As usual, each Director had ten minutes on stage to present their production for next season, in any way they chose. As most of them are actors as well as directors, there’s always the expectation of a very entertaining evening – and they didn’t disappoint.

Newly appointed Studio Artistic Director, Cliff Francis, was first up. He’s currently rehearsing STOP! …The Play – and directs the first show of next season: Ghost Train, ‘the greatest ghost story of all time’. In his first season with the stewardship of the Studio, Cliff has managed to bag two of the Barn’s leading directors. Danny Swanson, recently on stage in The Lifeblood, opened with ‘So nice not to have to speak in f*****g blank verse!’. He announced a two-week rehearsal period for Parlour Song, a dark comedy by Jez Butterworth of Jerusalem fame. He closed with ‘It’s 90 minutes, no interval, so don’t come with a weak bladder!’. If you dare go, it’s in the Studio in October. In February Jan Palmer Sayer directs darkly comic and creepy Peep, a two-hander by Jodi Gray. ‘The ending will stop your hearts,’ she said. ‘I’d kill for a part like that.’

Keith Thompson was strolling along the promenade in France, with Annie, so he presented Blackadder by video. The final series, best-written and it ends on 5th November, so he promises whizzes and bangs inside and out! You’ll find an audition notice elsewhere in this Barn News.
Maureen Davies followed with another spooky one, Haunting Julia. ‘Probably not what we’ve come to expect from Ayckbourn,’ she said, ‘and it’ll scare the pants off you.’

The December show is a family favourite and this year Simon Parr and Darren Barsby present Matilda Jr, with 30 young actors. ‘Who wouldn’t want to direct a show with 30 kids and maggots?’ Simon said. ‘We won’t have trouble casting, most of them will come from Barn Youth.’ If you remember what this duo did with Honk!, you’ll know it’ll be a triumph.

Last before the interval (and fire drill!), John Davies has seen all the Florian Zeller plays produced in UK, and considers The Height of the Storm the best of a terrific oeuvre. Once the enfant terrible of the French literary world, Zeller is now considered by many to be the best playwright of the 21st century. John opens the new year with Height and is confident that, although two of the characters are in their 70s, he’ll be able to cast it. He thinks there may be one or two younger Barn actors whose lifestyles may have given them the required patina to play 70!

Then the fire alarm sounded and we all trooped out into the car park and back again a few minutes later. I suspect that was a good opportunity for a fire drill without inconveniencing audiences?

In Laura Eddy’s absence, Clive gave an impromptu intro to Treasure Island, which comes to the stage in March. A big ask, you may think, to bring this spectacular show to the Barn stage, but Clive reminded us of what she did with Arabian Nights. ’Nuff said!

It was good to see Mel Powell introducing a play for the stage after his two terrific Studio productions, The Wasp and Breathing Corpses. Alys, Always, coming in April is a thriller, he said ‘which digs at class, privilege and posh frocks at The Wolseley’.
Over the years the Directors Evening has produced some Oscar-worthy performances, and this one was no different. There was a gasp as award-winning director Hannah Sayer, who’s directing Calendar Girls next May, arrived on stage with two large sunflowers strategically placed! ‘I wouldn’t ask my actors to do anything I wouldn’t do,’ she said, and continued ‘We need a pianist to play Jerusalem and lots of buns!’ This will be next year’s charity production.

Sitting beside me, Lou Wallace whispered ‘How do I follow that?’. But she did, of course, with Being Jane Eyre, her own play that closes the season. She said: ‘This Jane Eyre is the shortest version you’ll ever see, and it’s very theatrical. Dancing, singing, overseen by Bertha, horses, dogs, trees, weather – there’s a lot of weather in Yorkshire. I need a bunch of mental actor musicians and a puppet dog’. What she didn’t say is that the company will have a weekend rehearsing in Haworth, and a ride on the steam train, as we did for Lou’s production of Brontë.

Into the joyful atmosphere Simon Parr, as Barn Chairman, introduced a serious note. He repeated his plea, which has consistently fallen on deaf ears. He said that if we don’t step forward to fill the Council roles that will become vacant at the end of this year, we’ll cease to be functioning legally. Stark indeed! He went on to say that usually we have no trouble finding actors, but this year failed to cast three out of ten productions. We struggle to fill back-stage roles. And if we can’t staff front-of-house, you won’t have any shows. Actors need to pay back – do one job on someone else’s show. And don’t complain if there’s no coffee.

Dear reader – we need to listen to this. Directors Evening reminded us of how much we love this theatre, and how much we missed it during lockdown. Let’s all step up and do something! When you’ve decided what to do, get in touch with Nigel Rive, our membership director. He’ll be very pleased to hear from you: nigelrive@virginmedia.com