Stepping out of Jane Austen’s petticoats and into Elizabeth I’s farthingale is all in a day’s work for Rebecca Vaughan. The St Albans actress’ self-penned, one-woman shows Austen’s Women and I, Elizabeth have proved so popular that she finds herself much in demand and alternating between the two. She next performs I, Elizabeth at The Old Town Hall on 6 May.

I wonder if she ever wake’s up wondering who she is playing next?

“I’m interested in how each show affects the other,” Rebecca admits. “It’s a productive process to keep swapping and changing. After Edinburgh last year I was touring with Austen’s Women and I’d not done Elizabeth for about three months, so her character feels even deeper and richer for having been sitting around inside me.”

After an outstanding sell out success last season with Austen’s Women, Rebecca returns with a fascinating insight into a young queen.

At a vital crossroads in history, Elizabeth steps from the shadows to unburden herself of her many troubles and reveal her innermost thoughts on marriage, succession, religion, war, and the challenges to her throne. But time is against her. Elizabeth I was Queen at 25, a political phoenix and famously unmarried, she was the most educated woman of her Age – but who was the woman beneath the crown?

The show uses only Elizabeth’s own words and is adapted from the queen’s letters, speeches and writings. I, Elizabeth illuminates a fascinating and insightful moment of decision in the young monarch’s reign. It is performed by Rebecca and continues her collaboration with director Guy Masterson (Olivier award-winning Morecambe, Scaramouche Jones and Austen’s Women).

Rebecca has recently returned from touring the show around Ireland before heading to Australia for five weeks and appearing at the Adelaide Festival. Hopefully, the pale, powdered Elizabeth has not come home with a suntan. When we spoke, Rebecca was certainly not looking forward to wearing the heavy brocade costume in temperatures of 40 degrees.

A five-star success in Edinburgh 2010, I, Elizabeth explores the struggle to reconcile the desires of womanhood with the duties of sovereignty to expose the royal heart of an iconic historical figure. She tells me she thoroughly enjoys taking on both fictional and real life women.

“You don’t get bored, they keep on getting richer and better; like a good wine or brandy. The more you play these kind of women, the more you truly understand them. They become a part of you, not a character you put on.”

Rebecca will soon be changing her persona again to take on the role of Eve opposite her husband, writer/director Elton Townend Jones this coming August at the Edinburgh Festival.

“It’s a two-hander Elton has adapted from a Mark Twain novella called The Diaries of Adam and Eve and it deals with the ever-present relationship struggle between men and women. As a couple I think we can bring a real truth to it. We have matching and complementary skills and it’s a wonderful thing to be creative together.”

I, Elizabeth is at The Old Town Hall, High Street, Hemel Hempstead on Friday, May 6, 8pm.

Details: 01442 228091, www.dyadproductions.com