17 Apr 2020

When the National Theatre first started broadcasting it’s shows in cinemas, I wrote to Nicholas Hytner to express my deep disquiet. It was, I warned, a terrible mistake to characterise... read more

15 Apr 2020

One special joy during the current situation is seeing nature blossom regardless of the fate of the human species. I’d be interested to know if there has ever been a... read more

14 Apr 2020

Autumn is beginning to look like the most likely date for theatres to reopen, but the timing is fraught with difficulty. For as long as the lockdown continues, no-one is... read more

31 Mar 2020

Day Two of reading about Henry VI, who became king when he was 9 months old. After two days of reading he’s now 12. It’s a very long book!... read more

27 Mar 2020

The weather this week has been so glorious I have taken to watching the sunset each evening, and I realised tonight that I am experiencing a little death. It is... read more

26 Mar 2020

It feels like an age since we were rehearsing Horrible Histories but if I look through my diary it really is just a week. There have been two hugely important... read more

22 Mar 2020

Captain’s Log, Stardate 16 March 2020. That’s where I was when theatre time stopped. Watching William Shatner on stage in Hammersmith at probably the only show left in London. It... read more

17 Mar 2020

So on the day when everything went wrong, and all the theatres closed, I sat amongst two thousand people to listen to William Shatner in probably the only venue left... read more

07 Mar 2020

Sitting here tonight thinking of my dear friend Tom Hodgkins, an actor I met thirty-five years ago at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School who very sadly died last year,... read more

22 Feb 2020

I’ve just come to the end of the busiest five years of my life. It started in 2015 with five world premieres within twelve months and continued unabated with another... read more