Abandonment, York Theatre Royal, until April 26

"The festival is an extraordinary fulcrum for reviews," says the York-raised writer, who now lives in the Scottish capital. "They send along all sorts of people who don't normally do it. The BBC sent Sue Perkins from Mel & Sue and Clarissa, that large cook, and someone else, and you think 'Hello, you know about drama?'

"And then theatre critics are even bitchier than others, so it was exposed to a lot of very harsh people."

As Kate recalls it, mixed reviews ensued but the show at the Traverse sold out, and among those who were impressed was York Theatre Royal artistic director Damian Cruden. "I thought it was a brilliant play," he says.

So brilliant that Damian instantly asked Kate if he could bring it south to the Theatre Royal, and he has continued to ask her. That wish was granted, eventually, and Kate Atkinson's newly shortened version of Abandonment opens tonight in York, where Damian directed Bryony Lavery's adaptation of Kate's novel, Behind The Scenes At The Museum, in Autumn 2000.

"Abandonment is a play of our times for lots of different audiences, and I think it's superbly well written, and to think it's Kate's first stage play makes it all the more incredible," says Damian.

"What marks her out is her control of characters through well-drawn characterisation and the dialogue she gives them, and her ability to mix times in a story, which should be no surprise from her novels.

"Her writing works so well because she's prepared to take her audience on fantastical journeys but even then they are always recognisable."

In the case of Abandonment, Kate constructs a memory play as a study of love, life, identity and relationships woven into the story of recently divorced Elizabeth (played by Julia Teal).

Elizabeth wishes to be left alone to get on with her new life and homemaking but her interfering mother, sister, best friend and even the builder seem determined to haunt her every waking moment. What's more, long-forgotten stories and former occupants are trying to make their presence felt in her capacious, newly renovated Victorian house.

For Abandonment's English premiere, that story has been streamlined by 30 to 40 minutes.

"Cutting the running time was part of our discussions and it was something that Kate had already recognised, so it was never an issue," says Damian. "You write a new play, it's performed, you step back from it and it becomes evident what needs changing.

"That's no different from a novel, where the published version takes the form of something that's taken shape over several drafts. Plays have to go through the developmental process as well, and it would be lovely for a writer to have more time to work on them so that you can be closer to what you want by the first night."

The writer benefits too from seeing how a new play works on stage once under the control of a director. "The learning process in front of an audience is a critical part of the process," says Damian. "So we're lucky to be getting this refined version after the Edinburgh debut."

The relationship between Damian, the regional theatre director, and Kate, the international author, is built on mutual trust. "Rather than one person wanting to take control, Kate is very generous, very realistic and practical, and that makes it an easy process to go through when working with her," he says.

No doubt, it helps that he so admires her work. "Kate's greatest quality is the quality of her narrative. Where Behind The Scenes was set in York, Abandonment is not evidently a Yorkshire piece the play's setting has been moved from Edinburgh to Bristol but it's still about families, mothers and daughters and errant fathers, and how the past informs the present, because Kate is fascinated by time and how we fit into the scale of time," says Damian

"She's just so interested in life and living, and you can't get better than that."

Abandonment, York Theatre Royal, until April 26. Box office: 01904 623568.

Updated: 10:13 Friday, April 04, 2003