Heather Conyers got a taste of the acting bug in a school play.

At 13, she was cast as the ghost Jacob Marley in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.

Despite every intention, she only made it onto the stage a few times in the ensuing decades — all were in private.

“In university I was house manager and had the key to the theatre,” she said. “I’d go in at night, stand on the stage in the dark, and dream about acting. But, life got busy and I went off in other directions.”

As her 60th birthday neared, Mrs Conyers determined it was time she fulfilled her dream.

“I’d been wanting to act for years and I said if I didn’t do it by 60 I never would,” she said. “I auditioned for [BMDS’s production of the award-winning] Calendar Girls. I didn’t get the part but at least I’d done it, and it gave me the confidence to keep trying.”

Bit parts came her way until finally she got her break. Director Carol Birch cast her in Little Wars, a Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society production that opens at Daylesford Theatre on Thursday.

Mrs Conyers will play Alice B. Toklas, the famed lover of American writer Gertrude Stein. The story is set in a country home in the French Alps, in June of 1940.

According to the synopsis: France will fall to Germany in less than 24 hours. Four famous women writers, a lover and a mysterious caller gather together on the eve of war. It’s quite a night, with cat fights, revelations, recriminations and dark humour played out against the backdrop of war. There may be a world war raging outside but there are many “little wars” being waged between these strong characters inside. When Agatha Christie is a guest, it’s a sure thing that something will go bump in the night.

“We cast her and called her to let her know and, because we knew it would be monumental that she got the part, we put her on speakerphone,” Ms Birch said. “We knew she had a house full of guests at the time.”

The houseguests knew their host had tried out for a play and gone for callbacks. Once they realised what the call was about, they sat anxiously, waiting.

Mrs Conyers relayed the news with a thumbs-up.

“It was very exciting,” she said. “I was so excited. I was over the moon.”

Added Ms Birch: “We could hear them all, everybody was screaming. She’s perfect for the part. She just embodied it. Alice B. Toklas, you have to be sympathetic with her. She was the partner of Gertrude Stein. They lived in France because [as lesbians] they couldn’t live in the US. Everybody has this image of her living in Gertrude’s shadow but Alice has a moment in the play where she explains why they have this wonderful relationship. It’s very poignant. She’s not the retiring type you think she is.”

Little Wars was written by American playwright Steven Carl McCasland. Ms Birch discovered it after her actress friend, former Bermuda resident Polly McKie, was cast in the New York production.

“If she sees something she thinks I’d like she usually lets me know — anything that’s funny, dark humour with other sides to it,” she said. “I like when there’s other sides to a play, something that takes you on a real journey.

We have problems finding male actors here and there are so many women actors. So when she said she was in a play with seven women and how good it was, I was thrilled. Especially when she told me about the characters in it. I read it and thought it’d be perfect for us; perfect for Daylesford too.

“It’s about seven very strong women who find themselves in this untenable situation and all are, in their own way, trying to help. Many of them are Jews and it puts a new slant on looking at the war, especially as Jewish women in France — the majority American. They can get out as Americans, America wasn’t in the war at the time. When France falls, they’re all at a dinner party at Gertrude and Alice’s house. Things escalate and it’s the first time they feel threatened.”

Mrs Conyers adds to a strong cast, she said: Susanne Notman plays Gertrude Stein; Gillian Henderson is Lillian Hellman; Karen Stroeder is Agatha Christie; Deborah Pharoah-Williams is Dorothy Parker; Emily Ross plays Mary (Muriel Gardner) and Raven Baksh plays Bernadette.

Said Mrs Conyers: “It’s an amazing cast. I’m a newbie but we also have got seasoned actors. Each actor has their own personality, their own way of speaking. It’s been really interesting to see everybody create their characters. We’re all very strong women and that all comes out in the play — cat fights and recriminations. It’s been such fun to work on and a real bonding experience for all of us.”

The playwright, Mr McCasland, is the artistic director and founder of Beautiful Soup Theatre and has directed more than 20 New York productions.

“He’s young, 26, and he’s coming to see the play,” Ms Birch said. “He’ll be there for opening night and will run a playwriting workshop on Saturday for [people writing for BMDS’s] Famous for 15 Minutes competition.

“It’s a treat for them to show their work and get pointers.”

•Because of the strong language, Little Wars isn’t recommended for anyone under the age of 15. The play runs Thursday through Saturday at Daylesford and continues April 21-23. Tickets, $30, are available at www.bmds.bm, www.ptix.bm and at the Daylesford box office an hour before the 8pm show.

For more information visit www.bmds.bm