By director Frank Kaye
With one week to go until opening night, we are now in the process of finalising our production of Entertaining Angels by Richard Everett, brought to prominence by Penelope Keith’s iconic portrayal of the lead character, Grace, in 2006 at The Chichester Festival Theatre.
After weeks of rehearsals, the cast now own the play and my role as director is very much focused on fine tuning. Each night we perform, the play will emerge slightly differently. The actors need to be ready and motivated by these slight variations. The audience and their reactions become part of the production, which is quite complex in that each character reveals something unexpected as the story progresses.

The set is now built as far as is possible before it is put on stage. There will be a lot of work over the next few days creating the two congruent acting spaces in the garden of the house. There are some very interesting different aspects with a stream, a house, a pergola and a greenhouse to be accommodated on the Loddon Hall stage.
Ian Darling, the sound man, has been working up some great ideas as rehearsals have progressed, while lighting will only really be finalised by David Goddard once the set is built – but there are some significant challenges to create both the spaces and the moods of the play.
Whilst the play is set in one place, there are also many changes of mood and time which will be supported by appropriate choice of costumes.
A funny, touching and genuinely thought-provoking play, carrying some real emotion, Entertaining Angels is fascinating in both its style and content and is sure to keep our audience’s attention throughout.