SOME actresses might have taken offence at their partner writing a part for them in a play about a downtrodden, has-been star.

Yet Elizabeth Elvin, from Leigh , was delighted, because she says it raises some interesting ideas about the industry’s treatment of actresses as they get older.

Elizabeth and partner Julian Rimmer, a former BBC journalist, novelist and playwright, have taken the play, Looby Loo No Strings, to the Edinburgh Festival this year.

Known for roles in film Hot Fuzz and EastEnders, as well as a variety of West End shows, Elizabeth has relished the chance to be in the play.

“I read the script and instantly got it,” she says. “It explores ideas about women ageing in general and, in the industry I’m in, the idea that women are cast aside at a certain age.

“Thankfully, I have been very lucky because I have worked regularly throughout my life, but it’s not the case for everyone.”

The play tells the story of puppets Looby and Andy, who were once loved by so many children that they became ‘real’. But now, in their fifties, they find living in today’s world difficult to handle.

She says: “Julian wrote the play with me in mind. It is about a doll who is past her heyday and is a bit of a has-been.

“She is a disillusioned puppet in her fifties who is no longer at her peak. She’s a bit like the velveteen rabbit, who is so loved it loses all of its fur.

“It is really sensitively done, and is a real rollercoaster of emotions. One minute I’m laughing hysterically, the next crying.”

Elizabeth’s mother Edna Hill, known as Eddy, also stars in the play, and she says it’s been great to be surrounded by family.

“It is fantastic to be able to work alongside my mum and to be able to take the show to Edinburgh all together,” she says.

Looby Loo No Strings Attached runs at the Edinburgh Festival until August 20.