We hear so often of the lack of really great roles for older women, how have you decided to take action?

RP: Working in an agency, when you are looking at the jobs available the problem is glaring. It’s a shame. If older women aren’t given more of the action, stories can get a bit repetitive and derivative. Women make the world go round, hold great storytelling potential, and we just didn’t want to waste any time. Such roles aren’t just going to fall into our laps, so why not create them for us, and other women?

Rosalind, you have written TV pilots, cabaret sets, and published a novel but Waving is your playwriting debut, what has been the biggest challenge for you?

This is the first time I’ve checked in with someone during the writing process and it’s been illuminating. Saying thoughts out loud and chewing the cud, rather than second guessing myself brought much more clarity and far less wallowing . Less blowing hot and cold on what I’ve written. You get so close to your own writing that it’s hard to step back and look at the bigger picture. Also, being able to rehearse and amend things as we go is a luxury and great for me as a newbie. The biggest challenge is not really knowing whether your writing is good enough but having the tenacity to just keep going regardless.

Please could you tell us more about the roles you have created and the inspiration behind them.

RP: We talked about developing a play from shared experience. Both our mothers were also artists and we will always feel connected to them, so it seemed natural for that to be a starting point. Especially as we are mothers and creative people ourselves. In Waving, Ava plays the artist / mother and I play her daughter. A lot stems from personal experiences but the characters are very much their own creation. There has to be a fundamental truth everything you do on stage for the audience to connect, but you don’t want to expose the real you too much and feel like you’ve overshared, or limited the story being told. 

It is fascinating to note that both of you grew up with mother’s who were artists. How do you believe this shaped you? (Whether you rebelled or learnt things of value).

RP: I didn’t have anything to rebel against really. I lived a slightly feral life as a child but am a natural rule abider. We could go out whenever we wanted: climb rocks, swim in the sea, gamble in the arcades and potentially get into dangerous situations from an early age. Mum called it benign neglect. Artists are expressive – we always knew exactly how she felt and I never wanted to disappoint her. She was a Catholic and just expected us to know right from wrong. She was also a great laugh and looking back I can see she just wanted us to go out, live life and have fun. Mum was naturally gifted, but not a natural when it came to the business side of things. It wasn’t her priority. I have similar priorities and guess am like her in many ways, though can’t paint for toffee! My dad was a writer, so I follow him that respect. My acting comes from a constant need for approval!

Ava, you have a BA summa cum laude in Drama from Seattle University, and then bookmarked your acting career to work in corporate and raise four children. What Initiated your ‘come back’ to drama? 

AWD: It finally became unavoidable. It was just time. My son was in his last stretch of training as a ballet dancer in England, and I just had to get off the treadmill and do it. I have been living and living and creating things in two dimensions and alone. I just felt that pull. I get this wind at my back sometimes and I go with it and end up doing very big things, like moving to England, and then I look back and say, how did I do that! I took control of my life, and pushed by that little wind, I let myself do what I wanted to do. I am incredibly lucky to work for an incredible company who let me go fully remote, and a family who believes in me. 

As a mature actor, please could you tell us whether aged played a factor in completing your recent MA in Professional Acting at Drama Studio.

AWD: At fifty, it really comes down to a “when if not now” situation. It’s unique because the roles are different when you’re older. Any sense of ego has been stamped out by life, and you just jump right in. The first day of class I stood in warmup and just soaked it in. It was wild, to be a student again, a total luxury! The focus was intense, and it confirmed my belief that acting is the thing that is so engrossing for me that time stands still and all the rest of life is blotted out.  It was a balancing act and feat of time management to balance a full time job with full time training. I think my age made it possible - I’d been training to do that with all the multi tasking you do as a working mom.

Rosalind, having studied Drama and Italian at Kent University, before starting your career as an artist manager at a music agency, why return to acting right now?

RP: At university I very much flew under the radar. I get easily intimidated, which is why Ava cheer-leading me now and pushing us forward has been so wonderful! I didn’t feel I was made of the right stuff and the real world sucked me in. Rent, a ‘proper’ career, staying in my lane. Until covid happened, and I began helping actor friends out with their self-tapes. I realised that the industry is more inclusive and accessible now (if unbelievably competitive) and thought, why not give it a shot? I’ve been through enough to think I might deserve it now. It’s definitely time to stop talking myself out of doing something I enjoy so much. I love the challenge, the camaraderie and fun of putting play together, even if you have to develop the skin of a rhino… I’m getting there. 

Finally, could you both sum up what WAVING means to you and what you hope audiences will take away from it.

RP: In some ways, Waving has been about honouring my parents. Even at my age it gives me comfort to do something I know they’d be chuffed about. I hope the play resonates with the audience. And I hope they leave feeling encouraged to enjoy and appreciate the good times, because life can be tough. Go out, live life, and have fun!

ADW: My mother died very young from Alzheimer’s. We have her art which we continue to get placed in galleries and in homes. A large focus of Waving is what we leave behind as artists, as parents. My mom continues to live in Waving, she goes on, and she is helping me now, by being a spark that helped inspire the play which gave me such a wonderful role to play. She is helping actors have parts to play for years to come. She is helping shed a light on Alzheimer’s, caregivers, and art that will make people feel seen and give them a chance to feel to laugh, and maybe to cry. Waving has brought together so many people at so many phases of their careers. That’s the gift, that’s what is left behind. I think it’s quite a legacy.

Images below: Rehearsals underway for Waving