EILIDH Loan is a little unusual in that there aren’t too many young actors out there who wear a parka, cite The Who’s Quadrophenia as one of the best film’s ever – and dream of owning an orange Vespa scooter.

“I got the Mod love from my dad,” says Erskine-born Loan, smiling.

“I’ve been going to scooter rallies since I was a wee girl and I never wanted to drive a car, I always wanted to ride a scooter.

“And I’ve got the same parka I’ve had since I was 14 and my little Mod bag.”

The 21 year-old adds, grinning; “When I was at high school the other girls used to look at me and say ‘What the hell is she wearing?’ But I didn’t care. I’d seen Quadrophenia and I thought I was cool.”

What’s evident is that Loan dares to be different. And there’s a perfect symmetry attached to the fact she’s currently playing an iconic woman who dared to be very different indeed.

Loan is starring in playwright Rona Munro’s Frankenstein as the Gothic horror novel’s writer Mary Shelley.

Munro, creator of the James Plays fame, and the more recent Captain Corelli stage adaptation, tells the story of the creation of the monster story, using Shelley as a narrator.

And we learn that Shelley, born Mary Godwin, the daughter of a novelist father and the feminist philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, had a powerful feminist, egalitarian voice.

Her monster tale wasn’t an indictment against science, or a Prometheus tale, but a rage against inequality.

She was arguing that the privileged in society have a responsibility to the less privileged.

A fantastic role for Loan to play?

“Amazing,” says the actor who took off to London’s Guildford Drama college aged 18 and won the Alan Bates award for most promising actor in her final year, ahead of 300 other entrants.

“She’s a young woman writing a story with huge political significance, and which has serious consequences on her as a woman.”

The book had to be published anonymously in January, 1818.

Loan adds; “It was just incredible that Mary was able to break out of the social norm of what a woman ‘should’ have been and being told at a young age you can do anything that a man can do,”

“She had that spark in her, a rebellious energy.”

Loan, who is also a strong feminist, says Shelley was certainly a woman way ahead of her time.

“The play reveals much of Shelley’s views on the world around her. She was part of the Extinction Rebellion movement of her day.”

Yet, the initial Frankenstein idea was borne out of a drugs session.

Shelley and her partner, the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and friends, had been taking hallucinogens the night before.

The writer dreamt it all up in a fevered, slightly hysterical state.

She had her monster in her head, but her creation then came to life as a result of a writing competition between poets Byron, Shelley and Polidori – and Mary took part as a dare.

Yet, Mary Godwin, as she was, was also a vulnerable woman. Her mother had died when Mary was a baby. She became romantically involved with Shelley when she was just 16, eventually marrying him.

And she had to suffer the public outcry that came with having an affair with a famous poet.

Does this question her feminist credentials, given she was prepared to play second fiddle in a relationship with an older man?

“I don’t think so,” says Loan, who is also a playwright, with her work, Moorcroft, set in the world of amateur football, currently being developed for film.

“She loved the poet, but she was always going to go her own way. And she was prepared to take the criticism that came her way.”

“Yet, from this background of instability in her family she embarked upon this incredible journey to create this amazing character. “

Loan adds; “But Rona’s play is also the story of a woman with tremendous skill who wanted to write a ghost story frightening enough to sell.”

Eilidh Loan is loving playing Mary Shelley.

“It’s great for a young woman to play a character who’s funny and feisty. Usually, it’s the men who get all the good speeches and political statements.

“Mary is also funny and she’s exciting. And for me it’s really important for young women today to be able to see that.”

Had Mary Shelley been alive today she’d be riding an orange Vespa.

But aren’t scooters just too scary to ride?

“Not a bit of it,” says Loan, laughing. “I just love them and I’m going to buy one soon as I get the chance.”

Frankenstein, The Theatre Royal, until Saturday.