with

Regina - Sophie Shaw
Engstrand - Paul Imbusch
Pastor Manders - Nigel Anthony
Mrs Alving - Valerie Sarruf
Oswald - Neil Warhurst

photograph by Sheila Burnett

Composite photograph of the set (taken from upstage left)


This is a 6.6mb, 3.3 minutes, Quicktime movie of moments from the show.

Mrs Alving is overjoyed when Oswald her son, a successful young artist, returns from Paris to celebrate the opening of the orphanage built in memory of his late father. However, with the arrival of Pastor Manders, an old family friend, dark secrets from the past emerge, unleashing a relentless chain of events which culminate in a tragedy of Greek proportions.

This was my second collaboration with David Graham-Young for Contemporary Stage Company at the Old Red Lion. I designed the setting and lighting and collaborated for the first time with Chrystine Bennett who designed the costumes. The set design was dominated by creating a larger upstage entrance to the space itself which meant a permanent modification to the theatre. I built a larger door, and enlarged the opening in the wall, all of which had to comply with the stringent fire regulations in force. The two glazing panels of fire resistant glass were over £200 in themselves, but they allowed an offstage lighting source for the first time at the Old Red Lion and an implicit increase in the sense of the theatre's overall space. I also installed a ceiling over the acting area to increase the sense of verisimiltude of the Alving's drawing room.