The Lion in Winter, performed in The Bull Theatre during early May 2015 and produced by Garden Suburb Theatre, was my directorial debut on a full and public production. The journey of this production began back in November 2011 when my wife and I went to see a west end version of the play at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, starring Joanna Lumley and Robert Lindsay. I remember walking away amazed at how this wittily-written play, based on a fascinating era, had kept me gripped the whole way through. I couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the characters' greed for lands and power. A greed that tore apart a royal family and resulted, by King John's reign, in the eventual destruction of Henry II's carefully constructed empire. James Goldman, the author, has managed to capture the very essence of a dark and brutal time in a very funny way in his interpretation of this story of a family Christmas get together.

Making the production come to life from the early design work, orchestrating the cast, managing the crew, and slowly moulding together the final piece was certainly challenging and kept me very occupied, but it was great fun, and gave me an enormous sense of achievement. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the entire team of cast and crew, with whom a great kinship was formed.