TAKING STEPS BLOG – Interview with the director

22 Nov 2017

10 Questions with Mark Kilmurry, director of TAKING STEPS  1. What do you love about the plays of Alan Ayckbourn? I like the fact they are wonderfully constructed with great characters. The way Ayckbourn uses comedy to explore wider issues. For a long time his plays were regarded as west end middle class comedies, which of […]

TAKING STEPS BLOG – Week one

20 Nov 2017

After reading through the play again, we tucked into some table-work. We began to break the script down into units, small sections of dialogue or stage-direction which change units when something shifts in the scene –  a new person enters/exits, or a new action or intention begins. There were 200 units in Act 1!! So, […]

TAKING STEPS BLOG – First day

2 Nov 2017

Day one excitement! The first read of Alan Ayckbourne’s TAKING STEPS elicited a significant amount of laughter – a sign of fun rehearsal room times to come! The actors already have an essence of their characters and a strong grasp on the English accents. After the read, Anna Gardiner presented the highly anticipated design… Ayckbourne […]

DIARY OF AN ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

28 Sep 2017

Sandra Bates Director’s Awards finalist, Francesca Savige is working as assistant director on BUYER & CELLAR and has decided to share her experience with you.