Our interview takes place on one of the hottest June days so far with the temperature around 30°C and the humidity mixed with smog making it seem more like 35 degrees. We are sitting in an non-air-conditioned room full of dress props at Ryerson University where rehearsals are taking place for Taming of the Shrew. It's not an ideal place, but despite the heat, with Saunders's face glistening with perspiration, the actress seems remarkably relaxed.

Although born in England, she was raised in Calgary and moved to Toronto about 12 years ago. While her background as an actress is filled with film and television roles, as well as a long list of appearances in a variety of stage productions, her experience with Shakespeare is still limited. Kate will be her first leading role in a play by the Bard after having played Lady McDuff in Macbeth, and Moth in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She has, however, spent four seasons at the Shaw Festival. Like all actors I have interviewed, when I refer to her appearances in Shakespeare plays, she calls Macbeth "the M play." The taboo of mentioning Macbeth's backstage holds even in the 21^st century.

Is there a difference between approaching Shaw and Shakespeare seems a natural question to ask? "Well," she hesitates, then continues with a straightforward: "I don't know what the difference is. But they both give incredible clues in their text. It is like solving a puzzle that will help you find out what you are playing." She sees them both as delicious and equally difficult, "but once you get into them they trip easily off the tongue."

Saunders is petite and fair of hair. Her features are full of character that show why she has been cast for the part, aside from her acting abilities. She should make a good Kate. She is very comfortable with the idea that the play has been taken out of its original period by director David Ferry and instead set into 1913 Italy at a time when women did not have a right to vote. "It is modern but still a period which would be representative of a time when women had few rights. One has to keep in mind that the Suffragette movement is coming, and you have to ask yourself, 'would she be that kind of woman?" [A historic aside: while Canadian women gained the right to vote federally in 1918, Italian women had to wait until after World War Two for the same right. So, there is still quite a wait for the Kates of 1913 Italy.]

Shakespeare set the play in Padua and Verona and that is where it remains for this production. Saunders reconciles the behavior of Kate and Petruchio with seeing them as living in a place and in a lifestyle with "a sense of ease to life with no responsibilities that [consequently] makes them angry. To me this play is about Kate and Petruchio learning to be responsible." Saunders admits, however, that "at the end, when it looks like Kate is completely submissive," she feels uncomfortable. After pausing briefly, she states emphatically, "But it doesn't have to be that way."

The cast is having a lot of fun with the play without over-stressing its humorous aspects, she reveals. Still, the serious side of the story is not forgotten. "There is a lot of painful stuff in it [the play]. I think of the moments that are real tough, but some of what Petruchio does to Kate is really funny. There are times, when you look at the boy and ask, 'what are you doing?'"

One likes to see emotional sparks flying between the actors performing Kate and Petruchio. So, had the two actors met before? As it turns out Saunders and Nunes met for the first time at the audition for the roles. "We are lucky to have a similar . . . ," again a moment of hesitation, then: "yea, we connect well. We met in a good place to start, and we are not afraid to challenge each other."

For any actor it may not be easy to leave a role behind on returning home from a busy day of rehearsing. Does she ever take the 'shrew' home to her husband and fellow actor, Cliff Saunders, and their two young daughters? There is a tiny, impish smile on her face. "I know there have been days, not on this show, that my husband thought I am a bit of a Kate. But, having two children, you have to shut it off. They wouldn't understand." She admits that when she comes home from rehearsals she often feels tired, "but also energized," especially in this latest role.

While she won't take Kate home, Saunders, nevertheless, wants to make sure that her interpretation of Kate is not just true to the text but also true to her idea of the character. "I don't want to end up with a Kate who will never again step out. As I see them (Kate and Petruchio) I think they will have incredible loyalty and love." She points out that Kate and Petruchio are really outsiders in their society and that the director has picked up on this. "Dave (Ferry) wants to show that these two are outcasts, and that they find each other."

Although she has appeared in a long list of stage productions, Taming of the Shrew will be Saunders's first time in an outdoor theatre. "It will be very different, I think," she said. The rehearsal, she expects, will be moving from Ryerson into the Home Depot Theatre at Ashbridges a few days before the preview performances will begin on June 26.

What she believes will be of paramount importance for the actors of Taming of the Shrew after rehearsing at Ryerson is the adjustment to the acoustics of the outdoor facility. "But David will probably work that out. The big one will be the vocal shifts," she confides.

The actress, who just before starting rehearsals for Taming of the Shrew appeared in a Vancouver production of Unless, prefers not to work out of town more than once a year. "I really have to want to do the role," she states. "Besides, as you get older (as a woman) the roles are not there as they used to be. There are also places I don't want to be and there are people I don't want to play with." There is also the consideration of balancing her acting appearances with those of her husband's schedule and the needs of their daughters also have to be considered. They are not the only actors with this problem. "There are lots of couples in the business now and they just make it work."

She had to think a little about what roles she would love to do in future. "It's the heat," she said with a big grin when she had trouble coming up with a name right away. Then, "I want to play Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf. I would like to do Blanche (of A Street Car named Desire). I know there are a lot of roles I would like, but I just can't think of one. Oh, I would love to do Lady M (Macbeth), and I would love to play the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet."

Suddenly I remember that I did not take any photographs of her during our conversation. She gets flustered. Somehow she was not prepared for this. So, she vanishes for a short time and when she returns, the tired shine is gone from her face, and she looks as if she had just stepped out of a well air-conditioned place. Looking around us, we agree that the room is not the best, so we go outside into the courtyard of Ryerson U, where she steps among some rose bushes, very un-Kate-like, but very much suited to her petite blondeness. A few clicks of the camera, and then it is "break a leg" from me to her as the interview draws to a close.