Last will and testament at Oran Mor

“To his favourite niece, Albert McBarnley leaves the house in Bermuda, the Aston Martin and five million pounds sterling.

“To his favourite nephew, he leaves the French poodle, aged though he is, Albert knows his nephew was especially fond of Cupcake.”

And that’s why wills can create such family discord. How often do surviving family members feel they’ve been ignored, or worse, humiliated?

How often do they feel the relationship they had with the deceased isn’t reflected in the detail of the will?

That’s the theme of this week’s Oran Mor play, Happy Hour.

Written by Anita Vettesse, it’s a black comedy which will strike a chord, particularly with anyone who has ever had any point of contact with lawyers looking after last wills and testaments.

And indeed anyone who’s ever heard a moan or a groan about being disappointed by the final handout.

Did the writer herself come up with the idea after feeling disappointed not to have been left riches beyond avarice?

“Not quite,” she says, smiling.

“In fact, the play only came about after I landed the commission to write it, when the Playwright’s Studio had a gap for their Talkfest development programme.

“I found I had three months to come up with an idea and for me it was great having that deadline; I just had to come up with something.”

Anita hit on the idea of death and its rewards at a dinner party.

“As I’ve been getting older dinner part conversations with people have so often turned to talking about inheritance.

“And I got interested in this idea of families not communicating when it comes to what’s been handed down.

“But I then got caught up in the notion of people’s expectations in life, and what they had hoped to achieve, and how they have to deal with the reality.”

Anita Vettesse is an acclaimed actress with a huge range of drama productions to her credit, from High Road to Waterloo Road. On stage she has astonished as Lady Macbeth twice.

But of course, acting work is irregular , and Anita turned her fertile imagination onto the page.

“Actors are always skint,” she offers, grinning, “but I guess my panic about realising potential materialises in me thinking I haven’t acted enough or written enough.

“Yet, we don’t always reveal this to the world. You put on a front except for the rest of society.”

Happy Hour stars Stephen McCole and Hannah Donaldson as Tom and Kay, the son and daughter of the mother, played by Ann Lacey.

“What we learn is the mother has kept this family going, yet she hasn’t had the love of her son over the years.

“The daughter and mother don’t get on at all; she was the daddy’s girl. The oldest son however is the love of the life.”

Family schisms certainly offer huge opportunities for exploring darkness.

“It’s pretty vitriolic, it’s gloves off,” says Anita, smiling of the family dynamic. “But you need that sort of darkness if you’re hoping to find the comedy.

“And there’s a relief comes from people saying everything that’s in their head.

“And hopefully audiences will find it funny.”

Anita, who lives in Burnside, says her mum and dad (Italian shopkeepers who came to Scotland after the war) will be coming to see the play.

“And they’ll be wondering where the hell all this is coming from,” she says, laughing.

Anita, whose parents are, has simply stepped away from acting for a short time.

In recent months she’s been working at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and on Radio Four with the classic East of Eden.

“I’m trying to enjoy the writing a well,” she says, in almost apologetic voice.

“I’m still not really confident about what I’m doing but I’m watching rehearsals and learning, I’m trying to see what the actors bring to the play. And I have to say they’re fantastic.”

But would she rather be up there on stage working on her own play?

“The directors said to me ‘You’re dying to get up there and run about with the actors, Anita.’ And it’s true. But it’s about knowing when to step back.”

She won’t have to step back for too long. Anita will be on the Oran Mor stage at Christmas time in the panto Ali Bawbag and the Forty Tea Leafs.

“Meantime, I’ll keep writing,” she says.

“I keep coming up with ideas, when I’m cleaning out drawers or staring into my fridge,” she says, smiling.

“I’ll just have to hope people audiences enjoy the final result.”

• Happy Hour, Oran Mor, until Saturday.