Palm Wine & Stout - One Of The Family.

Whenever I meet anyone who has worked for Eastern Angles, the response is always the same: ‘Ohh! Is Penny still there? How's Ivan?' And, on one occasion, ‘Is the cheese board still in the van?!' I know exactly where that comes from. This morning Itoya commented on the family atmosphere, which is evident from your first day with this theatre company. It's not that easy to welcome others into your home with open arms as they do here, especially as those interlopers change on a regular basis. Bringing Parkway Dreams to Ipswich, last spring, felt like coming back to the family nest.

I'm a relatively new honorary member of this family - Palm Wine and Stout is my second time as Assistant Director with Eastern Angles. Ivan offered me my very first professional job this time last year, in the room where I'm now typing this. A bit of a risk, I thought, taking a graduate from a Shakespeare degree onto a verbatim musical, but nonetheless! Many directors don't know what to do with assistant directors. And actor/director once said to me, ‘All a director wants a good AD to be is an extra pair of eyes and ears.' Ivan looks for more than that. One if my tasks is to update Penny and Steve, our stage manager and production manager, on script alterations and staging choices, so their copies of the script are accurate and correct. I also keep an eye, and ear, on the text once the actors are off-book, and gently remind them of any mistakes. Beyond that, the role of the AD is largely up for negotiation. I can provide suggestions for staging or line delivery, and perhaps keep an eye on continuity. In fact, knowing when to contribute and when to keep quiet is a skill any AD has to acquire. Beyond that, as I frequently joke, you can find yourself doing the jobs no-one else wants to do, or the tasks that don't feature in anyone else's job description. All with good humour and a smile, of course!

Palm Wine and Stout has a fun, friendly and enthusiastic ensemble. Ivan has a knack for casting willing, warm people, which makes the job of the AD a good deal easier when they're left in your hands. We're usually on the same page, both metaphorically and literally! When asked to describe Palm Wine and Stout, each actor mentioned the word ‘journey'. As Eastern Angles feels like a family and the SJM feels like a home, who better to produce a piece of theatre about going home to find your family.