Former children's TV presenter Sarah Greene has moved a long way from her days dealing with sticky-backed plastic and an empty Squeezy bottle, she tells Steve Pratt.

IN 20 years as a TV presenter, Sarah Greene has worked in every area of broadcasting except sport and religion. Nothing, however, quite compares to her current role on stage in The Vagina Monologues.

This collection of stories was gathered by the show's creator, New Yorker Eve Ensler, through asking several hundred women of all ages, ethnic background and walks of life to share their most intimate secrets. The so-called "vagina interviews" covered such topics as birth, sex, orgasms and relationships.

Celebrities have been queuing up to appear in the show including Kate Winslet, Honor Blackman, Dannii Minogue, Ruby Wax, Jerry Hall, Whoopi Goldberg and Glenn Close.

Greene appears in the show in York on Thursday, although her former employers on the BBC's Blue Peter might take back her badge for the piece's use of both the f and the c-words.

The appearance is a reminder that London-born Greene acted before presenting. She studied drama at Hull University where she was directed by, among others, Anthony Minghella, who found film fame with The English Patient and Cold Mountain.

As well as theatre work, her pre-Blue Peter television work included the series, The Swish Of The Curtain. Blue Peter editor Biddy Baxter spotted her and recruited her for the children's programme.

After three years, Greene moved on to Saturday Superstore and then its replacement Going Live! before adding countless other programmes -everything from Posh Frocks And New Trousers to Hospital Watch - to her bulging CV. More recently, she's been reporting for BBC getaway shows Holiday, Summer Holiday and Holiday On A Shoestring.

Greene began rehearsals for The Vagina Monologues after her own three-month round-the-world trip, what she calls the "gap" break she never had between her studies and going out to work.

The three actresses in The Vagina Monologues rehearse separately and need never meet until the first night. "When I did it before, we got together in London under our own steam, just to sit down together and chew the fat. Circumstances are different this time, and I don't know if we're going to see each other until we do it," she says.

"There are nine monologues and you each take three. They are all terrific, all very challenging. Some are very funny, some very poignant, some searching, some great fun, some raunchy."

Although this marks a return to her acting roots, she recognises that presenting contains an element of acting. "Working in TV for such a long time is lucky as I've been used to looking at the audience, but down a lens," she says. "I'm very used to breaching the fourth wall and talking to the audience. I know a lot of actors find it a strange experience. As an actor, you acknowledge the fourth wall, but don't look through it as you do in this play."

Greene is careful where she learns her lines because of the show's adult content. "I was on the Tube this morning and was going to get out my script. Then I was aware there were youngsters on a school trip in the carriage, a bunch of nine-year-olds going to the British Museum, and the last thing I would want was for them to look over my shoulder," she explains.

The audience's willingness to join in changes each performance. "It can be an interactive piece. Sheffield, where I did it before, took to it in a big way and became an integral part of the piece," she says.

"I wasn't apprehensive about doing the show. I'd seen it a couple of years ago in London, and was asked to do it there. I wasn't free.

"I very much enjoyed it but was aware that with a London West End audience there's a certain sort of reticence to acknowledge they were having a good time. I could see this working differently in different places, but I wasn't prepared for the relish that audiences took to it."

Men have been known to venture into what's essentially a female-dominated audience, and enjoy it. "The last piece is about childbirth, not an easy subject. My husband came to see the show and the chap sitting a little along the row was in his 60s and was actually weeping at the end," she relates.

Greene has always taking the occasional acting role if it fitted in with her presenting work. "I was asked to do a BBC2 drama series the year before last and wasn't able to. But I thought that if directors were still thinking of me in that light, maybe that's what I should be thinking about. I do miss acting," she says. "Doing The Vagina Monologues, I got to find out if I could still do it and if I wanted to do it. The answer was yes to both things."

Abandoning presenting for full-time acting is another matter. "That's a very interesting question to ponder. For something like The Vagina Monologues, it's not a problem doing both. Supposing there's going to be a more long-running role as one character, I would have to think about it."

* Sarah Greene appers with Lesley Joseph and Andrea Oliver in The Vagina Monologues at York Grand Opera House on March 11 (tickets 01904 671818).

Lesley Joseph and Andrea Oliver are joined by Footballers' Wives star Allison Newman in the show at Darlington Civic Theatre from March 17 to 20 (tickets 01325 486555).

Published: 09/03/2004