Panic has set in…

Diary of a Doggie Director Curtain calls and publication jitters

Panic has set in…

Well, we’re two weeks into rehearsals for Dog Mom, opening night is ten days away, and panic is in the air. However much I tell myself this is normal (it’s happened with pretty much every play I’ve directed), it doesn’t stop the churning in my gut.

For me, co-creation is a complicated process. When I write a book, I have control. I know the message I want to convey; it’s a question of telling the story in the right way to make readers feel it and live it. Directing a play is different because although I’m still working out how to tell the story, it’s someone else’s story, not mine.

On one occasion, I didn’t figure that out until after the run was long over. Decades ago, I directed Ibsens When We Dead Awaken, thinking it was about one thing. Only years later did I realise I’d completely missed the point. Being young and romantic, I had treated the piece as a tragedy of lost love, when in reality it is a deeply philosophical play about a man regretting never having truly lived.

In addition, when I’m directing, not only am I working on how to tell someone else’s story, but I’m doing it with a group of brilliant actors who may have different views of what the play is about.

So we talk, experiment, and try things out. My job is to identify what’s working and what isn’t, which is harder than it sounds. One day, the cast might be in flow, and the play will come alive in the rehearsal room. The next, the same scene might feel completely inert, even though they’re doing and saying exactly the same things. Then we have to rewind and find the characters again, hoping to recapture that magic.

The one constant is that life on stage (and often on the page) comes from the interactions between characters, rather than any preconceived ideas I may have as a director or writer. An actor sees the world through their character’s eyes, just as I see it through Kamil’s and Anjoli’s to be true to their natures. I’ve never written an omniscient narrator, and I’m not sure I’d know how. It feels too removed from the action.

A wonderful book on this topic is The Actor and the Space by Declan Donellan, Artistic Director of Cheek by Jowl, a brilliant theatre company on whose board I have the privilege to serve. I find the book as helpful for writing the characters in my novels as it is for tips on how to direct them on stage.

In ten days, we’ll add the last complication: an audience. They’ll laugh in places we didn’t expect and fall silent in others, and we’ll discover a few more things about the play we thought we knew. That’s part of what keeps me coming back to directing, despite the tummy-rumbles. There’s always the possibility that a roomful of people will find something in the story that I couldn’t have found on my own. I’d just like to experience one full night’s sleep before we get there.

Trailer for Dog Mom

DOG MOM AT SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE

DOG MOM is a funny and moving new play set in New York City about a reluctant dog owner whose pooch philosophises, analyses her - and swears at cats! There’s a lot to laugh at, but at its heart, the play is about starting again and letting someone get close when that’s the last thing you think you want.

Book tickets and find out more

Book news

Eden Falls feels weirdly more prescient with every new round of doom-mongering about AI. For a thoughtful and sobering outlook on the very real dangers, listen to Bill Gates on this podcast.

Eden Falls: learn more and order

My new Kamil Rahman book, The Patriot, is out in November, and the early reviews are looking good. It’s always a nail-biting moment when they arrive: the book is finally in the hands of real readers.

“An absolute roller-coaster of a read. A must-read book. I loved Detective Kamil and PI Anjoli Chatterjee. The characterisation in this story is second to none.” - Liz Nugent.

The Patriot: read an exclusive extract

The Patriot: pre-order your copy

I’ve also added a new section to my website: Anjoli Chatterjee’s history of Brick Lane. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Explore Anjoli Chatterjee’s Brick Lane

Events

It’s been a busy stretch of festivals and events. At St Hilda’s Crime Weekend, I gave a ‘lecture’ on AI as the Anti-Hero with Jo Callahan. At Bloody Scotland, I joined Carys Green, Doug Johnstone and Lilja Sigurdardottir for a panel called ‘The Algorithm Did It’.

Other highlights included The Word is Murder in South Shields with Emma Styles and Zoe Rankin, Bedford Library with Gary Wright and Remi Kone, and the East Riding Festival of Words with M J Arlidge.