YOU may have seen Julie Teal in Footballers' Wives. She played Susan, the teacher, in a couple of episodes where a little girl was kidnapped. You may have also seen Julie in six or seven episodes of Channel 4's hip winter series 20 Things To Do Before You Are 30.

"I play the officer manager, Davina, who's very straightforward and likes stationery, when all around her they're all talking about who's having who next," she says.

Despite a well stocked theatre CV, however, you are less likely to have spotted Julie on a Yorkshire stage, until now. Until April 26, she is making her York Theatre Royal debut, playing Elizabeth, a newly divorced history lecturer, in the English premiere of Kate Atkinson's first stage play, Abandonment.

"I've done only one Yorkshire show before, and that was my second professional show, Hans Andersen, the Christmas show at Harrogate Theatre in 1985 in Mark Piper's time as director," Julie recalls.

How did Abandonment come about? "My agent sent me the script; I went to see Damian Cruden, the artistic director, I liked him and luckily he offered me the part."

Not any old part, Julie: it is the principal part. "Well, they're all very integral parts. It is Elizabeth's story, and I'm on stage a lot but then so are most of the cast, and nearly all of them are playing two parts, whereas I'm only doing one."

In a story of the past haunting her every attempt to move forward, Julie plays a woman still to come to terms with being abandoned as a baby. Atkinson's writing is witty, full of home truths and empathy for human failings.

"It's such a treat to work on a play like this, where all the characters are fantastic to play. If I had to do this role for six months, I know I'd never feel bored, and I know that in three weeks' time, when I finish here, I'll feel bereft."

Julie describes Elizabeth as vulnerable, melancholic, self-contained and intense.

"I just love her! In the last week of rehearsals I felt very vulnerable and weepy, which is good for the role," she says. "I love playing her, and you have to like the character in order to play them."

Tickets: 01904 623568.

Updated: 09:29 Friday, April 11, 2003