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Dawn Steele in Blackbird

It is the reviews that really grab your attention. That and Dawn Steele's haunted but beautiful face staring out from the posters dotted around Oxford.

"Not to be missed," shouts the Sunday Express, "an unmissable image of obsessive love" says The Observer, "gripping ... thrilling ... a sensation" adds The Times.

Interested? Most people are, which is why Blackbird is having such a phenomenal success wherever it lays its hat - which next week is The Playhouse in Oxford.

But without wanting to give too much away, it's not comfortable viewing, touching on subjects that make the great British public distinctly uncomfortable, such as teenage sex, rape and paedophilia for example.

So how hard is it for the actress, best known for her jolly personality in TVs Monarch Of The Glen, to play such a dark part?

"I just think it's a great play by a great writer and it's a gift of a part," Dawn says.

"Sure, the original won Oliviers and went to the West End. But it's such an important play and people seem to really enjoy it.

"Well, maybe enjoy isn't the right word," she adds.

In fact, Dawn is greeted by a stunned silence most evenings when the curtain finally falls - a reaction she is pleased with.

"Some nights people burst into applause, and others there is just silence.

"But then, Blackbird is a 90 minute rollercoaster ride without an interval and the audience are trapped until the bitter end so they just have to go with it.

"The very end of the play is a real cliff hanger. So we are often greeted with stunned silence.

"And I think it's the kind of play that people think about for weeks afterwards."

So can she leave it behind when she goes home?

"In rehearsals it was a bit different, and we had to laugh and use humour to get us through, but now it's up and running it's easier," she says. "And I have to think of it as a job. But I don't think of it in terms of child abuse, but as a tragic love story.

"But then that's the best thing about the play - the audience's reaction every night is what keeps it fresh. In terms of acting it's a really hard part, just because of the sheer size of the piece.

"Put it this way I won't be accepting a one-woman show any time soon," she laughs.

"Learning the lines was really hard actually. But I have a very understanding boyfriend!"

Most of the male population will be very sorry to hear that.

Dawn is quite stunning and judging by the reaction in the Oxford Mail offices must have endless admirers.

"Really?" she asks in that gorgeous Glaswegian accent.

Dawn, 32, moved from Glasgow to London four years ago.

"It was for convenience sake more than anything, because you have to go to a lot of auditions and rehearsals and it all takes time and costs money," she says.

But when Blackbird gets to Glasgow the Steele clan will be there in force.

"I have pre-warned them and they know what it's about but my mum is really excited about it," she says.

And so are we in Oxford.

Blackbird, which co-stars actor Robert Daws (a very talented comic and dramatic actor from TV's The Royal and Roger, Roger) opens at Oxford Playhouse from Tuesday.

Box Office on 01865 305305 or online at the website oxfordplayhouse.com

3:42pm Thursday 17th April 2008

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