DOLLY Sinatra. Mom to America’s greatest singing talent, bootlegger, part-time politician, abortionist, show promoter and human tornado.

Who would not wish to play such a woman on the Oran Mor stage?

Not Barbara Rafferty, that’s for sure.

“Today I’m going to be Mrs Dolly Sinatra, the mother of Frankie Blue Eyes Sinatra,” says Barbara in perfect New Jersey accent.

“And I’m delighted. She was a Hoboken girl, an abortionist and she swore like a trooper. In fact the word B******sonofabitch seems to run off her tongue. It’s a great play to appear in.”

Barbara stars in The Real Mrs Sinatra, Clive Kink’s play which also features Maureen Carr as Dolly’s friend, Ella) and John Kielty as Frank.

For the most part, the story is set in an aeroplane in 1977 and features conversation between Dolly and her friend.

We learn in the play, directed by Johnnu McKnight, that Dolly and Ella are on their way to Las Vegas to see Frank Sinatra open at Caesar’s Palace.

Ella enjoys quizzing her pal about her tempestuous relationship with her famous son. But old tensions between the two women bubble to the surface, threatening the trip.

The play also cuts away to see Frank perform some of his classic songs.

“I loved Frank’s music and I read a lot about him,” says Barbara.

“She was an intrugiing character, always very well heeled, thanks to her ‘career’ as a back street abortionist.

“And there was always the feeling she was connected to the Mafia. They called her ‘La Regina de Hoboken’ and ordinary people went to her when they needed help.

“She spoke all the Italian dialects and helped with immigration, cops and landlords. A fascinating character.”

Barbara, who grew up in Clydebank, believes there are parallels with her own mum, Betty Brown, and Dolly Sinatra.

“My mother wasn’t a back street abortionist, and she didn’t swear like Dolly, but she fought for women and was a local politician.

“And like Dolly she was a tough woman who got things done, in an era when it wasn’t the norm for a woman to behave like that.”

Is there a warmth to Dolly Sinatra? “Yes, because she’s larger than life. She loves to tell stories.”

Dolly and Ella share the stories of the moment.

“There’s a lot of good fun in this story. The women also like a glass of burbon. But it’s also sad as well.”

Barbara continues to be one of Scotland’s most in-demand actresses, fresh from the Edinburgh Festival where she starred in Vanishing Point’s Interiors.

Next year, her dance card looks to be so full her feet are unlikely to touch the floor.

“Yes, there are a few things happening,” she says, with some understatement.

What is undeniable is producers see Barbara Rafferty as a rare talent.

What’s not surprising is the lady, who starred in Rab C. Nesbitt as Ella Cotter and in River City as Shirley Henderson, was born to act.

“It just is,” she says, smiling. “I think it has a lot to do with the cinema manager fancying my mother.”

What? It’s hard to see the link between an amorous picture house boss and a predilection for performance?

“Well, my mother worked part time as an usherette at the La Scala in Clydebank,” she informs, grinning.

“And it seems the manger fancied her. So my dad would take me to the pictures on the three nights a week my mother was working, just so he could keep an eye on her.”

The little schoolgirl eyes were being fed with wondrous imagination while her father’s protective eye was glancing over at his stunning, perfectly dressed wife.

“I wanted to be up there on the screen,” says Barbara of the experience. “I loved the glamour of it all.”

Barbara made it happen. She performed in the Brownies, she formed her own little theatre group, entertaining neighbours.

“I’d sing, act out pieces, we had a dance troupe and we charged money which we gave to charity. It was a happy time.”

Barbara went on to drama college and her career took off, only halted during the period she took off to look after her three kids.

Now the actress has seen the screen glamour, the small screen at least.

“And I’m glamourous again,” she says. “Dolly Sinatra loved a bit of glamour. And I get to play an amazing woman.”

• The Real Mrs Sinatra, Oran Mor, until Saturday.