Excellent People...

Earlier in the year than ever before it was the directors weekend for National Theatre Connections – this is the point in the year when I get to spend time in London, meet the writer of our selected play and try and fit in as many other things as possible while I’m there.   At first I was going to reflect on the events and experiences of the weekend as my blog but as the weekend progressed it became clear that the excellent people I have met, or in some cases interacted with on a slightly less personal level, have been the biggest influence on my weekend so instead I am going to write about them instead…

So first off on this meet and greet is Ai Weiwei…Chinese contemporary artist who I first came across in, “Hacktivists,” the connections play we did last year and then again with his work on Alcatraz when we visited earlier this year.  He literally took my breath away with his installation of trees in the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Art.  The trees are made up of huge dead branches Weiwei finds and brings down from the Chinese mountains and they are beautiful – from a distance they look natural but then a closer look shows just how constructed they are…just genius…I’m appreciating Ai Weiwei for vision and tenacity.

Ai Weiwei was also responsible for bringing myself and my next person of the weekend together as my instagraming of pictures of his trees alerted Duncan of my presence in London.  Duncan was the best man at our wedding and a friend of many, many years but because of the long distance between where we live we seldom get to see him – turns out he’d been at the trees in the courtyard 20 minutes before me and so we were able to meet up for chats and ice cream.  A familiar face in a big city is a wonderful thing so Duncan is appreciated for friendliness and generosity – after all the ice creams were on him…

That evening found me at the Savoy Theatre watching the truly brilliant Imelda Staunton in Gypsy…Oh. My. Word.  I’d heard how good she was but only seeing was believing – to be fair the whole production is a poignant joy but she was stunning – so much flair, sheer talent, storytelling and truth…I was in tears and raptures at the same time.  Truly remarkable theatre and a privilege to witness.  Another thing that struck me was the genuine appreciation of our response to her performance…so Imelda gets my award for being a person of humility and inspiration award for a night of theatre I will never forget…

Saturday brought with it the prospect of a day with Simon Armitage – poet, playwright and erstwhile probation officer…but also as it turns out a man full of wit, wisdom and willingness to accommodate all the ideas a room full of directors of his play might throw at him.  His thoughtfulness was remarkable and by the end of the day I was both informed and inspired enough to really look forward to directing “Eclipse” in November.  Simon gets my award for his humour and love of ambiguity, which in no way should ever be an excuse for being vague.

Moving apace to Sunday, a Sunday that featured three more excellent people.  The first of which was Tricia Gordon – now anyone who has been to Kendal with us as part of our Connections journey will know Tricia as an everyday hero…the warmth with which she greets us at The Brewery Arts Centre is second to none and even when not on home territory her first concern at the National was to ensure I was cared for and accommodated.  Talking to her about next April’s visit immediately engendered a sense of anticipation and future happiness and so Tricia is included in this blog for her general warmth and wonderfulness which is not really a word but I’m having it anyway.

My penultimate excellent person was Lyndsey Turner – a director at the National Theatre and on this occasion given the dubious task of running a directors master class for a huge group of people, many of whom think they know how to do it anyway.   She presented something clear, well structured and on a level that made it accessible to anyone.  I found her engaging and unpretentious and left the master class with more knowledge than I had arrived with, which is always a joy – Lyndsey earns her place in this blog for her practicality and insight.

The final excellent person I enjoyed my time in London with was the very lovely Yasmin Taheri who in addition to being generally brilliant was full of tales of RADA and learning and living in London and so my final excellent people award goes to her for being both resilient and remarkable…it was also just a genuine pleasure to spend time with her…

So there you go – a snapshot of my weekend full of people of vision, tenacity, friendliness, generosity, humility, inspiration, humour, ambiguity, warmth, wonderfulness, practicality, insight, resilient and remarkable people and that makes me very lucky…the thing is working with YTYT I get to spend time with people like that every week…the luck just keeps rolling in!!