But whereas Stella was “really quite naturalistic”, Amanda is “lyrical-stroke-deranged”, she says.

“I find it really quite hard and the press are all coming tomorrow so I’ve been thinking ‘oh god’. I’ve got a night to get it right,” she says.

“You need time to solve the riddle of the character.

“You suddenly discover things, you know like ‘oh, I’ve been making that so difficult and it should have been much easier’ or ‘gosh, that’s the intonation I should have been using’ or ‘I should have been playing that very playfully and I’ve been playing it very serious’.

“You can’t do that with film or TV because once it’s on camera you can’t go back and say, ‘can I do that again’.”

Stubbs has had a taste of Hollywood, acting alongside John Cusack in True Colours, but is not tempted back.

“I don’t think on camera is necessarily a very comfortable place to age,” she explains.

“There’s a time in between when you’re young and when you’re old when I don’t think many people would volunteer to have a high definition camera shoved in their face.”

She enjoys TV work, she adds, but does more on stage. And she doesn’t want to fall into the trap of taking acting too seriously.

“There are other things I like doing in that I’ve got family and I’ve always found it quite a funny job,” she says.

“You are playing at being someone else, I can’t take that too seriously.

“I see what happens to actors that do because the disappointment is so huge if it doesn’t work. It’s very painful to see what happens.”

THE Glass Menagerie is at the Liverpool Playhouse, April 7-10.