Linda Cropper knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a life-changing performance. When the acclaimed actor was a student at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), she was a firsthand witness to the magic of stagecraft. The source? Lady Macbeth herself.

I’ve just eaten a litre of vanilla ice cream, a packet of chocolate biscuits, a frozen cheesecake and seven dried figs in less than 40 minutes. But what’s triggered this lack of control, this most recent escape into such short lived anaesthesia? Well, my laptop suddenly gobbled up the two thousand words I’d just written for this article and emotional eating has been a big part of my life for the past 35 years.

She seemed trim, together and still beautiful. But then she hit me with the clanger – ‘I’m actually in my mid-70s. How did I get so old? It just happened. I lost six years of my life.’

‘It was my mother,’ she said. ‘She went into high care and lived until she was 96. I lost the years, visiting daily, spoon-feeding her meals, and staying on top of her myriad medical issues. Then before I knew it I too was getting on in years.’