Richard Greenhorn finds himself directing a cast of just two for the latest production from the Arundel Players, Trestle by Stewart Pringle.
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Lovely
00:07 this afternoon to speak to Richard Greenhorne. Now Richard, you are directing a really intriguing
00:12 two-hander for the Arendelle play, it's called Trestles. The Arendelle play is putting it
00:16 on at the end of May. Just two in the cast, two people who have previously been in the
00:22 same show a couple of years ago. What's the flavour of the play? What kind of play are
00:26 we talking about would you say? It's called Trestles, isn't it? It's called Trestles,
00:31 yes. It's an interesting piece in that it's quite humorous, it's quite moving in places
00:41 and it's a conversational piece really. There's the two of them just having a conversation
00:47 in a village hall and most of it is set around, as the play suggests, a trestle table. And
00:58 really it's just these two actors that are from different backgrounds, they get together.
01:04 One is a committee member running his local committee, the other is a Zumba teacher and
01:10 they just cross over as they sort of, one finishes their session and the other one arrives
01:15 and the conversation... Is it about the attraction between them, the
01:19 similarities between them, dissimilarities between them?
01:21 It's dissimilar really because they are two completely different characters. One, the
01:27 man is very much set in his ways and he is a widower and he does everything the same
01:38 every week. Whereas the woman, she's the Zumba teacher, she's quite active and she... Shall
01:51 we say she's looking for something more than just her Zumba class when she turns up?
01:58 And it must be interesting for you as director to have a cast of just two, that must be much
02:03 more intense, much more demanding in some ways than a big cast, isn't it? Just the two
02:08 of you plus you? Well, it has its benefits in that you don't
02:12 have too many people to move around the stage. But yeah, no, it's lovely working with just
02:20 two people because obviously you've got more time to devote to each character. If it's
02:26 a large cast, you've obviously got to spend your time looking at the detail of each and
02:32 every one of them. Whereas two people, you can concentrate on them and focus each week
02:37 on something else that they're doing. And intriguingly, Stuart Smithers and Jill
02:42 Medway, the two you are directing, who were in the play together a couple of years ago.
02:48 Yes, that's right. They did it a couple of years ago. They've come back and I have to
02:52 say I'm blessed with the fact that they've got good memories and the lines are coming
02:56 back very easily. Where does that leave you? Do you have to
03:01 try and think, "Oh, I want to do this differently this time"?
03:04 Well, yes, that is the challenge because obviously they did it a certain way a couple of years
03:08 ago. And then because I'm a slightly different director to the one they had before, I've
03:17 got my own view on what the dialogue means or what the scenes mean. And so I have to
03:25 really try and get them to do it the way I would like rather than the way they did it
03:29 before. That's not to say the way they did it before was wrong. It's obviously we have
03:33 our own take on something and they're very accommodating.
03:36 Not much point in just doing the same thing, is there really?
03:39 Exactly. But they're very accommodating and they're listening to my thoughts.
03:45 Fantastic. Well, good luck with our Trestle Arendelle players at the end of May. Lovely
03:51 to speak to you, Richard. Thank you.
03:52 Thank you, Phil.
03:53 [ Silence ]