Footfalls, Bar Lane Studios, Bar Lane, York, from April 19

SIX Lips Theatre’s actresses Anna Rose James and Roxanna Klimaszewska and director Hannah Wallace will stage their re-imagining of Samuel Beckett’s Footfalls, at Bar Lane Studios, Bar Lane, York, from Tuesday.

“We see this production as our flagship show,” say the trio, who co-founded the York company last April and began a one-year internship at the studios last September.

This week, they will perform Footfalls alongside a short, devised piece of their own, Sequel, written as a response to the play. CHARLES HUTCHINSON meets the trio.

What is the history of Footfalls, Anna?

“It’s a piece from 1976 when Beckett had already teamed up with actress Billie Whitelaw and he wrote this play for her. His inspiration came from a break in writing when he was visiting a friend who had depression and his mother was suffering from worsening health.”

How was the show staged at that time, Roxanna?

“It was just Billie Whitelaw on stage with another actor’s voice off stage. Beckett also directed it, so it was the closest to what he imagined when he wrote it.

“For us, Hannah will direct it, Anna will play May and I’ll be the voice. We’ve come to an agreement with the Beckett estate that I can be on stage as long as I’m in a dark corner up-stage. But Hannah’s vision never had me as an obvious presence. I was always going to be a hidden, questionable presence.”

Have you directed any Beckett plays previously, Hannah?

“I did Beckett’s Play [his 1963 play] when we were at York St John University in May 2008, though neither Rocky [Roxanna] nor Anna were in it.

“It was set in purgatory with the characters in pottery urns, and he’s very specific about those urns in that he says the actors can’t sit or stand but have to be in a crouching position. We ended up giving them a ledge but only because I felt sorry for them.”

What else do you recall of that university show, Hannah?

“I filled the room with compost and moss and grass cuttings to make it smelly.

“We did the show on a loop that didn’t stop until the last of the audience had finally gone. They could watch it over and over and we did it for just under two hours.

“So when we formed this company we talked about immersing our audience in our shows, and we thought immediately of Beckett.”

Beckett is notorious for his precise stage instructions. What did he put in place for Footfalls, Hannah?

“There has to be a stretch of floor of a specific length, nine steps long, lit by two floor lamps on either side.

“That is basically his one stipulation, so we have a whole room to play with around that. We’ll have lots of rags, dust sheets, cobwebs, pottery and junk that might fester.

“The set designer [Jess Mather] is gathering dead bugs for us and we like the idea of having overflowing bins to get the feeling of the audience intruding in that space.”

How would you describe the character of May, Anna?

“There’s a lot of ambiguity about her, so we thought we would bite the bullet and ‘workshop’ her character. There was talk about whether she was a ghost or talking to herself.

“The voice character, Amy, is an anagram of her name and we wondered if she could in fact be May herself in the final story that she tells.”

In what way was it “like a séance”, Anna?

“Rehearsing in this cold basement in the dark, lying down on the floor after turning off the lights, no shoes allowed, no socks allowed, we’d become one with the floor.”

Where did that lead, Hannah?

“I find that Anna works really well in a situation where we talk her into a state of mind where she is May and ask her what memories May had, and Anna came up with some beautiful stories that aren’t in the play but help her get into character – whereas Rocky likes a more high-energy, intense, physical way of working.”

How have you built up the character of Amy, Roxanna?

“We’ve been playing with the idea that maybe I am part of May. I feel she’s a manifestation of May’s inner self and is showing the emotions that maybe May wouldn’t otherwise show.”

What form will the second play, Sequel, take, Roxanna?

“We’re working with Paul Richardson from the Parashoots film company in York, devising a six-to-ten-minute film with no dialogue that Anna will perform in. It’s an exploration of the possibilities of what Beckett’s play may mean…

...Anna, your thoughts?

“It’s an abstract response to the mystery in Footfalls and a response to the emotions it evokes – and visually it’ll be quite a treat.”

• Six Lips Theatre present Footfalls and Sequel in the Basement, Bar Lane Studios, York, Tuesday to Saturday at 7pm plus Saturday matinee at 2pm. Tickets: £17.50, concessions £10, from York Theatre Royal box office, tel 01904 623568, or online at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

• You can follow the company’s progress at sixlips.co.uk

• Six Lips hold Open Mic Goodness nights at Bar Lane Studios each Wednesday, 7pm to 9pm, £1 to perform, £2 to watch, with cake, tea and a warm welcome.

Did you know?

The all-female configuration of Six Lips Theatre is maintained in the production team of make-up artist Emily Pease, set designer Jess Mather and costume designer Catherine Richards (by day to be spotted in the box-office department at the Grand Opera House).