NIAMH Cusack has stood on the York Theatre Royal stage twice before. Or, more precisely, she has been seated, taking part in rehearsed readings of Shakespeare’s Antony And Cleopatra in February 2015, in the role of Cleopatra, and King Lear in October 2010, when playing Goneril alongside Freddie Jones and Toby Jones.

Tomorrow, Niamh returns to York, this time in Barney Norris’s new stage adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel The Remains Of The Day, presented on tour by Out Of Joint and the Royal & Derngate, Northampton.

She plays Kenton, the forthright housekeeper at Darlington Hall, in the 1930s as Britain stands on the precipice, faced by Fascism building and boiling over in Europe. Joining her will be Stephen Boxer’s Stevens, Lord Darlington’s reserved and dutiful butler, who 20 years later travels in search of an old friend, recalling choices made and missed opportunities.

“It’s a very theatrical piece in that there are two timelines going on throughout the play, and they collide with each other because it’s a memory play,” says Niamh. “So it moves between what’s happening to Stevens at that moment and bringing back moments in his relationship not only with Kenton but also Lord Darlington.

“The clever thing in getting Barney to adapt it is he is a novelist as well as a playwright, and he’s a very delicate writer of both, so it’s not like the film version. For those who want to see the boldness of theatre, the two timelines, a really beautiful set that allows us to move between those two timelines, and some amazing doubling by the cast, this production really allows the audience to use their imagination.”

York Press:

Niamh Cusack and Stephen Boxer in The Remains Of The Day

Praising Ishiguro and in turn Norris, Niamh says: “Ishiguro’s understanding of a particular English psychology is tremendous, and one of the reasons I loved the novel and the film, so I was initially wary of doing a play, but Barney has created something that can only be done on stage, and he has such a way with language that is very specific to the 1930s with such a beautiful musicality to it.

“I hope it will move people, but there’s also a lot of wit in there because these people are witty.”

Niamh notes the balance in Norris’s script. “It’s a love story, but Barney also highlights the political mood that was rising, and with Brexit going on now, there are moments when the audience are reacting in recognition of then and now, so though it’s a period piece, there are notes that resonate with today.”

The set design is by Lily Arnold, whose design for The Secret Garden was such a magical part of the success of last summer’s production at York Theatre Royal. “Darlington Hall is very much a character in the play, as it was in the book, and she has created it with screens that move, giving you entrances and exits and private places, with very specific lighting, and she uses mirrors in a clever way too," says Niamh.

The Remains Of The Day runs at York Theatre Royal from tomorrow (March 19) to Saturday. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.