‘A sticky, sweaty play’

Wilson says this with relish and I get a glimpse of the ability to convey tumultuous, suppressed passion that made her portrayal of Jane Eyre so compelling. She landed that one, for BBCTV, straight out of drama school and has not really had to worry about unemployment since. ‘I’ve been incredibly lucky but — I hope I don’t sound ridiculously spoilt — it’s been quite hard to deal with. One thing you do get thoroughly prepared for at drama school is the prospect of rejection and being out of work but you don’t get any sort of preparation for success. You expect to be in a situation where you take whatever comes your way, just to get the experience, whereas I had this amazing opportunity right away and have had to make choices about the things I’ve been offered since then. Obviously it’s great to be in that position rather than struggling, but not everything that’s offered is necessarily good and assessing that is tough.’

I imagine that Ruth Wilson is a pretty shrewd judge of what’s good and what isn’t. And the next project she’s planning will put that ability to good use. Along with fellow actors Emma Thompson and Hayley Atwell she is setting up a film festival. ‘We started talking about it last year and formulated the idea of commissioning a series of short films written by women and directed by women. It’s not that we want to ostracise men — we love them — but we want to celebrate women and what they can achieve. There still aren’t enough good roles for women, especially when you get beyond a certain age, and there certainly aren’t enough women writers and directors. It’s the writing we’re really keen on, concentrating on that, making sure they’re good scripts. We’re looking for people through the Script Factory and the Royal Court, and the plan is to have six shorts, each about 15 to 20 minutes long, that are connected by a single theme and can be distributed as one film.’

Does she intend to take part in any of these films herself? ‘Devising and producing is already a huge undertaking but I wouldn’t mind performing in one. And I certainly do want to direct at some stage but I’m not ready for it yet. I absolutely love acting but you can become very self-involved so I always want to do other things as well. It keeps your mind supple and stops you sinking into those dull moments where you start worrying and having doubts about what you do. This way I’m doing something for other people as well. And I love that.’

A Streetcar Named Desire runs at the Donmar Warehouse from 23 July to 3 October.