Two women in Boston

It’s not uncommon for an actor to talk passionately about their latest acting role, but in the case of Di Smith in the play Boston Marriage, she is clearly fascinated by her character.

Smith, the star of such former TV dramas as A Country Practice and Water Rats, plays the role of Anna, an independent unmarried woman at the turn of last century who awaits the return of her girlfriend Claire to their home. Amanda Bishop plays the role of the lover.

Anna has taken on a male lover to provide the financial means to live the life she wants, but her heart is firmly with Claire. The women are in a Boston marriage, a term used to describe two women living together in an intimate relationship.

Can you imagine what it was to be a woman living through this time, when her sexual preference had to be absolutely denied? Smith says. This was in the time when Queen Victoria had said it was simply not possible for two women to have sex.

So Anna has had to create a life for herself, and this is also in the pre-suffrage times. The women of those times who managed to live outside the parameters set for them by the men in control were extraordinary characters.

But the play is all about love, what it means to love and what it means to live in a loving relationship for a long time.

The circumstances between the women in the story take a dramatic turn when Claire announces upon her return home that another woman is about to arrive and Claire plans to seduce her.

Boston Marriage was written by American playwright David Mamet for his actress wife, Rebecca Pidgeon. She starred in the 1999 premiere production with Felicity Huffman, which later played off-Broadway. This Australian premiere is being directed by Stephen Colyer.

For Smith, who has spent most of recent years travelling the world as a reporter on the TV travel show The Great Outdoorsand raising her young son, Boston Marriage marks a return to the stage.

It is the first play she has done since the Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned To Drive at the Ensemble Theatre six years ago.

Boston Marriage also marks the second lesbian role Smith has played in her career. Many years ago, I did a version of Playing With Fire at The Wharf and, in that, I played a girl’s girl. She was a real little slut, Smith laughs.

Actually, I think she did it with everyone in the play, so either way, she was having a good time.

But in Boston Marriage, it is interesting to play a lesbian of that time of history. The text of the play supports it as everything you need is there on the page. I don’t even have to wonder what she felt or how she coped -“ it is all here.

Smith, who proudly announces she is a Cronulla-born girl, says she is also excited to be making her Mardi Gras debut with the play.

I am usually one of the people hanging over a barricade watching the parade, she says. As a Sydneysider, Mardi Gras has been a part of my life ever since it began. It is marvellous to be a part of it this year.

Boston Marriage is on until 24 February at the Darlinghurst Theatre, Potts Point. Bookings on 8356 9987 or at the Darlinghurst Theatre website.