Ahead of his new one-woman show ‘Henry VIII and The Royal Wedding Planner’, the top director talks local talent, the West Country and theatrical politics with Lucy Meek. Pic: Victoria Fulljames.

2011 started as a difficult year actually, I have to say. With all the economic news, I thought ‘Oh no, there’s going to be nothing out there’, but I kept chipping away, writing to people and trying to create new relationships. At the beginning of the year I was thinking, like a lot of people in our industry, ‘Am I gonna feed the kids?’ So it’s a real relief. I feel very lucky.

We started by looking at Charles II. But when we got to the end of that, it didn’t quite work, so Julia [Gwynne, actress] said: ‘Well, we could always do Henry VIII’. Then we came across this lady-in-waiting called Jane Parker, and we’d also read about this other lady-in-waiting called Jane Boleyn. So there was this magic moment when we found out it was the same person. She’d got married to Anne Boleyn’s brother, so we’ve got a lady-in-waiting who was there for five of Henry VIII’s brides, and we go ‘Well, there’s the story’.

People are terrified of the one-person show. If it’s not very good you can’t get out, and there’s nothing to relieve the boredom. But I think that because I try to keep things moving, it really, really helps to make it a good night out rather than just a self-indulgent lecture. And it’s the obvious way to create something of really high quality that is affordable to everybody, so that we can keep the ticket prices down. People say ‘Oh, theatre tickets are really expensive’, but I know the secret – I know you can get cheap tickets for 10 quid just by going to a smaller theatre. And the quality? Yeah, you’ll kiss a few frogs, but I think that’s fun. It’s great going to a small theatre and not knowing what you’re going to get.

Everything Henry VIII does in the play is going on in another room – we just feel the ramifications of it. That came from a theme of people in power at the moment being a bit disconnected. And I mean that not just as political power, not just people in other industries, but in my industry – people who run big theatres being a bit disconnected.

I think doors have to open a bit more easily than they currently do to get theatre into big spaces. That’s what I would like to see as the next step. There are enough good actors, good writers, good designers and good directors in Bristol and Bath that they will create their own following. I’ve had doors opened to me – and it’s not sour grapes – but I know other people should be having doors opened to them but maybe they’re not. I’ve had to bash some doors down, mind. The first large-scale show I directed I had to go to Germany to do it and I don’t speak any German!

I don’t think there’s any malice from the people of Bristol towards theatres but I think there might be a frustration. It’s happening around the country: there’s a problem with large theatres at the moment, that they are cutting themselves off. I’ve never known it in the industry: it’s kind of an art tsar feeling. There’s sort of little clubs and you have to wait for them to make a decision. In my own career, I decided that I’m not going to be party to that; that I’m not going to wait for that. I’ll do things my way instead.

When I was a kid a friend of mine – this is actually true – bought one of the first issues of Venue that had come out, in the early 80s, I think. And I’ll never forget, he was in the pub with me and he chucked it on the table and said ‘Right, if you’re going to be anyone I expect you to be in this magazine’!

HENRY VIII AND THE ROYAL WEDDING PLANNER WAS AT THE TOBACCO FACTORY, BRISTOL, TUE 10-SAT 21 JAN. IT RETURNS TO THE RONDO, BATH, FRI 17 FEB. FFI: WWW.ANDYBURDEN.COM

Copyright Lucy Meek 2012; pic copyright Victoria Fulljames 2012