Having ovarian cancer at 19 was worst (and funniest) time of my life

“Every time I told people about all the mad stuff that happened on the teenage cancer ward, they’d say, you’ve got to write this, this is a TV show,” says Éimi, smiling. “So I did.

“It’s like an ode to this time in my life which was full of tragedy, but also hilarious shenanigans with friends I wish I had met in another way.”

The Funeral Club, about a group of teenage cancer patients who attempt to pull off a diamond heist, is the latest instalment of  A Play, A Pie and A Pint, Oran Mor’s lunchtime theatre series.

It is the story of 19-year-old Emma, who finds out her cancer is not terminal on what should be the happiest day of her life. However, having spent all her money and racked up debt living her ‘last’ year to the full, she is now facing bankruptcy and hatches a daring plan…

“It’s based on my experiences – I mean, obviously not completely,” Éimi, says, with a laugh.

“But the teenage cancer ward, I mean, there are so many stories. I think I’m going to have to make a TV series to fit them all in.

“Teenagers are pretty hedonistic anyway, so tell them they might be about to die, and pretty quickly, they are out of control.”

She adds: “But I didn’t stage a diamond heist, no. The truth element in that is that I did spend all my money when I heard I might die, and I got into about £10,000 worth of debt.

“Which was a bit awkward.”

She jokes: “I paid it back the normal way, but honestly, if any of my cancer friends had suggested a diamond heist at the time, I might have gone for it….”

The Funeral Club is directed by Maureen Carr, accomplished stage and screen actor, famous for River City, Still Game and co-founding Glasgow women’s comedy writing collective Witsherface.

“Without Maureen and Witsherface, this play definitely wouldn’t have happened,” says Eimi, adamantly.

“She won’t say it, but she’s a leading light who really champions working class women and comedy and theatre, she is amazing.

“She holds us all up – no, shut up, you do,” she remonstrates as an abashed Maureen tries to interrupt. “You’re so encouraging.”

Maureen says: “It has been a real joy working with this fresh, young cast – they keep me…I was going to say hip, but that makes me sound really old.”

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She laughs, as Éimi groans in the background. “For a first play, The Funeral Club is amazing," says Maureen. "It’s a play about cancer and death, but it is full of life.”

Éimi, who has had appeared in TV dramas Guilt, Shetland and Six Four, grew up in Springburn, where her original plan was to become the first person in her family to attend university.

“I started a business degree and then in my first year, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer,” she explains. “I got through it – my friends would go to lectures then come and tell me in hospital everything they had learned that day."

She adds, in mock horror: "Afterwards, I thought, I could have died. Doing business."

She laughs. “I mean, no offence to anyone doing business, but it really made me re-evaluate my life and think - what do I actually love? What do I want to do? And that was acting.”

The Funeral Club also stars Kyle Gardiner and Caroline McKeown as Callum and Jade, Emma’s fellow chemo patients-turned-criminals

“The characters are all named after my friends, who are no longer with us,” says Éimi.

“The characters are not them, that would have been too difficult, but this way, it gives me a chance to keep speaking their names.”

She is lost for words for a moment.

“Doing this has actually taken me to places I didn’t expect,” she says, softly. “I have always kept it funny, that’s how I’ve dealt with it.

“But watching Kyle and Caroline, these two amazing actors, bring it to life made it all very raw, actually. It’s horrible, young people dying, of course it is, and I think everyone was quite emotional in rehearsal.”

Maureen agrees. “That is the story of this play, though, one minute you are laughing, next you are crying,” she nods. “It’s a real rollercoaster of emotions, but it is uplifting, there’s a lot of hope in there.”

After PPP, Eimi is appearing at Bard in the Botanics, Glasgow’s outdoor Shakespeare festival, in The Merry Wives of Wishaw, a West of Scotland version of The Merry Wives of Windsor, and she has more projects in the pipeline later in the year.

“The goal is just to do acting,” she says, smiling. “I love the different jobs I’ve done, but acting is what I want to do.

She adds, with a laugh: “And then of course, the TV series of The Funeral Club needs to happen. It’s got to be worth a six-parter.”

The Funeral Club runs from June 3 to 8.