Marji Campi will be starring in A Passionate Woman at the Queen's Theatre

Actress Marji Campi has been a popular face on TV in soaps like Coronation Street and Eastenders but she is set to return to the theatre when she stars in the Queen’s Theatre’s latest production A Passionate Woman.

She said: “Most actors will say that they prefer the theatre and theatre is fun because it is very real.

“Part of being good actor is that you have to make people think that you are real.”

You can judge how real she is for yourself when she plays Betty in the heartfelt comedy at the theatre in Billet Lane, Hornchurch from February 1 to February 23.

On the morning of her son’s wedding, doting mother Betty is hiding in the attic to escape her unappreciative husband and the reality of an empty nest.

Surrounded by happy memories and mementos, Betty relives her youth and a passionate love affair with a man she might have married.

Marji, will also be joined by the Queen’s Theatre’s resident group of actors/musicians Cut to the Chase.

The play was written by actress, script-writer and director Kay Mellor, who is one of the UK’s leading TV writers, with hits including Coronation Street, Brookside, Playing the Field and Band of Gold.

She was awarded an OBE and a BAFTA for Outstanding Writing for Television.

Kay remarkably based A Passionate Woman on a shocking revelation she received one day from her own mother about her rather colourful past.

“Mum and I were washing up one day when she confided in me she’d had an affair before I was born,” she recalls. “You’d have to have known my Mum to realise how shocking that was.

“She was the most ordinary woman … It was hard to take it all in… A play was burning inside of me and I started to write it… I realised that’s what my mother was… she’d known love, she had a sexual awakening, she was A Passionate Woman.”

Kay first wrote the play for the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 1992 and two years later, it opened in the West End to rave reviews before touring extensively all over the world. In 2010, it was adapted into a television drama series for BBC1 starring Billie Piper and Sue Johnston.

Tickets for the show start at Tickets: £16 - £24.50 from the box office on 01708 443333.