Black humour and a cast of two in Arundel

A big part of the interest is the fact that the two – Gill Medway and Stuart Smithers – actually performed the play together a couple of years ago.

Part of the challenge for Richard now is to come up with his own take on the piece while respecting the talents of his two actors. The production runs at The Priory Playhouse, Arundel, BN18 9FA from Monday, May 27-Saturday, June 1 with tickets available from www.arundelplayers.co.uk.

As Richard explains: “I was supposed to be directing another play for Arundel in this early-summer slot but sadly we couldn't get a cast for it and then Stewart said what about doing this play, would I consider doing Trestle which he had done before to a very, very small crowd. He said it would be a fairly straightforward piece to do and so I read it and thought it was a really interesting piece.

“When I read it through I thought that you have to have a theatrical kind of ability to read the script. It is written in a very conversational way but it's not a dialogue where someone says something and then the next thing follows on from that. These are two people who are virtually talking over each other. It's like two actors giving monologues that interject.

“You have Harry who is a man in his late 60s. He is a widower and he is a man who is very much set in his ways. He has a set routine week in week out. He is the chairman of a local improvements committee who do things like cutting verges and painting fences or whatever. He runs this committee out of the village hall every week. And then you have Denise who is a woman in her 60s. She runs a Zumba class which starts straight after Harry's committee meeting has finished. She has been doing this for about six months but the two of them have never met. He leaves before her session starts but suddenly they do meet and that's how their relationship starts. Initially it is fraught. There is a mistaken identity and they get off on the wrong footing but the play goes into their relationship and how it develops and how they become quite good friends but without giving away too much at one point one party seems to take something slightly too far for the other party...

“The challenge is in making it interesting for the audience. The action is all set in exactly the same space. There are about 20 scenes, and each of them is quite short but each one is one week later after the previous one. And so you've got to create the correct atmosphere in the hall but you've also got to ensure that the audience consider that each scene is coming back later.”

To that extent it is quite a static play: “But I would say that it is a black comedy. It has got humour and it is quite moving in places.”

The production runs at The Priory Playhouse, Arundel, BN18 9FA from Monday, May 27-Saturday, June 1.