Dorset musician PJ Harvey has played a key part in the success of a West End play which stars two Hollywood A-listers. Joanna Davis reports.

PJ HARVEY may be the only artist to have won the Mercury music prize twice but is far from resting upon her laurels.

Bridport-born PJ has written the score for new West End hit All About Eve, which stars Lily James and Gillian Anderson.

The production, which has taken more than £6 million in ticket sales, is at the Noel Coward Theatre in London.

It comes after the highly acclaimed 1950 film starring Bette Davis and is a razor-sharp, unsettling exposé of the eternal obsession at the heart of show-business. It tells the story of legendary Broadway star Margo Channing (played by Anderson) whose career is threatened by a beautiful young fan, Eve (James).

This isn't the first theatre production PJ Harvey has been involved in - she has written music for previous productions, including Electra, with Kristin Scott Thomas.

PJ, whose real name is Polly, said: "Right now I have enormous pleasure writing scores for theatre."

She became involved in the theatrical version of All About Eve after getting in touch with its director Ivo van Hove and asking if there was 'something she could do'.

And that was the first step in creating a score which has been described by critics as 'beautiful and ethereal music humming eerily throughout the show which lends to the angst of the piece'.

Polly said: "When I was starting off writing the music I was trying to get some sort of feel for what Ivo wanted. But then it seemed like he just wanted me to go with my gut. And I get the feeling that he asks people in and wants to collaborate with people because he likes what you do and he wants you to do that."

Ivo told Polly the production was going to be 'a psychological exploration'.

Polly, who received an MBE in 2013 for her services to music, said the play resonated with her immediately.

She said: "Margo, the lead character, is an ageing actress who's at that point where she's feeling uncomfortable on stage, she's feeling the youth coming up to usurp her and she's become very sensitive to her age and it being talked about. And as a female performer I understand those feelings.

"Even at some ponts on my last tour, at some points I felt a little bit uncomfortable in the clothes I was wearing, like I'm shifting into a different age of my life now. So I could really relate to that as a female performer and you also weigh it up with 'OK, I've done this half my life, do I want to continue this way or maybe do I want to try something different? So you've just got to tune in and I think a lot of it is having faith to tune in and listen to that gut instinct."

Polly and her band recorded the tracks for the score in her south London flat. She wrote two new songs to be sung by the production's leads, Gillian Anderson and Lily James.

Lily, who previously sang in Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, said she was somewhat starstruck when she met Polly.

"I met Polly and I'm like 'it's PJ Harvey, I can't call her Polly!' She told me about this song and in the end it's become the foundation of my character, the root. It's been so instrumental in how I found out who Eve is," she said.

Lily, who shot to fame in Downton Abbey, created by Dorset's own Julian Fellowes, said she has been captivated by Polly's music.

"I've been listening to a lot of her album, It's this desire, I've just been having it in my ears on repeat because it feels something. there's Eve in there. This need, this force within her, this sensuality. There's something in it. When I listen to it, I hold it in my ears on the Tube on the way in and it makes me want to get on stage and really like mess with people.

"She's been amazing, so generous, it must hurt her to hear me playing it. There's such a gentleness about her and such clear direction and she's really precise about that. When you feel that surge and the wave of the music coming out on the breath, it's so powerful."

Gillian, best known for her role as Dana Scully on TV's The X Files, said she was apprehensive about singing on stage.

She said: "I was very excited about the prospect of working with Polly prior to understanding I might be singing a song!"

"Not that I was ever going to reject it or say 'absolutely not', I don't sing therefore I won't sing. I sang in Streetcar, I sang in the bathtub but I don't really sing. I'm not trained in any way, shape or form. Which works to a degree, because Margo is she's singing to sooth herself really and she's quite drunk so however it comes out will be how it comes out."

Polly said doing music for All About Eve has improved her as a musician.

"It's great to see, I've watched Gillian and Lily become more confident with the songs, and I've watched them make the songs their own which is all I've ever wanted. Now they really own them. They make them their own for their characters' journey.

"I feel like I've learnt a lot as well, I've improved my scope as a musician. As a songwriter you write the song but the moment it sort of leaves you it becomes its own and it moves away from you. I've watched that little song that I made move away from me and become their characters. Not even their, but their characters. It's Eve's song."

*All About Eve, Noel Coward Theatre, St Martin's Lane, London, until May 10, 2019. A National Theatre Live broadcast can be seen in local cinemas on Thursday, April 11. See allabouteveplay.com