I'm a London-based actress, and like any character, I have a back-story. I was born in Paddington. My mother is Irish Catholic from Sussex, my father is Hungarian. My older sister Rosie is a literary agent and my younger sister Alice is a stylist.

We grew up at the end of a country track in a place called Bix Bottom. It was miles from other houses, so we could scream, shout, run round the garden naked, get drunk when we were teenagers, argue, laugh, have parties, hibernate. So we three sisters became free spirits. From age 11 to leaving school I went to a girls-only Catholic boarding school - St Mary's Ascot - stifling, to say the least. But I met all my closest friends there, and we're still close. When I left, I dipped around - Los Angeles to study acting, Paris to study art, then back to London to combine the two. After graduating, acting became the real tug. I got a part in a London play - Henna Night by Amy Rosenthal - and signed with an agent. Between auditions I studied with Di Trevis at her Jerwood Space workshops. She became a huge inspiration.

The bug first bit when I was 8. I saw Edward Scissorhands and my mind was made up. At primary school, I was sure I could be the lead role in the end-of-term play, but didn't have the guts to put myself forward for the audition. But I did get the supporting role. At senior school I had the loudest voice, so got cast as sluts. I did tarts, hookers and girlfriends. And three productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream - I've been a fairy, Puck, The Wall. Whatever it was, I just wanted to escape into it, live the life of the character.

As a grown-up, parts have been a lot more varied. I did Kate in Breathing Corpses at Madame Jojo's (www.madamejojos.com). Breathing Corpses is about a series of linked deaths. Kate is a boyfriend-beating career-driven woman. During the hottest summer on record, her bad mood hasn't been helped by her lover's dog which has discovered a corpse with a slit throat. It takes time for boyfriend Ben to pluck up the courage to fight back. But finally he turns on her. Boy did I have fun doing this part. I loved it. Laura Wade writes really gritty dialogue - it's so exact to the way people talk today. Madame Jojo's used to be London's premiere transvestite club, then became a comedy and theatre venue; now it calls itself 'The Heart Of Soho's Darkness'. It's a great place to perform: small, dark, intimate - and a reputation that's a magnet for audiences. I was then cast as Toni in Sweetheart at the Etcetera Theatre (www. etceteratheatre.com). Toni's pretty much the polar opposite to Kate. Toni is a nurse, a caretaker-type, deeply involved with her boyfriend Charlie's lack of motivation and personal goals.

The Edinburgh Fringe! There's nothing more exciting than playing in the biggest arts event in the world. I played Constanze in Amadeus - the play and movie (directed by Milos Forman) are both by Peter Schaffer. It's the story of Mozart told in flash-backs through the eyes of court composer Salieri. We did it at The Underbelly (www.underbelly.co.uk) - the ideal cavernous venue for the play, despite a leak in my changing room which meant that my dress had to be hemmed 5 minutes before the house opened. The highlight was working with Stephen Avis (Mozart), who has since taken a different path, to become an amazing opera singer.

The Garage Theatre was a great venue. I was cast as Rosilyn in Amy Rosenthal's Henna Night, directed by Christina Greatrex. Two woman come to terms with their relationship with the same man. Rebecca Lloyd Evans played Judith. Rebecca and I had worked together before which really made the rehearsals flow. It was intriguing to be one of three actresses playing Mary in Poison Chalice. It was a conceptual piece at London's Cochrane Theatre (www.cochranetheatre.co.uk) just off Holborn. Mary is sexually abused as a young girl by her brother. The three players show her at different stages of her ordeal.

Cassandra - oh, bliss. It was just amazing playing her. This version was Agamemnon at the Bloomsbury Theatre (www.thebloomsbury.com). It is set at the end of the Trojan War. Agamemnon returns home to his wife Clytaemnestra who secretly plots to kill him as revenge for sacrificing their daughter. Cassandra, a captive Trojan princess, knows of this plot but no-one believes her. She is a typical Greek heroine - wailing, cursing the gods, doomed from the outset - the most fabulous part! The language, rhythm and physical style of Greek tragedy was an incredible challenge, which turned into sheer invigoration.

Recently I've been re-working what - I think this is familiar to anyone who writes in whatever way - will be absolutely, truly, certainly, the very final draft of a script. I'm whispering to myself in the low moments also familiar to writers that the final momentum will come - oh, any day soon, to plant the seeds for production. Wonderfully, at the moment, I'm looking forward to working again with Christina Greatrex. It's a one-woman show about obsessive behaviour. I know nothing of this of course, being exceptionally well-balanced. But the character takes a complete day over making a grocery list and has a cat. I'm doing research on cats and lists.

Ah yes, shopping. And cooking. Well, my Pumpkin Pie was certainly memorable. I live in that area that's a bit of Kensal Rise, a little of Queens Park, a dash of Ladbroke Grove. Everyone calls it something different depending on the level of inbuilt snobbery or social realism. There's me, my oldest friend Zoe, and her brother Max, who is able to survive living with two women. On one side there's a vacant house with squatters in and out all the time. On the other, it's middle-class. I hope it stays as idiosyncratic as it is for a little longer than we all expect. I don't like how the middle of Queens Park has turned into nappy valley. And round here, the pubs are v v v v good.

Back to shopping. I adore Browns and Browns Focus - it has a little bit of everything. Luckily a friend works there, so I get a really good discount. I love second-hand places, the ones where you can always find something a bit different. My favourite is Bang Bang on Goodge Street. I bought a wooden bangle there four years ago - 99p - I wear it everyday. I can't go into Topshop: I get an instant headache and suddenly need coffee. I love cycling down Portobello Market on Thursdays to the book stalls and spending hours looking through piles of second-hand books. Right next door is the nut-man's stall - my favourite thing is yoghourt-covered ginger, and trying all the other yummy bits and bobs - ie anything sweet that pretends it's healthy. The whole point of shopping is wanting things tantalisingly out-of-reach - but perhaps not. I want an umbrella from that expensive umbrella shop in Charing Cross. And a washing machine.

I also want a part in David Lynch's next movie.

END

(c) Lara Apponyi 24 October 2007

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008