ABSTRACT
I was really hungry to do a Shakespeare having just immersed myself in two of his plays when directing at Webber Douglas Drama School. However, I could never direct, if one could call it that, in that rather traditional old-fashioned way that I had seen in London theatre for too many years. The actors were usually good and making an effort, but the productions were so hide-bound, so stilted, so terribly uninventive. They had learned absolutely nothing about theatrical techniques of movement, grouping, ensemble, choral, mime etc. and relied on the same old worn-out routines and therefore I felt they were missing out a great deal. They were indeed a curse to the British theatre with just one or two exceptions. Chiefly, Peter Brook and John Dexter. Brook for his extraordinary and eclectic imagination. Dexter for his dynamic and disciplined staging, which I had the privilege of experiencing first hand. I had been cast in his production of Arnold Wesker’s semi-autobiographical play The Kitchen at The Royal Court in 1963
