Charles Hutchinson meets Elizabeth Mansfield and Robert Pickavance, stars of York Theatre Royal's Ay Carmela.

ELIZABETH Mansfield believes passionately in the power of theatre.

"I personally feel very committed to theatre that can be transformative and to the theatre of ideas," says Elizabeth, who beats a path to the door of York Theatre Royal once more, from September 12 in Ay Carmela.

This is the latest production in partnership between Elizabeth and writer Steve Trafford's Ensemble company and the Theatre Royal.

"There are very few opportunities left in our society for a group of human beings to come together and challenge things in an environment that can be thought provoking and can give people a chance to reflect on big issues. Not many forums are left but theatre is one of them," she says.

Elizabeth and fellow Theatre Royal regular Robert Pickavance will perform in Steve Trafford's new adaptation of Jos Sanchis Sinisterra's tragi-comedy Ay Carmela, in a premiere that marks the 70th anniversary of the start the Spanish Civil War and the founding of the International Brigade.

The Sinisterra play - which also has been made into a film by Carlos Saura - was suggested to Elizabeth by Bosnian actress Selma Alispahic.

"Robert and I met her when she was working on Women Of Troy at the National Theatre in 1995. She was a refugee from the Balkan war and was working here in London after being one of the last people to get out when the bridge at Tuzla was blown up," recalls Elizabeth.

"She came to live with me for two years, and on her return to Sarajevo - where she was a well-known actress - the first show she did was Ay Carmela. She played Carmela, and having seen me do my Marie Lloyd show, she said I really should do Carmela."

Elizabeth first saw a production in its original language at an international theatre festival at London's Riverside Studios. "There was an intensity to it that felt very powerful in any language," she recalls.

The Spanish Civil War is the setting for the story of vaudeville comedy act Carmela (Mansfield) and Paulino (Pickavance), who are captured by Franco's troops and forced to put on a show for the fascist army. As they rehearse their material - music, songs, flamenco dances, and bizarre comedy sketches - their own tale unfolds, and amid the black humour and ghostly passion, it becomes clear that they are playing for their lives.

It is a complex, multi-layered yet also humorous piece that Robert initially was unsure he wished to perform. "I knew about the play from when a friend of mine played Paulino in a production he also directed. We had co-founded a company, and because he had done this show it wasn't something I wanted to do too," he says. "When Elizabeth and I talked about it, I shied away from it, and after seeing a literal translation I still wasn't enamoured. In fact I wasn't sure why Lizzie kept asking me to do it"

. "Because I knew you were right for the role!" Elizabeth cuts in.

"But then I read Steve's play and I knew I had to do it," continues Robert, who was struck by the play's resonance for actors. "The two characters are performers, and the play is partly about questioning what art is for and about the hard choices actors must make in their art when they're confronted by difficult political choices.

"Carmela and Paulino have different beliefs about where their role lies, though that makes the play sound more polemical, and po-faced than it is."

Ay Carmela's broader resonance lies in the blood of war and conflict, be it Iraq, Lebanon or Afghanistan or the Spanish Civil War. "It really does feel like a play for today, but in a subtle rather than obvious way. It's very pertinent and very troubling, but at the same time I don't think you can ever reach people unless you touch them with something that is entertaining tooand this play shows that politics can be entertaining."


Ensemble presents Ay Carmela in The Studio, York Theatre Royal, September 12 to 30. Box office: 01904 623568.