Anna Friel, already waif-like, is suffering for her art with a tightly fitted corset in her new West End role.
However, the actress, 36, promises “a lot of laughs” in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, which opens in the West End tonight.
She appealed to audiences who have not previously seen a Russian classic to give it a go.
“Don’t be put off by the word Chekhov. He is one of the most beautiful writers — and there’s a lot of laughs,” she said.
Friel is cast as Yelena, young wife of a professor, played by Paul Freeman, and said she took the role instead of a big TV project in America because she thought it would be a “great challenge”, adding: “Theatre is what makes actors better.”
The play is set in provincial Russia at the turn of the 20th century, and Friel said of the demands of period costume: “I’m really used to it now. It gives you great posture.”
Uncle Vanya, which also stars Downton Abbey’s Laura Carmichael, is at the Vaudeville Theatre until February 16.
