Zain Ké: How have you been?
Tanya Reynolds: I’ve been good – tired, but having a gorgeous time on the play. I’m excited to go into work every day and see Sienna and Liv, who are in the play with me. We’ve become like sisters; we spend so much time together and they’re the first people I text when I wake up in the morning.
ZK: You’ve made a return to the stage in recent years after working in television and film. What inspired that move back into theatre?
TR: I’d wanted to get back into theatre for a long time. At the start of my career, I didn’t get many theatre auditions. Then they suddenly started coming in.
A Mirror was the beginning of a domino effect. I read the script and thought it was a really unusual, unique play. I auditioned, got the role and things just snowballed from there. It was coincidental, but I also think you sometimes attract the things you need at the right time. I love being on stage and this period of theatre arrived when I really needed it.
ZK: Do you think that need was mainly creative, or was there something deeper behind it?
TR: I felt like I was losing myself a bit. Stage work grounds you again as an actor. It reminds you why you’re doing this and what the art form is. You spend weeks interrogating the writing, working closely with a director and cast, peeling back every layer and examining every word, movement and gesture. It felt like I needed to retrain – to get back to understanding what acting was. With television, everything moves quickly. You don’t get that rehearsal time. You do something once on camera and that’s the version the world sees. I struggle with that because I want more time. I want to rehearse more. Theatre gives me that.
ZK: Has returning to theatre changed your relationship with acting?
TR: Doing a play every night definitely does something to your self-confidence. I’ve always struggled with self-esteem, but playing Mariella every night has made me walk through the world a little taller. I feel more confident in what I’m doing and I think I’m carrying some of her with me.
ZK: What drew you to 1536, and specifically to the character of Mariella?
TR: Well, the play itself is undeniably fantastic. Within the first page of the script I was hooked. It’s funny, ferocious, charming and can become devastating in a nanosecond. The story is actually very simple, even though the subject matter isn’t. It’s told with elegance, humour, wit, heartbreak and devastation. I first read it during a table read in 2024, where I read Jane. I remember messaging my agents afterwards and saying, “If this play ever happens, I have to be in it.” A year later I was asked to audition for Mariella. She arrived at a time when I was growing up and becoming more grounded in myself. She helped me get there.
“I felt like I was losing myself a bit. Stage work grounds you again as an actor. It reminds you why you’re doing this and what the art form is.”
ZK: Was there anything challenging about getting to know and play a character like her?
TR: At first I was scared of her because I’d never played anyone like her. She’s grounded, measured, wise, rational and carrying a huge amount of pain while simply getting on with life. That was daunting, but exciting. Ava, the writer, said she felt the play came to all of us when we needed it, and I think she was right.
Mariella is resigned to her situation. She’s not trying to be anything. The other two women are fiery and sparkly, whereas Mariella is more grounded. She’s experienced enormous pain and heartbreak, but she’s accepted her circumstances and decided to make the most of life anyway. That gives her a comfort with herself.
I often play characters who are uncomfortable in themselves, who have a lot of internal awkwardness. Mariella has a sturdiness that I didn’t feel I had. That was the challenge. But I feel sturdier now because of her.
ZK: Female friendship sits at the heart of the play. What interested you most about exploring those relationships and dynamics through Mariella?
TR: The friendships are written so truthfully. These women love each other, rely on each other and lean on each other, but they can also be vicious with each other. It’s been fascinating to explore what a genuinely unfiltered friendship looks like – one that’s protective, messy and deeply loving. The best part has been developing that friendship with Liv and Sienna. In many ways we’ve merged into our characters. The dynamic onstage and offstage is quite similar.
