Excert from "In Praise of Divine Monsters"

From the archive, first published Monday 6th Mar 2006.

Pam Gems, one of the country's leading playwrights, sees the world premier of her new play at York this month. She talks to Steve Pratt about motherhood, feminism and writing her first play when she was eight.

As a girl, Pam Gems would queue up at the stage door of the local theatre to catch a glimpse of the "wonderful creatures" - those actresses who behaved and dressed outrageously on and off the stage. "Now I'm in a lament. Because of film and television, they aren't the divine monsters they used to be," she says.

She names the late Coral Browne and Maggie Smith as falling into that category in recent times, and recognises they're a dying, if not already dead, breed of performer.