Ms Byrne and fellow cast and crew members from Remarkable Theatre are preparing for dress rehearsals before opening night at the Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall, on Thursday.
The acclaimed satirical, adult-themed play by Melbourne playwright Joanna Murray-Smith is directed by Jo Blick, of Queenstown. It features Ms Byrne as "Margot Mason", who she described as a "outspoken feminist writer suffering writer's block, passionate in her views, but her views change, so some might call her a bit of a hypocrite".
The celebrity author is taken hostage by a troubled student, in a play loosely based on a brief real-life incident which involved Germaine Greer, in England, 12 years ago, although she has distanced herself from the episode, not seen the play and fiercely criticised the author.
"I hunted down a copy of The Female Eunuch, read some of her writings in the Guardian and watched clips on YouTube, but I'm not playing Germaine Greer," Ms Byrne said.
"I did get a sense of where feminism has come from, though, and it's been quite an education."
The performance marks her return to the stage after a five-year absence, due to marriage, motherhood and career, but the veteran of the theatre since she was a child in her native Ireland, said Margot Mason and co-directing Secret Bridesmaids' Business last year "has been a nice way to get back into it".
"Rehearsals are going really well and everyone's developing real nuances of their characters.
"It's a wickedly funny play, with laugh-out-loud one-liners, and pokes fun at everything."
