Director's Commentary  Well, finally decided to have a bash. Co-directed with Helen and we kept each other sane. Foolish woman that I am to choose to direct a play directly before my wedding - but hey! I really liked the humour in this play when I read it and thought that there were a good range of roles from quiet and demure to completely OTT. Casting traumas included a nameless person who disappeared into thin air without warning for several weeks and then reappeared as if nothing had happened just as we were about to recast the part.
The Film Theatre's got quite a shallow stage and with a large cast the staging took some juggling but we managed. Passing the poisoned chocolates around which looked tricky on paper actually went quite smoothly. Directing's not my favourite job for various reasons, not least, on performance nights, if you're not in the cast you feel like a spare part, and there's nothing you can really do except get in everyone's way and cringe when certain cast members do exactly what you told them not to! Sharon
Sheer panic got me through this (I don’t know about Sharon, maybe she drank gin secretly and has therapy sessions now) but it also gave me a taste of directing and I vowed never to do it again – until the opportunity arose to become a fully fledged bag-of-nerves Helen

Water, Water Everywhere... At a loose end on a performance night this erstwhile director lent a hand with setting up the props. A vase had to have some water in it for Winkelkopf to revive the collapsed Lord Arthur by throwing the water over him. Having not done this particular job before, I blithely filled the opaque vase to the top, not realising that Betty only put a drop in. Imagine my horror when Paul got absolutely soaked! Unfortunately Paul reckoned that Dave Round had done it on purpose and he was a bit mad! I did admit, with loads of apologies, that it was my error. However, it was the most animated he‘d ever been in that scene Sharon

We Don't Want To Peak Too Early  This one had a drop dead gorgeous Victorian set which almost didn’t make it to the theatre after our delivery van broke down.

Was I In That One?  Paul was given the leading role and still didn’t stick around. Sharon Regan didn’t either but then she didn’t want to play the maid. Ailsa chalked up yet another evil lemon-sucking old ratbag.

Quote, Unquote  I know Sharon wanted to cast me as Lord Arthur but I told her that I’d already played one idiot Victorian gentleman too many. So she punished me with the tiny, tiny part of Podgers. And served me right David