ONE is a one-woman show from Six Lips Theatre that has a cast of more than one. Five in fact.

“It’s a bit of irony there in the title,” says Roxanna Klimaszewska, the play’s co-writer with Rebecca Thomson, who explains how the York company’s new experimental performance will work at the Friargate Theatre next week.

“We’ve made a beautiful, heartfelt and humorous one-woman show unlike any other, with an all singing and dancing cast!

“One draws on elements of music, burlesque and dance for a witty and original interpretation of the female solo story teller, using an original text,” says Roxanna, who plays the lead role of She.

“We invite you to join the fabulous, bohemian She for one night only... except for all the other nights the rest of the week.... as She shares her secret, slightly unorthodox, material-generating methods for her One-Woman Show.”

Roxanna has the show’s only speaking role. The accompanying quartet of company co-founder Anna Rose James, Rebecca Thomson, Stacey Johnstone and Six Lips debutante Edith Kirkwood will play “manifestations of She’s concerns of what she thinks she should be, when she doesn’t know what she is”.

“It all becomes rather sinister through that process: what the manifestations mean and how they control her,” says Roxanna.

“Their presence grows as the performance goes on and so you’ll begin to question what their motivation for being there is.”

Shades there of the impact that the Witches have on Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Scottish play, you might think, and Six Lips have thought the same too.

One then goes on to ask: Whose story is She telling? Is it her own? Someone else's? Would She know the difference anyway?

Such are the dilemmas that may face an actress, manifested here in Roxanna and Rebecca’s exploration of the “tropes, clichés and expectations of a female performer”.

“One is an insight into the life of an egotistical, self-proclaimed genius,” says the show’s publicity blurb. “Don't blink or you might miss something that will change your life and the way you look at theatre forever...although probably not.”

Ah, self-deprecation from Six Lips – and Roxanna is at pains to point out the “egotistical, self-proclaimed genius” is not her.

“I don’t want people to think that She is me! She’s part of me and a creation that has been influenced by me, but she’s not me, though there are observations I’ve made and first-hand experiences I’ve had,” she says.

“She is very confused, whereas I’d like to think I have more direction in my life but I do identify with parts of her, parts that feel very true and real.”

One goes to the heart of the challenge that faces an actress. “I know people in this profession who feel they have to be a certain type of person to get a role and ultimately what you then get is a stereotype,” says Roxanna.

“We’re deconstructing that to show why we have these ‘darlings’ who are so desperate to be liked and to succeed in what’s ultimately a really competitive industry.”

Six Lips Theatre presents One, Friargate Theatre, York, March 7 to 9, 8pm. Tickets: £8, concessions £6, on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. One tours Bradford, Manchester and Leeds (The Library, March 19 and 20; 0113 2440794 or wegottickets.com)