"I've always been fascinated with the case, as you are, being a New Zealander, and about seven years ago [Shaila] said, 'Mum, there's a script: we have to do it!' But it was never the right time," says Melissa.
Now, a slot in the Amdram schedule has come available and the play will be performed on stage with six performances in May.
"It all hinged on getting the right two girls, it really did," she says. Shaila has paid her dues as a performer over the years and Samantha is the Starlets 2IC, as well as taking out the Amdram comedy award for last year.
Daughters of Heaven will challenge the most seasoned actor, but Melissa feels her leads will handle it.
"The complexity of the show and of the characters is crazy," says Shaila.
"Every character is just layer upon layer upon layer," says Melissa. "There is no one there without a full story about who they are and why they act the way they do."
"To get behind who the girls were and how they ended up is all routed back to their parents and how they treated them," says Shaila.
The cast is 12 strong but the leads are on stage most of the time.
"Juliet is quite a posh young girl who spent a lot of her life in and out of hospital with tuberculosis, and she got left in different parts of the world by her parents ... to get better," says Shaila.
The move to New Zealand was for Juliet's health.
"While she was in hospital she has a lot of time to create this magical world for herself to live in."
For that world she has created a character for herself, a persona she often uses, and she manipulates Pauline to join her and play multiple characters in this fantasy realm.
"Pauline also has been in and out of hospital, which I think is what united them: they were both quite sick," says Samantha.
"She is very insecure as a person, which is why she looks to Juliet a lot." Juliet is confident and sure of herself in her world, quite unlike Pauline.
Much of the play is based on Pauline's diary entries, so the level of script authenticity is high.
"They do their little rituals and go into their fantasy world, but the play is based in reality," says Melissa.
Even the rest of the cast have done their own research into their characters.
"Because, apart from one, they were all real people."
The one fictional character is a maid from the Hulme household who narrates a lot of the story.
While the play is serious and some of the subject matter somewhat gruesome, Melissa says there are a few lighter moments.
"We know this will not be everybody's cup of tea, but, on the flip side it will bring people in who are not usually theatre-goers," says Melissa.
• "Daughters of Heaven" is on stage at Amdram Theatre, Guyton St on May 6, 7, 8, 12, 13 and 14. Tickets will be available soon from ITicket.
