I am a dreadful actor but it took me a little while to recognize this weakness. An early hint came in my first year playing a small roll in a production of Edward Bond’s The Worlds: I thank him for that. I knew very little about theatre before studying it at university and so found it difficult to get especially enthused as our department got excited about working with Bond on the world premiere of Jackets but a major part in that piece was played by Amanda Hadingue, who went on to become part of Stan’s Cafe: I thank him for that. As part of the arrangements around that production the playwright gave a lecture to the second year, it was tough going, intellectually rigorous and uncompromising. I struggled to keep up, which was a great experience: I thank him for that. (more…)