Andy Howells chats to actress Terri Dwyer currently touring with Mark Homer in Rumpus Theatre Company’s touring production Wilkie Collin’s The Ghost Touch which plays Cardiff’s New Theatre from October 3. In part 1 of our interview Terri discusses her role of Mrs Zant in the production and recalls her work on TV’s Hollyoaks.
Terri Dwyer is an actress that loves a challenge and her latest stage role in Wilkie Collins’ The Ghost’s Touch, sees the former Hollyoaks actress enter previously unexplored territory in a two-hander play.
“It’s a two-hander so there’s only myself and Mark Homer (formerly Tony Hills in Eastenders) in it,” Terri tells Andy Howells.
“We worked on another project together last year and Mark said, “You know we’re doing this two-hander and they haven’t cast the woman yet? Should I throw your name in the mix?” I said “absolutely!”
“Up until now a two-hander hasn’t been on my professional list. To say I was scared might be a bit dramatic, but you can’t go into it and be naïve about the animal that it is. The lines you must learn, the trust you need to have in your partner and I guess I felt ready to take on that challenge.”
Mark Homer and Terri Dwyer in The Ghost’s Touch
Produced by Rumpus Theatre Company, The Ghost’s Touch tells the story of widower Stephen Rayburn’s encounter with a ghostly woman called Mrs Zant. The play itself is a web of lust and revenge and is not all as it seems.
“It’s a very thought-provoking play,” adds Terri, “I’m told that in the interval there are lots of very interesting conversations because nobody is quite sure who’s the ghost. It’s not until the very end of the play that it all comes to fruition. So, if you like a ghost tale and something that requires you to use your grey matter a little bit, then it’s definitely the play for you.”
Terri’s acting career began in 1995 when she won the role of Ruth Osborne in the Channel 4 drama series Hollyoaks,
“I was 22, and I just got this amazing job” she says, “but 6 or 7 years later (and) been told what you can or can’t do, eventually you want to be your own person. I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in now if I hadn’t had that opportunity and experience.”
Terri left Hollyoaks after 7 years,
“After that long it was time for me to move on to something else and after a time, I kept thinking have I made a mistake?”
“If I’m honest it’s only been recently that I’ve thought “No I’m exactly where I need to be”. I’ve started producing my own material. I produced a short film, The Locke Inn, which featured Jeremy Edwards, my on-screen husband in Hollyoaks who wrote and directed it. I prefer to produce stuff that I’m in, I’m not ready to hang up my acting boots yet.”
-
Read Part two of our interview with Terri Dwyer tomorrow.
-
The Ghost’s Touch plays at Cardiff’s New Theatre for a limited run from October 3-5.
-
For further details on The Ghost’s Touch UK tour visit rumpustheatrecompany.co.uk