SHE had an affair with best friend Sarah, started a fling with Sarah’s dad and was then accused of murder when the same friend plunged to her death from a plane.

Soapland is nothing if not Shakespearean after all.

But now Zoe Lister – last seen in Liverpool languishing in a prison cell (oh, all right, a cupboard in Childwall) as Zoe Carpenter on Hollyoaks – is set to get her first taste of the Bard proper.

The 30-year-old is making her debut at this year’s Liverpool Shakespeare Festival, taking place at the Royal Court next month, with not one but two regal roles to add to her CV; including Machiavellian hand-washer Lady Macbeth.




“It’s an absolutely incredible role,” says Zoe, who is fairly fizzing with excitement. “I think I can just retire after playing her!

“I’ve been doing a lot of work on her already and in touch with the director about his ideas for the show. It’s going to be quite contemporary.

“And then it’s just working out the best course.

“Because I don’t believe that anyone is pure evil, it’s got to come from somewhere and be rooted in something. So I’m investigating all those avenues at the moment – which is really fun.”

Her second role, a slightly less taxing one theatrically and emotionally, is as Titania, Queen of the Fairies, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

“Some days we’re going to be doing both plays, which will be absolute madness,” she laughs. “But I can’t wait. Bring it on!”

This may be her first time performing Shakespeare, but growing up near Redditch in Worcestershire Zoe was only a stone’s throw from Stratford-upon-Avon and was a regular visitor to the RSC with both her school and her parents.

In fact, she was only there last weekend, watching A Comedy of Errors as a treat for her dad’s 65th birthday.

Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream run at the Royal Court from September 21 to October 13.

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