TOM CREED
DIRECTOR

It’s late on Monday evening and I’m sitting in the bedroom at Clifden House after a very long and intense first day of rehearsal in the performance space for Trade. For the last three weeks the actors and I have been living with the words, sharing stories from our own lives in order to understand the characters and to imagine the situation in which they find themselves. It’s always a real privilege as a director to get to direct the first production of a new play, and it’s been a particular joy to work with Mark O’Halloran for the first time: his generosity, humanity, insight and collaborative spirit have made it very easy for the actors and I to take on the challenge of getting to grips with this extraordinary play. The rest of the team has been phenomenally supportive and inventive and patient, and I’m really excited to be working with them to transform this room into a site for an extraordinary encounter. Tomorrow we run the whole play for the first time in the room, and on Wednesday we meet our first audience…