in your court."
After the tour, Lesley said she is going to take some time off before turning to the stage for her favourite genre - pantomime. "I love love love it. It's great stuff and really dangerous and usually do it every year. Last year I was in Newcastle."
And did she stick to the changes to her appearance dealt out by the legendary Trinny and Susannah on the television programme What Not To Wear?
"I was quite pleased to do it as I was at a point when I wanted to change my image. They could be quite rude but it was fun.
"I've kept my hair coloured - but I've left my eye make up on - as if I would take it all off like they suggested!" 
| Aimee n Fliss, Walsall | Tuesday, 17-May-2005 15:17:04 BST |  | | We love Les. We saw her in Millie, and think she's the greatest person in the world. We really want to meet her!! X |
| bruno bouyer, nanterre paris suburbs | Saturday, 27-Nov-2004 14:26:57 GMT | | | I LOVE YOU SINCE I FIRST SAW THE BIRDS YOU CHEER ME UP STAY AS YOU ARE LOVE FROM YOUR FRENCHIE ADMIRER |
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