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Deborah Paige Interview
WriteWords talks to Deborah Paige, whose work as a director has
been seen in major new writing venues in England, including Soho Theatre,
Bristol Old Vic and Salisbury Playhouse, featuring many of the UK's finest
playwrights. She then ran Sheffield Theatres where new and contemporary work was
a central plank of her artistic policy. She has recently directed Eastenders for
BBC TV and the opera Don Giovanni. '.
When I began directing, all the work I was given was by contemporary writers, including rehearsed readings and workshop productions. For some reason, new writers are usually given to new directors- blind leading the blind.
Directing a new play is totally different from your interpretation of an old one. Both are exciting- but the new work is for the writer- always exciting.
Writers I love include Arthur Miller, Caryl Churchill- sometimes-, Pinero, Ghita Sowerby, DH Lawrence, Bryony Lavery, David Holman- not just because I live with him- David Edgar. Bit of an eclectic mix. I just love brilliant writing. Authentic. Your own voice.
Breakthrough project was Me and My Friend by Gillian Plowman, which I directed at the Soho Poly in 1990. It was a sell out success, which taught me if nothing else that doing a new play is a much better way of getting attention that doing an old one.
People assume that a new play will be hard work, dark and dreary- it’s nice to challenge that. I never thought I could do comedy.
What matters is
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