Local Hero in Chichester: "There are so many similarities between me and her"

It’s 1983 and hotshot Texan oil executive Mac MacIntyre is dispatched to the tiny Scottish fishing village of Ferness with $30million in his pocket. The bay may have views to die for but it’s the only place that can take the tankers from an offshore oil field, so it’s up to Mac to seal a deal on the locals’ homes and put a refinery in their place.

“I am playing Stella,” Lillie says, “ who comes from Glasgow which was a first for me. I was really nervous on the first day of rehearsals having to do a Glaswegian accent in a room full of Scottish people! But Stella moved from Glasgow a while ago to Ferness. We think she's been there about seven years or so so perhaps her accent has softened.

“She's a great character to play. She's free spirited and completely unmaterialistic. There is a great contrast between her character and Mac who is the money-minded Texas oilman. She doesn't really think or care about money. She moved to this place because she fell in love with the wilderness and the wildness and that is what made her decide to stay. She is bit of a hippy. And she is very firm and clear in her beliefs. She's the only person in the village that objects to this refinery being built. She's the one that says you can't build this here. She says it's one of the most beautiful places in the world. She is unafraid to stand up for what she believes in and that's a lovely quality to her. She has her morals and her principles. She is a real joy to play and there are so many similarities between me and her. She is less unafraid to speak out than I am. I'm bit of a wuss in that department but I grew up in a small fishing village in south-west Wales and I grew up by the sea and I had that connection with the sea. And in terms of having a connection with nature and the natural world and things which are much more spiritual I have definitely got that in common with her which is why I really felt I connected with her. And reading the script was just such a joy.”

It is Lillie’s first return to the Minerva since appearing in the chamber musical version of Love Story which played the Minerva in 2010: “It was really really such a special show and we were really lucky to be able to take it to London for a few months afterwards. We were lucky that the gorgeous Howard Goodall had done the music for it and he is such a beautiful composer/arranger and we had a beautiful mini orchestra with us, and the music was just so emotive and moving but then there was the pasta song which was funny and a bit cheeky. Obviously it was incredibly sad at the end. People came out in bits but it was lovely to do. I don't think it's been done much since. I think I've heard of it being done at drama schools but perhaps it was just one of those magical flash in the pan moments in the theatre and I quite like it when that happens.”