Interview by Heather Kincaid

In the premiere of Jeremy Sams' adaptation of Le Prénom, Nigel Harman and Sarah Hadland star as father-to-be Vincent and his sister Elizabeth as they come together for a mature and sophisticated gathering with partners and a friend. Sarah Hadland - star of Miranda and The Job Lot - told us more. 

We've all been there: the house is clean, the table's laid, the dinner's cooking and the guests are just getting stuck into the first round of drinks. It's all going swimmingly – until that person decides they're going to have a bit of “fun” with everyone. Cooking to impress can be a stressful affair at the best of times, but when your family gathering's full of unresolved, underlying tensions, putting people all together in a room is like packing a keg with powder – and alcohol can be the spark that explodes it.

In Alexandre de La Patellière's and Matthieu Delaporte's French farce Le Prénom, a dinner party descends into chaos when father-to-be Vincent reveals the name he plans to give his unborn child. Following a successful run in theatres and later cinemas in France, this excruciatingly funny fiasco is headed for Birmingham REP in a hilarious translation by Jeremy Sams. Under the English title What's in a Name?, the production makes its UK debut later this week. We spoke to Sarah Hadland, who stars as harried hostess Elizabeth, to find out more about the show, which looks likely to strike a chord post-Christmas.

“I think with any meal that's being organised there's always stress and strain,” says Hadland. “Christmas is a prime culprit, isn't it? You get people talking about how excited they are to be going home, but when you get there it's a really difficult situation to negotiate. Either you get someone who's a bit resentful that they're doing all the cooking and the work, or you might get someone who's really relaxed and happy to do it, but other people are still sort of hovering awkwardly because they want to do something to help. And then there's the pressure of expectation – you know, we're all here to have a lovely time, but often it's people who haven't got together in a long time so everything becomes loaded. It's fascinating!”

Thrown to celebrate the happy news about her brother Vincent's (Nigel Harman) baby, Elizabeth's perfectly planned party comprises him and his pregnant girlfriend Anna (Olivia Poulet), her own husband Peter (Jamie Glover) and her best friend Carl (Ray Coultard). But as hard as she works to keep this a civilised affair, even Elizabeth finds herself dragged into the “mudslinging” match that eventually ensues.

“Elizabeth is a very warm, loving person who's devoted to her husband and her children, but she's also a very intelligent woman who has chosen to focus on family life and let her husband's work take precedence while letting her own career go by. I think she thinks that she's okay with that, but there is a sort of underlying resentment, and although she's somebody who will take a lot, in this situation, she reaches a point where she thinks, 'Actually, I've had enough.' Characters like that are always very interesting to play because you're seeing someone who's been put into a circumstance that really pushes them to react in a way they never normally would.”

As familiar as the family fall-outs might feel, getting worked up over a proposed name for a baby does initially sound a little unlikely. There's always pressure on an expecting couple to come up with ideas quickly, of course, but on the whole, once a name's been chosen, people tend to keep quiet about their views on it. Nevertheless, explains Hadland, that doesn't mean to say that they aren't silently passing judgement.

“I am slightly fascinated by people trying to give their children really 'unique' names,” she confesses. “I mean, I do feel like it's not really anybody else's business, but if someone's asking you and you're being really honest, sometimes you do think a child is being saddled with a curse of a name. And of course there are some names that, whether we like it or not, do have strong connotations attached, like you're labelling it genius or dunce or bubbly and fun the moment it's born. What if you call a child Joy and then she's absolutely miserable, for example? But then it's like, what are you saying? Should everyone just be called Janet and John? It's a minefield!”

Fortunately for Hadland, she's never been faced with the daunting task of helping to name a person.

“It's bad enough with pets, especially if the pet survives a relationship and then you're stuck with something odd that someone else chose. But I think whatever you're naming, it's such a personal thing, and anything that's extremely personal is also going to be contentious.”

It's not surprising, then, that there's a lot of tiptoeing round sensitive subjects at Elizabeth's party, with what Hadland describes as “a very British passive aggressiveness” - though it's interesting that a French story would be described in such a way. The original play and film adaptation contain a lot of references to French art and culture which are likely to have been altered slightly, but aside from that and tying up a few linguistic loose ends, the translation seems to be a fairly faithful one. The original French writers even sat in on an early read-through.

“Jeremy has been very good in rehearsals in terms of letting us suggest things. I think because he's bilingual and knows both languages very well, it's probably easier for those of us who only speak English to pick up on things that perhaps haven't translated so well. But I think he's done a very good translation, and this is something that happens with any new play – there are always little things that need to be tweaked to make it even better for the audience, and everything should still have the same meaning it's intended to have.”

Best known for her work on comedy series like Miranda, Hadland has recently enjoyed the opportunity to sink her teeth into some meatier, more dramatic roles, including in an adaptation of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone which aired on BBC One over Christmas. In the past, she has lamented what she sees as a rather arbitrary and artificial divide between comedy and “serious” drama in our culture.

“It can be tricky sometimes if you're known for doing a lot of comedy. Last year I had Miranda on the BBC, The Job Lot on ITV and Ballot Monkeys on Channel 4, and it felt like I was saying to all of the channels, 'I really want to do drama,' yet I was on all of them doing comedy. You can't complain because it's very fortunate to be doing so much comedy, and that is my first love without question. But it does seem to be the way that actors who do a lot of serious stuff want to do comedy, and vice versa, and I don't see why we can't all do both.”

Happily, like many stage productions, What's In A Name? Falls into that interesting grey area with the two categories meet, giving her the chance to show off her full range as a performer.

“I know it's such an old cliché but it is true that comedy and tragedy are just a whisker apart, and often you have to see what's sad about something to be able to make a good joke about it – that's almost what comedy is. When I go to see a play, I want to laugh and cry and think and feel lots of emotions. I want to see real life on stage. Plays where things are a bit upsetting or near the mark one minute and then making you laugh then next tend to make for a very satisfying night at the theatre. Hopefully, this play does just that.”

What's In A Name? is showing at Birmingham REP Friday 27 January – Saturday 11 February.