Call me a whimp but I have never directed Coward.  This is because Noel Coward is fundamentally scary.  He’s too British.  Too seminal.  Too precise.  And he was the best thing in the Italian Job (my dear, dear boy – respec’).

So when I was asked to direct something at my local am dram, I thought ‘oh how lovely, I’d like to do Blithe Spirit please’.  They said sorry but some else was doing that, could I think of something else please.  In a panic, I developed theatrical torrettes and just yelled out ‘Private Lives!’  I now regret this.  It’s a wonderful play; full of bite and sophisticated wit.  And it demands great actors and a steady hand on the tiller.  I just have no idea if I am going to find either of those.  Here’s hoping.  Stiff upper and all that (*snigger*).

Oh, and at nearly the same moment that my production goes up so does Richard Eyre’s big budget West End vision for the same play starring Kim Catrall and Mathew Macfadyen.

In a bid for organisation however, I have been doing my research.  I have the theatre designs already – I just need to get the stats for the stage so that I can fix the position of all the furniture, especially in the tricky Act II/III set where I need to find space on a tiny stage for a Steinway Grand.  Really, I have no idea… 

And costumes!  I have even proudly posted proof on this very site.  Would post the set but the scans look a bit more granny-pants than they do in life, so just posted the one.

Anyway, will probably keep you updated with the banality that is my attempts to direct an awesome play.  Who knows, maybe myself and Richard Eyre could compare notes…?

Roger Wilco (but only if he asks nicely).  Over and out.